Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 29 January 2009.
Snobs, his first novel, was brilliant and Past Imperfect is better and coming from ‘the bottom end of the gentry’ gives Julian’s a voyeuristic authenticity! In the late 60’s as Britain was being swept by hippies and free love the aristocracy still clung on to the social set piece of ‘the season’ where eligible girls and boys were introduced to each other at balls and parties. More than 30 years later a childless and incredibly wealthy man’s dying wish forces his sworn enemy to revisit the past to search for an heir. It is deliciously well observed, charting the demise of the upper classes, and eye wateringly funny in places – simply a guilty treat to be enjoyed.
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern - his fortune in excess of £500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
PAST IMPERFECT is the story of a quest. Damian Baxter wishes to know if he has a living heir. By the time he married in his late thirties he was sterile (the result of adult mumps), but what about before that unfortunate illness? He was not a virgin. Had he sired a child? A letter from a girlfriend from these times suggests he did. But the letter is anonymous.
Damian contacts someone he knew from their days at university. He gives him a list of girls he slept with and sets him a task: find his heir!
'A gloriously funny, bumpy ride through modern times.' Andrew Barrow, THE EVENING STANDARD
'he knows too, how to create memorable characters. Working with an upper-class cast Fellowes populates PAST IMPERFECT with a gallery of sometimes grotesque but mostley affectionately drawn toffs - acidly observered by the narrator, ever peevish, ever diverting.' Peter Burton, THE DAILY EXPRESS
'PAST IMPERFECT is both a historical document for that vanished era and a comedy of manners....... sharply perceptive and required reading for anyone who was there.' Claire Colvin, THE DAILY MAIL
'Its plot cannot fail to grip the reader...... what elevates this novel to much more than a comedy of manners is the depth of compassion the author displays for his characters.' Elisa Segrave, THE SPECTATOR
