' Vivid poignant hilarious and tragic: the most rewarding and beautiful novel I've read in
ages' BARBARA TRAPIDO 'A family saga like no other. Gloriously off-beat darkly comedic and
totally bewitching. A bravura performance' SARAH WINMAN 'We shall be forgotten.' he said.
'We shall be lost. They will scrub us away like a set of dirty fingerprints on a plastic
kettle.' The crumbling Gothic mansion of Thornwalk long-term home of the Gilbert family is
being handed over to a chain of luxury 'historic' hotels. Millions will be spent in its
restoration. But for every so-called improvement what will be lost? What value can there
possibly be in a threadbare carpet a tarnished spoon and a thousand empty jam jars? Before
the hotel people arrive with their clipboards and their skips and their bottles of bleach
Maximus loyal guardian of the Gilberts' legacy invites us on a final tour of the once-stately
home where each room holds a secret. From the bolt on the blue room door to the tiny dents in
the bars at the nursery window ... these are the keys that will unlock the lives of the five
fatherless Gilbert children. A frustrated romantic a stubborn traditionalist a dreamer a
diva and an explorer: The Infamous Gilberts will be cast adrift on the irresistible tides of
the twentieth century buoyed by love buffeted by loss and tangled together in an
unputdownable story where the lines between eccentricity and madness cruelty and love become
hilariously heartbreakingly blurred. 'Completely captivating: I absolutely loved it. A
compelling ingenious mischievous blend of tragedy comedy and intrigue' NINA STIBBE
