The Shooting Party Av Isabel Colegate

<p><b>''Threads of romance, social comment, country lore and intrigue both above and below stairs are cunningly worked together to create a brilliant tapestry'' <i>Sunday Telegraph</i></b><br><br>It is 1913 - a breath away from the Great War - and Edwardian England is about to vanish into history. An assorted group of men and women gather at Sir Randolph Nettleby''s estate for a shooting party. Opulent, adulterous, moving assuredly through the rituals of eating and slaughter, they are an era''s dazzlingly obtuse and brilliantly decorative finale.<br><br>A quiet, elegant meditation on class frustration and the transience of human concern, <i>The Shooting Party</i> is also the inspiration behind one of the great landmarks of popular culture - <i>Downtown Abbey</i>.</p>