Not at Home

I dont mind being alone at all. I was often here alone in the blitz and I was so frightened of the bombs that I quite stopped being frightened of burglars.World War II has ended residents are flooding back to London and the housing shortage creates strange bedfellows. Elinor MacFarren--middle-aged spinster botanical writer and collector of prints and objets dart--decides to rent part of her house to Antonia Bankes whose American husband is with the Occupation Forces in Europe. While Miss MacFarren prefers to live alone Mrs Bankes seems a perfect tenant. She admires Miss MacFarrens beautiful things (Its the prettiest room Ive ever seen in my life!) promises quiet and care (Youll find me madly careful) and seems an ideal homemaker (I like housework. Ive got quite a thing about it.).Inevitably however its not so easy. Mrs Bankes proves to be exasperating and helpless skilled only in charm manipulation and blithely promising anything to get her way. What follows is an intricately plotted gloriously entertaining saga of domestic warfare as Miss MacFarren tries to cope tries to cajole and finally tries to rid herself of her meddlesome tenant all while taking up whiskey--and all with unpredictable and delightful results. This new edition includes an introduction by Sir Roy Strong.