Good Behaviour cover art

Good Behaviour

A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick – Booker Prize Gems

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Good Behaviour

By: Molly Keane
Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.35

Buy Now for £14.35

A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK (BOOKER PRIZE GEMS)

'Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy' VOGUE

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force' MARIAN KEYES

I do know how to behave - believe me, because I know. I have always known . . .

Behind the gates of Temple Alice, the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires. This elegant and allusive novel established Molly Keane as the natural successor to Jean Rhys.

'I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most' MAGGIE O'FARRELL©1981 The Estate of Molly Keane Classics Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Women's Fiction
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

She was . . . marvellous
A fine novel, wickedly alive (Victoria Glendinning)
Molly Keane's Good Behaviour presents a character whose own strict Christian code wreaks havoc on all those around her. Though she herself tells the tale, we somehow see her morality's disastrous consequences. Hilarious and sinister
I really wish I had written this book. It's a tragi-comedy set in Ireland after the First World War. A real work of craftsmanship, where the heroine is also the narrator, yet has no idea what is going on. You read it with mounting horror and hilarity as you begin to grasp her delusion
I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian, and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most
Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape
Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy
Enchanting (Edna O'Brien)
Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force (Marian Keyes)
Wily, shrewd, and terribly sad all at the same time: the story of a soul shrivelling against cool, dark, shiny backgrounds
I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved (Diana Athill)
A writer of genius
Good Behaviour includes very little good behaviour, featuring instead delicious and deleterious accounts of illicit sex and wild high jinks, and a mother-daughter duo who can scrap with the best of them
A witty, black comedy of manners, Good Behaviour is a memorable novel by an Irish writer whose only equal is Elizabeth Bowen
All stars
Most relevant
One of my favourite books, so acidic and psychologically satisfying. The character of Aroon is so well written.

Great narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Books lend sympathy to the protagonist,, but really she is an unlovable character. Well delivered but was thankful to get to the end.

Boring and uninspiring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've never read any Molly Keane before, so I didn't know what to expect. This is a book of its time, with some outdated views, but it's beautifully written and hugely entertaining. I found it very enjoyable, especially the twist at the end. I'd strongly recommend it to those interested in the ways of a previous era and the lives of gentry who have the expectations of their class, but not the money to support them!

Entertaining and very enjoyable!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Too much about horses and dogs; too much about who said what but the underlying idea was good and that's why I stuck with it. However, I can't understand why this novel was picked for the Booker-prize list and will definitely not be investing my time in this author again. It's not often that I take against anything quite so categorically.

Aoife McMahon was excellent but I missed her Irish accent.

Not my thing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent narration of what is an alternatively very funny and very sad tale of an impoverished upper class Irish family.

Compelling tale of family apart

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews