The Witch of Exmoor
Freda Haxby Palmer, author of the feminist classic The Matriarchy of War, was always more popular with her readers than with her own children. Her three offspring, now married and middle-aged, lead respectable lives, but Freda's behavior has gone from bad to worse. She lives like a hippie in a rundown seaside retreat in Exmoor. Her most recent book, a romance novel based on the life of Queen Christina, was universally panned. Lately, she has taken on the British tax code in the courts. But when Freda turns up missing, her estate suddenly seems more desirable. A movie producer has optioned her romance novel, and a sizable fortune may go to David D'Anger, M.P., her black son-in-law, to finance his utopian dream of creating a truly just society, an idea that makes the rest of the family cringe. This novel reexamines one of Drabble's favorite themes, the extent to which political idealism is a luxury of the privileged classes. This combination soap opera/novel of ideas, peppered with daunting Briticisms, is recommended for most Anglophile fiction collections.-?Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los AngelesCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.