Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood

A MASTERPIECE, SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1977 BOOKER PRIZE*

'Full of genuine black humour' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS'A masterpiece . . .her humour is as wicked as it is mordant' JOHN BANVILLE'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith' ARAMINTA HALLI

n her gloomy mausoleum of a home, the terrifying matriarch Great Granny Webster spends her days sitting bolt upright in a Victorian chair, entirely alone except for her one-eyed maid - and her orphaned great-granddaughter, sent to stay for the sea air. She presides over three generations of ill-fated women, and a twisted family history which spools back through hedonistic 20s London to a crumbling aristocratic pile where two children are kept silently hidden in a distant wing. This macabre, viciously funny, partly autobiographical novel cuts to the bone of a dysfunctional dynasty, and captures Blackwood at her pitch-black best.

'Idiosyncratic, dark and extremely funny' LUCY SCHOLES'A unique literary experience' PHILIP LARKIN'As gripping as a whodunit' TLS'Shocking, brilliant, and wickedly funny, Great Granny Webster is Caroline Blackwood's best book' JONATHAN RABAN

Format:Paperback / softback 160 pages
Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint:Virago Press Ltd
ISBN:9780349019062
Published:6 Aug 2026
Classifications:Classic fiction (pre c 1945)
Weight:148g