I am not sure what I expected from this novel, maybe a type of friendship/love story in a big old house. While it is of course about a big old house, it's not what I expected. The story is split into three main parts; the protagonist, Charles, meeting a friend at Oxford and falling in love with the idea of him and his family; the breakdown of this relationship (and the friend); Charles re-finding of the family in the form of an affair with the sister.
There is alot of talk of religion, baseless charm and the shirking of responsibilities and bad decisions. The protagonist, Charles seems to go through the whole book having things happen to him, and feeling helpless, he mostly manages to avoid being annoying though, and I enjoyed the book.
