The Feast by Margaret Kennedy (Faber and Faber Ltd.)

During the month of August 1947, a huge mass of cliff side had suddenly subsided and obliterated a hotel which once stood on a land. Seven guests died, seven people who obviously commited seven deadly sins. 

Hotel guests were varied selection of adults and children, some eccentric, snobbish, mean, envious, the other pure-hearted, helpful, loving and innocent. Always hungry and uncared Cove daughters had only one wish, to have a feast where all hotel guest will be invited. "They had so little, knew so little, had been to few places and met few people, their lives were so entirely bare that they had never learnt to want much."

The plot unwinds, people show their real faces and with every evil deed the cracks on the land seem to  widen.

Margaret Kennedy was an outstanding master storyteller, the novel is full of wisdom, humour, philosophical moments and intelligence. The characters are so brilliant and the plot so exciting that I couldn't put the book down.

The novel was first published in 1950, but people and our nature never really change, just time passes. The reader easily relates to all characters and constantly root for all the underdogs, the innocent and oppressed.

As an author says: "That mankind is protected and sustained by undeserved suffering; by all those millions of helpless people who pay for the evil we do and who shield us simply by being there..."

Not only the summer read, it is a timeless classics.

The magnificent feast for the reader.

5/5