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Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett

Ivy's novels

An enigma throughout her life, by the 1950’s Dame Ivy was known in literary circles as ‘the English Secret’ and had gained a reputation as one of the most original writers of her time, writing 19 novels between 1925 and her death in 1969.

The 19 Novels of Ivy Compton-Burnett

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Pastors & Masters

1925

The characters in this lively, quick-witted comedy of manners have a talent for talking without ever saying what they think, as that would 'not always be politic.'

Brothers & Sisters

1929

Novelists have always been tempted by the closed situation, that is, by the confinement of several characters, in a particular place out of which there is no escape

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Men & Wives

1931

Harriet Haslam, the epitome of the maternal power figure, whose genuine but overpowering love dominates the novel and whose self-knowledge drives her into insanity.

More Women Than Men

1933

Josephine Napier, headmistress of a girls' school, is a woman whose mask of amiable authority disguises a ruthless ability to manipulate others.

A sophisticated comedy of manners...

A House & Its Head

1935

Among the most unsparing of Compton-Burnett's books, A House and Its Head dissects the domestic establishment of Duncan Edgeworth, a tyrannical pater familias.

Daughters & Sons

1937

At 85 years of age Sabine Ponsonby seldom speaks anything but evil of any human being and maintains a tyrannous control over her family, a secret act of kindness is her undoing.

A Family & a Fortune

1939

Ivy's unique genius lay in her ability to convey, using the delicate undertones of drawing-room conversation, the major experiences of life and the intrinsic emotions of the heart.

Parents & Children

1941

Ranging from nursery to university age, the nine Sullivan children live with their parents, Eleanor and Fulbert, in a huge country house belonging to Fulbert's parents, Sir Jesse and Lady Regan.

Elders & Betters

1944

The Donne family's move to the country is inspired by a wish to be close to their cousins, who are to be their nearest neighbours. It proves too close for comfort, however.

Manservant & Maidservant

1947

The novel focuses on the household of Horace Lamb, sadist, skinflint, and tyrant, a man whose children fear and hate him and whose wife is planning to elope.

Two Worlds & Their Ways

1949

Sefton and his sister Clemence are sent to separate boarding schools. Their father's second marriage, provide perfect opportunities for mockery, and home becomes a source of shame.

Darkness & Day

1951

Why had Edmund and Bridget Gaunt and their daughters been away from home? Because some decades earlier Edmund has fathered an illegitimate daughter.

The Present & the Past

1953

Cassius Clare is the father of five children; two by his first wife from whom he is divorced, and three by his second wife who conscientiously tries to be a mother to all five.

Mother & Son

1955

The exacting Miranda's search for a companion brings her family into contact with a very different kind of household, raising a plenitude of questions about the ability to manage alone

A Father & His Fate

1957

Miles Mowbray, the central figure ... is one of Ivy Compton-Burnett's most successful domestic dictators in the marriage of comedy with sheer awfulness.

A Heritage & Its History

1959

The great Victorian mansion that holds and tyrannizes the Challoner family appears, at the rise of the curtain, to be formal and still as a painted background.

The Mighty & Their Fall

1961

The large county family of fading prospects, the egotistical widower, the stepmother, the despised governess, the hidden will, the clandestine attempt to prevent a marriage

A God &

His Gifts

1963

Considered by many to be one of her best, set in the claustrophobic world of Edwardian upper-class family life, it is the story of the self-willed and arrogant Hereward Egerton.

The Last & the First

1972

Posthumously published, her final novel is a major work of comedy and melodrama in Victorian family life — as sharp, spare, and funny as it is profound.

Where to buy Dame Ivy's books

You can buy Dame Ivy's books from good second hand book shops, online second hand stores and brand new from several suppliers.

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