Sarah Waters Loves Ambrose!

Well, possibly not, but this snippet of Ms Waters’ novel was sent to me by someone today—I’m sure it’s just a coincidence but I found it hugely funny.

From The Little Stranger:

"You've heard about all the changes at Standish, of course?"

I nodded....

Standish was a neighbouring 'big house,' an Elizabethan manor house whose family, the Randalls, had left the county...

:)

Now, what I want to know is: What the blink are the Randalls, and what disaster happened to the Goshawks that they were forced to sell Standish?  I’m guessing that a scion of Sebastian’s, probably in the Victorian era, was profligate with the income and let it fall into disrepair and they had to sell it off.  SOB.  *shakes fist*  Damn you, Randalls!