Troy Chimneys

First published in 1953, Troy Chimneys masquerades as the private memoirs of Miles Lufton, a minor politician in Regency England. Lufton—wry, worldly, and self-deprecating—recounts the struggle between two selves: the man of feeling and the ruthless social climber. As he maneuvers his way into love and power, the duel between his personalities threatens to undo him.

Kennedy’s ingenious construction—an epistolary pastiche of letters, journals, and “found” documents—makes the reader both detective and confidant. The result is a tragicomic confession, a novel of manners with Austenian wit, but one that refuses Austen’s consolations. For as Anita Brookner observed, in Kennedy’s late style “virtue does not triumph, patience is not rewarded, people do not receive their just deserts.”

At once playful and penetrating, satirical and poignant, Troy Chimneys is both a brilliant re-creation of Regency style and a modern exploration of ambition, duplicity, and moral compromise.

“It is hard not to see Troy Chimneys as something as a rebuttal to the civilized romance of Pride and Prejudice . . . The bite of sadness at the end of this surprising novel leaves a deeper gash than one expects from a book of such impeccable manners . . . Truly original.”

—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“The prose style is a brilliant tour de force. Miss Kennedy's flawless ear for language pro­duces a text not only lucid and pure, not only as moving as poetry, but unobtrusively yet surely of another time. There has never been anything to match it for sheer perfection, with the single exception of Stevenson: and Stevenson’s wit, though pawky, does not sparkle like Miss Kennedy's.”

—Lillian de la Torre, The New York Times

“Troy Chimneys is a disconcerting novel . . . [Kennedy] is disconcerting in her preoccupations, disconcerting in her methods, and technically more learned and experimental than many of her successors.”

—Anita Brookner

“An extremely accomplished re-creation of the period. Its texture has the richness that comes from a structure that is both elaborate and distinct . . . Another contrast in the work is the polished simplicity which indicates such a high degree of technical skill and the imaginative strangeness with which the picture is tinted. The felicities are numerous, now bold like landscape, now subtle as the variations of light.” 

—Elizabeth Jenkins, The Guardian

“It was light-touch satire, and wry and incisive social observation, that formed the common threads that bind Kennedy’s novels together . . . [She] combined imagination, observation and a powerful flair for human psychology to create real, walking, talking individuals whose choices had profound, often disastrous, repercussions that often spread far beyond their social spheres.”

—Serena Mackesy

“Troy Chimneys is a period piece of enormous wit and elegance . . . a most distinguished and beautifully mannered book.” 

—Birmingham Daily Gazette

“A brilliant pastiche . . . given with great subtlety and delicacy: [its] manner is superb. Miles Lufton’s every phrase, every reaction is authentically of its period, and yet flows so naturally that our sympathy for the man is never impeded by the need to acknowledge the cleverness of his author. But Miss Kennedy is a very clever author, and pays once again the rare compliment of assuming well-educated readers.” 

—Marghanita Laski, The Observer

“She combines imagination with delicate feeling, capturing the right atmosphere with a simple style that makes her story timeless.” 

—Times Literary Supplement

Margaret Kennedy (1896–1967) found popular acclaim before the age of thirty with her 1924 novel The Constant Nymph. It sold copies in the millions and spawned no fewer than three screen adaptations. One of the most successful and prolific British novelists of the twentieth century, she also produced literary criticism, plays, screenplays, and a biography of Jane Austen.

Troy Chimneys • Paperback ISBN: 9781946022301

Mar 8, 2022 • McNALLY EDITIONS no. 5

5" x 8.5" • 288 pages • $18.00

eBook ISBN: 9781946022363