At the rambling Gothic mansion of Sir Benjamin Drayton, the preparations are in full swing for his only daughter's marriage. The cake is ready for cutting; the champagne aches to be uncorked; the baronet is ready to start the toasts. But corruption lurks in the wings, and plans are afoot to stop the marriage from ever taking place.
Until, that is, a little intervention from Venus herself adds divine meddling to mortal schemes.
This was originally written as a libretto for an opera Burgess planned, he then decided that it was miles too long for an opera and decided that it would be a good play, but not considering himself a playwright he refashioned the story as a novella and this is what we have here.
The story is set in a 24 hour period with the looming marriage and all the pressures that go with it. Sir Benjamin is the only character who doesn't get too exercised but the whole thing, regularly consuming bottles of wine and staying very relaxed and the source of constant laughs.
Good fun, the regular Burgess themes are here, religion and his loathing of homosexuality. His issue with homosexuality is strange as his main character in Earthly Powers (his best book) is homosexual, reading him I often wonder if he "doth protest too much". Anyway this little book is fun, 125 pages, fills in an afternoon nicely.
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