- Title:
- Under Major Domo Minor
- By:
- Patrick deWitt
- Pages:
- 352
- Rating:
- 4
Lucy Minor is the resident odd duck in the hamlet of Bury. He is a compulsive liar, a sickly weakling in a town famous for begetting brutish giants. Then Lucy accepts employment assisting the majordomo of the remote, foreboding Castle Von Aux. While tending to his new post as undermajordomo, he soon discovers the place harbours many dark secrets, not least of which is the whereabouts of the castle’s master, Baron Von Aux. Thus begins a tale of polite theft, bitter heartbreak, domestic mystery, and cold-blooded murder.
Undermajordomo Minor is an ink-black comedy of manners, an adventure, and a mystery, and a searing portrayal of rural Alpine bad behaviour, but above all it is a love story. And Lucy must be careful, for love is a violent thing.
Words can’t really express the total weirdness of this story. I found myself almost guiltily hooked and coming back for more not because I was so engaged in the characters, but just for the flow of the words. I can’t say it’s a book i’d read again, but it certainly had a charm and appeal while I was in there.