WINNER OF THE 1970 BOOKER PRIZE 'And so at the Majestic everything returned to the way it had
been before. The gleaming tiles became dulled. Sofas as sleek as prize cattle lost their glow.'
1919 the Majestic Hotel in Kinalough Ireland. Haunted war veteran Major Brendan Archer
arrives to marry Angela Spencer daughter of the house. But his fiancée is strangely altered
and her family's fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline. The hotel's hundreds of rooms
are disintegrating its few remaining guests thrive on rumours and games of whist herds of
cats have taken over the Imperial Bar bamboo shoots threaten the foundations and piglets
frolic in the squash court. And outside the order of the British Empire totters as the
violence of 'the troubles' mounts. 'A work of genius' Guardian
