Secret Lives Author:E. F, Benson Gone are the days when Durham Square reverberated to the sighs of its infamous bordellos. Now it is the height of propriety, its hush broken only by the rumblings of indigestion. But behind Durham Square's genteel facade hide secret lives. Mrs. Mantrip, doyenne of the freeholds, harbours a passion for the mysterious Rudolph da Vinci, author of s... more »uch immoral tomes as Apples of Sodom. And what of Miss Susan Leg, newly installed at No, 25? Can a woman who puts caviar on her scones be altogether respectable? Suddenly, the quiet of the immemorial elms is ripped asunder by the boom of her gramophone, the murmur of salacious gossip, and general canine consternation -- standards, it would appear, are going to the dogs.
Riddled with curiosity, mordant pen in hand, E.F. Benson draws aside the plus velvet drapes -- and reveals in this deliciously ironic novel all the hilarious intrigues and intimacies of life upstairs (and downstairs) in one of the stateliest squares of England.