London: Duckworth & Co., (1982) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The third novel by this highly praised English author, this was short-listed for the Booker Prize. "Set in London in 1954, it follows the adventures of Aunt Irene and her nephew Kyril when Valentine, a postulant at the convent where IreneÕs sister is the reverend mother, comes to stay with them, ostensibly to test her vocation in the world. . . . Valentine is very much an outsider: black, Caribbean, quiet, and devoutly religious. The injection of this alien into Aunt IreneÕs Chelsea home becomes the catalyst for many comic situations. , , [but] cutting through the mirth are grotesque, even macabre elements, including accidental deaths and suicide" (Marian Crowe).SIGNED on the title page. Ellis, the wife of the publisher Colin Haycraft, and the fiction editor at Duckworth, was both a true Bohemian and a fiercely devout Catholic. 159 pp. ISBN: 0-7156-16455.