On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey arrives at the Claremont, where she is to spend the rest of her life. Her housemates - wonderfully eccentric and endlessly curious - live off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, they fend off their greatest enemies, boredom and death, thanks to the famous British stiff upper lip. One day, Mrs. Palfrey unexpectedly befriends the impoverished young writer Ludo, who uses her as a model for his novel. "A great author - the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike." Daniel Baddiel, The Independent.