{"product_id":"9781911413714","title":"A Footman for the Peacock","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe peacock displayed himself and paraded the lawn, sometimes pausing to look up at the sky.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWaiting? Listening? Guiding. No. \u003c\/em\u003eSignalling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eControversial when first published in the early days of World War II, due to its treatment of a loathsome upper-crust family dodging wartime responsibility, \u003cem\u003eA Footman for the Peacock\u003c\/em\u003e can now be enjoyed as a scathing satire of class abuses, a comic masterpiece falling somewhere between Barbara Pym and Monty Python.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSir Edmund and Lady Evelyn Roundelay live surrounded by a menagerie of relations and retainers. The Roundelays’ history of callous cruelty is literally etched on a window of the servants’ quarters with the words “Heryn I dye, Thomas Picocke. 1792”. Sir Edmund reflects cheerfully on the running footmen who have ‘died off like flies’ in the family’s service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut now—amidst digressions on everything from family history and servant woes to the villagers’ linguistic peculiarities and a song immortalizing the footman’s plight—war threatens the Roundelays’ smug superiority. What’s more, it appears that the estate’s peacock is a reincarnation of Thomas Picocke, and may be aiding the Nazi cause … By turns giddy and incisive, hilarious and heartbreaking, \u003cem\u003eA Footman for the Peacock\u003c\/em\u003e is Rachel Ferguson at her very best. This new edition features an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘The Roundelays are people to live with and laugh at and love’ \u003cem\u003ePunch\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dean Street Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50023695646960,"sku":"9781911413714","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781911413714","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}