Valmouth by Ronald Firbank

It was the auspicious night when as to a Sabbat the centenarians of Valmouth, escorted by twittering troops of expectant heirs and toad-eating relatives, foregathered together, like so many warlocks and witches, in the generously loaned drawing-rooms and corridors of Hare…

Valmouth, a southern English coastal resort, has a generous supply of well-furnished and well-connected relics of society. Hare-Hatch House, inhabited by good friends Eulalia Hurstpierpoint and Elizabeth Thoroughfare, is one of the great centres of local social attention.

Coming on a visit, Lady Parvula de Panzoust encounters members of several castes there, ranging from the Tooke family who are in service, through the omnipresent exotic masseuse-cum-herbalist Mrs Yajñavalkya, to those of her own status who buzz around the house gossiping and defaming, hinting and declaiming, each other’s secret business and hidden predilections always the tasty subject. Indeed, Parvula herself is on something of a private mission of an amatory nature.

As the season progresses, the question of who will marry Mrs Thoroughfare’s son Dick, just returned from the sea, becomes an absorbing concern. Will young Thetis Tooke, single-minded and passionate, recapture his attention permanently? Or will Mrs Yajñavalkya’s protégé Niri-Esther steal his favour? The already agitated currents begin to stir forcefully…

Valmouth, Ronald Firbank’s celebrated fourth novel, was first published in 1919. Its waves of exclamatory dialogue, eccentric description and outrageous characters confirmed his unique position as high-camp chronicler of his age in all its hilarious, sharp-tongued erraticism.

PUBLICATION: May 25, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-6452440-9-0 paperback