The 27th Kingdom

The Roman Catholic Russian ancestors of Aunt Irene, the central character in Alice Thomas Ellis's new novel, were persecuted and forced to flee to the Ukraine, Lithuania, Austria "or as the story-tellers would have it, across 27 lands and 30 countries until they came to the 27th Kingdom." For the good, kind and infinitely friendly Aunt Irene, her handsome but wicked nephew, Kyril, and Focus, a cat of alarming intelligence, this is "Dancing Master House," a minute dwelling in the Chelsea. Two gossips, Mrs. O'Connor and Mrs. Mason, one "dead common" with criminal connections, the other an impoverished lady of the upper classes, clean for and take care of the needs of Aunt Irene and Kyril. From Wales, Irene's sister, the Mother Superior, sends Valentine, a beautiful, young West Indian postulant, ostensibly "to test her vocation" but really because of the embarrassing discovery that Valentine has miraculous powers. The story runs between angels and demons in a style which epitomizes the refreshing eccentricities of English humor.