winner of the lost man booker prize1919 after surviving the great war major brendan archer makes his way to ireland hoping to discover whether he is indeed betrothed to angela spencer whose angloirish family owns the onceaptlynamed majestic hotel in kilnalough but his fiance is strangely altered and her familys fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline the hotels hundreds of rooms are disintegrating on a grand scale its few remaining guests thrive on rumors and games of whist herds of cats have taken over the imperial bar and the upper stories bamboo shoots threaten the foundations and piglets frolic in the squash court meanwhile the major is captivated by the beautiful and bitter sarah devlin as housekeeping disasters force him from room to room outside the order of the british empire also totters there is unrest in the east and in ireland itself the mounting violence of the troubles troubles is a hilarious and heartbreaking work by a modern master of the historical novel