HABITS OF THE HOUSE
Book ID/图书代码： 02630511B44509
English Summary/英文概要： October – New Years Eve 1899Book one tells of the romance between Walter, Viscount Dilberne and Minnie O’Brien of. the Chicago stockyards. It takes place over the last few weeks in 1899, and is a build-up to a fifteen course charity dinner attended by the Prince of Wales, hosted by Lady Isobel. The Dilbernes are in dire financial straits. Their sources of income have dried up, their gold mine in the Transvaal sabotaged by invading Boers; their creditors beginning to sue. The up and coming financier Eric Baum can do only do so much. The answer is to marry into money, namely, Walter must marry Minnie. Minnie’s answer, having disastrously blotted her reputation in Chicago, is to marry into the English aristocracy. The young people enter into a cynical agreement to marry, but soon find themselves in love. Issues between the two rear their heads and are overcome, as are Robert’s financial problems, and true love wins out, thanks to Isobel’s shopping spree with Minnie’s rather crude mid-western mother Tessa O’Brien. Real people feature, the young Winston Churchill, the old Lord Salisbury, Henry James, HG Wells and so on. We end with a triumphant charity dinner, the engagement announced, and the young couple in love.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 1899年的夏末，英國社會正處在巨大的變革中。Dilberne公爵正面臨巨大的財政危機。他決定留在Belgrave廣場，而不是搬到祖先留下的Dilberne庭院。這個決定波及了全家上下幾乎所有的人。羅伯特老爺在股市上失利，想要在政府內閣裡尋找一個職位。他的兒子亞瑟養著一個高級妓女，羅西納在臥室養了一隻鸚鵡，羅伯特的妻子伊索貝爾主持著貝爾格雷夫廣場的事務，而她的貼身僕人格蕾絲照管著女主人的生活起居。這些人都為家裡的財政危機而受到波及。
雖然抵押掉一個房產，家裡的財政狀況都沒有得到任何好轉。夏季過後，他開始為兒子尋一個好姻緣，用此來彌補家用。此時，Minnie出現了，來自芝加哥的她美麗但急需一家名門彌補她名聲上的瑕疵。這個人正是羅伯特兒媳的最佳人選。這兩人雖然剛開始因金錢和名聲等利益而結婚，但最後還是相愛了。真愛勝過了物質利益。
《Upstairs, Downstairs》的先驅性作者，她說故事的名聲是實至名歸。她用智慧和同情心編織著這個故事，《Habits of the House》講述了欲望和節制、節操和道德、原因和天性的故事。（Celia）
Awards/获奖情况：US rights (St Martin’s Press) for a good six figure sum!!
About the Author/作者介绍： Fay Weldon既是小說家、劇作家，又是編劇和成功的廣告文案。她出生在新西蘭，十歲時回到英國。由於父母在她5歲的時候離婚，Fay一直在祖母、母親和表姨的照顧下長大，她的世界裡沒有男性，這讓她覺得這是個女人支撐起來，男人只會享福的世界。因此，她的小說一般都描寫女性處理自己和丈夫、父母、男人、孩子和其他女人之間糾纏的關係過程中造成的各種悲喜劇。
正式成為作家之前，Fay靠寫廣告文案養家，還獲得了事業上的成功。遭遇中年危機後，Fay通過心理康復，開始寫作，她的第一本小說《The fat woman’s book》1967年出版，後來，她還寫劇本，改編劇本包括為BBC改編《傲慢與偏見》。隨後 她出版了將近30本書，1983年成為布克獎裁判。1990年獲得聖安德魯大學榮譽博士，2001年獲得大英帝國勳章。
Novelist, playwright and screenwriter Fay Weldon was brought up in New Zealand and returned to the United Kingdom when she was ten. Her first novel, The Fat Woman’s Joke, was published in 1967. She has written over thirty books. Fay was Chair of the Judges for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1983, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews in 1990. In 2001 she was awarded a CBE.
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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