The Quick and the Dead

It’s really the house that Clarissa falls in love with – a beautiful Tudor manor standing in the oak woodlands in the Welsh marrying Thomas is the only way to get it. But he’s pleasant enough – and besides, her biological clock is ticking. Sharing the house with her (as well as various ghosts) are Thomas’s charmingly eccentric aunts, who have a firm idea of how things should be done – relying discreetly on the ‘old ways’ to ensure that traditions are maintained. When it begins to look as though Clarissa isn’t quite the reliable guardian they had hoped for, Olwen and Gwyneth take steps to preserve their inheritance... The Quick and the Dead offers a whole new interpretation of ‘family values’. Blackly comic but with an engaging lightness of touch, it will amuse and intrigue. Praise for Marcia 'Unexpected subtlety and charm ... a genuine voice of our times' - The Times 'With beautifully ironic observations and flashbacks to a mysterious past, the story has a twist in the tail so staggering that it necessitates re-reading and a strong cup of tea' - The Lady Willa Marsh was born in Somerset and lives in a Georgian parsonage in Devon with her husband and two Newfoundlands. As Marcia Willett, she also writes well-reviewed novels published by Headline.