The Mistress of Hannasbury

By: M C Collins, Susan M Gaffney

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In 1926, five years on from the death of her husband, and her ignominious exit from a newly independent Ireland, Lady Pamela Collingwood of Kilcargin finds herself homeless when her wealthy lover abandons her for a younger woman. Estranged from her daughter and disowned by her sister, she turns to her old schoolfriend and ex-lover Grace: now the wife of an eccentric, social-climbing industrialist with dreams of becoming a champion racing driver. Pamela is offered sanctuary at their vast country estate on the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens, but the two old friends quickly discover that their schoolgirl attraction still simmers, shaking the foundations of Grace’s idyllic, yet unfulfilling marriage.

M. C. Collins is the niece and literary executor of obscure New Zealand writer Susan M. Gaffney, whose posthumous lesbian novel, Eve of Kilcargin, she completed and published in 2023 from an unfinished manuscript presumed lost since the 1950s. In this not-quite-sequel, Collins follows Pamela, the grasping and frequently drunk mother of Gaffney’s titular heroine, on her journey towards redemption. The Mistress of Hannasbury is sure to delight those left wanting more at the conclusion of Eve, but may be enjoyed in its own right as a humorous exploration of middle-age ennui, and the rekindling of old flames.