A Perfect Explanation

<strong>Finalist for the Desmond Elliott Prize</strong> <p/><strong>A superb debut* novel--based on the story of the author's grandmother--following an aristocratic woman who abandons her family and her money in search of a life she can claim as her own. (*<em>The Guardian</em>)</strong> <p/> Enid Campbell granddaughter of a duke grew up surrounded by servants wanting for nothing except love. But when her brother died in the First World War a new heir was needed and it was up to Enid to provide it. <p/> A troubled marriage and three children soon followed. Broken by postpartum depression overwhelmed by motherhood and a loveless marriage Enid made the shocking decision to abandon her family thereby starting a chain of events--a kidnap a court case and selling her son to her sister for £500--that reverberated through the generations. <p/> Interweaving one significant day in 1964 when it seems the family will reunite for one last time with a decade during the interwar period <em>A Perfect Explanation</em> explores the perils of aristocratic privilege where inheritance is everything and happiness is hard won.