The Joyful Delaneys

A novel of Spring and Fall, of old love and young, of London and an ancient house about to die.

When Fred Delaney wished his lodger, Patrick Munden, revolutionary poet, a Happy New Year, it was with a fervor that echoed the wish for himself because the year held little promise. True, he had his own cheerful family with him under one roof, but what would they do if the house had to go finally, after one hundred and fifty years? What of Meg, his buoyant wife; and of Kitty, their beautiful daughter; or Bullock, their novel-writing son who picked up cigarette money by writing for Punch? The story of what did happen to the Delaneys that year and to the roomers who lived on the second, third, and fourth floors, is a picture of the past, present, and future.

One of Walpole's warmest and most human stories.