The Astonishing History of Troy Town

This is Quiller-Couch at his most deliciously petty. Set in the Cornish town of Troy (the peninsula town of St Ives, in local dialect), the novel opens at the Misses Limpenny's evening gathering, where Admiral Buzza storms in cantankerous as ever, bristling at news of a new tenant moving into The Bower. This minor event sets the whole town astir. What follows is a gently satiric portrait of provincial life: the card-table factions, the territorial battles over ratafias, the ancient grudge between Youth and Age that only resolves when the rubber ends and sanity (or at least ratafia) is restored. It's Jane Austen meets a Cornish village hall, sharp about class and status, but never cruel. Quiller-Couch's real subject is the small ceremonies that hold communities together, and the small wars that keep them alive. For readers who savor character, wit, and the particular pleasure of watching eccentrics collide.