The Shooting Party - by Isabel Colegate (Paperback)

About the Book

It is the autumn of 1913, and Sir Randolph Nettleby has assembled a brilliant array of guests at his Oxfordshire estate for the biggest shoot of the season. An army of servants and gamekeepers has rehearsed the intricate age-old ritual of the house and hunt. The gentlemen are falling into the prescribed mode of fellowship and good-humored sporting rivalry. The fashionable ladies are exchanging the latest gossip. Everything about this splendid weekend would seem a perfect affirmation of the privileges and certainties of Edwardian country life.
And yet, as Isabel Colegate so elegantly dramatizes, it is not. The social and moral code of this set is under siege from within and without. Competition beyond the bounds of sportsmanship, revulsion at the slaughter of animals, anger at the inequities of class -- these and other forces are about to rise up and challenge the social peace, a peace that can hold only a brief while longer.

Book Synopsis

"A beautifully crafted novel, remarkably visual and evocative. The characters are caught in stunning images and tableaux that convey the essence of their natures, the sweep of their emotions." --The Washington Post

In the autumn of 1913, Sir Randolph Nettleby assembles a brilliant array of guests at his Oxfordshire estate for the biggest pheasant hunt of the season. An army of gamekeepers, beaters, and servants has rehearsed the intricate age-old ritual, and everything about this splendid weekend promises a perfect consummation of the pleasures afforded the privileged in Edwardian England.

And yet it is not: the moral and social code of this group is not so secure as it appears. Competition beyond the bounds of sportsmanship, revulsion at the slaughter of the animals, anger at the inequities of class--these forces are about to rise up and engulf the assured social peace, a peace that can last only a brief while longer. In imagining Sir Randolph's shooting party, wrote The Spectator, "Colegate has found a perfect metaphor for the passing of a way of life."

"The Shooting Party is a lovely piece of writing, in which subtlety, irony, and close observation abound." --Larry McMurtry

Review Quotes

"A beautifully crafted novel, remarkably visual and evocative. The characters are caught in stunning images and tableaux that convey the essence of their natures, the sweep of their emotions." --The Washington Post

"Colegate's prose is dimly luminous, like ancient silver . . . A feast of elegant writing." --Los Angeles Times

"A novel of unusual force and flavor." --The New Yorker

"Colegate explores a world--upper-class England on the eve of the Great War--with affection and distance, recording its grace as well as its cruelty . . . finally making it both meaningful and moving." --The Atlantic

"Poised, wry, lovable, informative . . . An utterly complete rendering of a way of life." --Gail Godwin, author of Queen of the Underworld

"The Shooting Party is a lovely piece of writing, in which subtlety, irony, and close observation abound." --Larry McMurtry

About the Author

ISABEL COLEGATE was the acclaimed author of many bestselling books, including The Orlando Trilogy, Statues in a Garden, and Winter Journey. The Shooting Party, first published in 1980, was an international bestseller and the winner of the W. H. Smith Literary Award for the British book of the year. It was made into a celebrated motion picture starring James Mason, Edward Fox, and John Gielgud. Colegate lived near Bath, England, and died in 2023.