Cressida Connolly 
Bad Relations 

A TALE OF A TRAGEDY SEEPING THROUGH GENERATIONS, AND A FAMILY FRACTURED BY HISTORY AND DESIRE
 »Bad Relations is an amazing achievement and one of the most satisfying books you »re likely to read this year » The Times
 »Haunting and beautiful… In recent British fiction I can think only of Tessa Hadley who rivals Connolly in exacting such intricate, compelling drama from close-knit families… I don »t often wish a book were longer, but this one I did » Observer
On the battlefields of the Crimea, William Gale cradles the still-warm body of his brother. William »s experience of war will bring about a change in him that will reverberate through his family over the next two centuries.
In the 1970s, William »s descendants invite Stephen, a distant relation, to stay in their house in the English countryside – but their golden summer entanglements will end in a shocking fall from grace.
Half a century later, a confrontation between the surviving members of the family will culminate in a terrible reckoning.
 »The characters in Bad Relations are so brilliantly real, so wonderfully compelling at their best, and at their worst, that I can »t get them out of my head. A wonderful novel » Nina Stibbe

 »This is an Atonement-like novel about the messy stuff that is family life » Spectator

 »A compelling family saga » Sunday Times