Innes, Michael - Honeybath's Haven

This is oh-so-genteely written (Innes's prose is actually very basic English except for the irruptions of Latinate nouns and adjectives and gratuitous quotations, but it does come across as very pedantic with its careful grammar and apologies for 'slang' terms that are in common usage). The story is very good, however, its theme of long-term but only intermittently close friendship and the tribulations of senescent madness, loyalty, and how to deal with the situation being presented very movingly. This involves a sinister nursing home for the rich and dotty and is well done. Honeybath comes across as a really good, and perceptive, person even if he is a bit of a prig.

Wyatt James