Heartbreak House (Penguin Classics)

by David Hare (Introduction), George Bernard Shaw (Author), David Hare (Introduction), George Bernard Shaw (Author), George Bernard Shaw (Author), Dan Laurence (Editor), George Bernard Shaw (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2000

  $11.50

  When Ellie Dunn joins a house-party at the home of the eccentric Captain Shotover, she causes a stir with her decision to marry for money rather than love, and the Captain's forthright daughter Hesione protests vigorously against the pragmatic young woman's choice. Opinion on the matter quickly divides and a lively argument about money and morality, idealism and realism ensues as Hesione's rakish husband, snobbish sister and Ellie's fiance a wealthy industrialist enter the debate. Written between 1916 and 1917 as war raged across Europe, Heartbreak House is a telling indictment of the generation responsible for the First World War. With its bold combination of high farce and bitter tragedy, Shaw's play remains an uncannily prophetic depiction of a society on the threshold of an abrupt awakening.

• Used

  Paperback
  1970

  $3.26