Download or read book Elders and Betters written by Ivy Compton-Burnett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-28 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Donne family's move to the country is inspired by a wish to be close to their cousins, who are to be their nearest neighbours. It proves too close for comfort, however. For a secret switching of wills causes the most genteel pursuit of self-interest to threaten good relations and even good manners... First published in 1944, Ivy Compton-Burnett employs her sharp ear for comedy and celebrated powers of dialogue to spectacular effect. She reveals a devastating microcosm of human society, in which the elders are by no means always the betters, in which no character is totally scrupulous, but none without their appeal.