An Uneasy Inheritance

FascinatingSpectator
EntertainingSunday Times
EnthrallingGuardian
Beautiful, funny and movingDaily Mail
Compelling and movingObserver
Replete with vivid - often hilarious, often shocking - anecdotesFinancial Times

While for generations Polly Toynbees ancestors have been committed left-wing rabble-rousers railing against injustice, they could never claim to be working class, settling instead for the prosperous life of academia or journalism enjoyed by their own forebears. So where does that leave their ideals of class equality?

Through a colourful, entertaining examination of her own family - which in addition to her writer father Philip and her historian grandfather Arnold contains everyone from the Glenconners to Jessica Mitford to Bertrand Russell, and features ancestral home Castle Howard as a backdrop - Toynbee explores the myth of mobility, the guilt of privilege, and asks for a truly honest conversation about class in Britain.