Very Like a Whale

and sexual skirmishing in the Kensington outback, on the fringes of Winkhill golf club and in a smart Basque resort are some of the elements of this novel. The Whales are solid, passive and prone to daydreams but their respectable façade threatens to crumble when external forces infiltrate their family unit. Pheasant-shooting on the Wiltshire downs; East-West conflict in a Berlin night club; infighting in city boardrooms; and sexual skirmishing in the Kensington outback, on the fringes of Winkhill golf club and in a smart Basque resort are some of the elements of this novel. The story concerns the Whale family: Hervey, a less than brilliant Tory Minister; his father, an amiable retired Brigadier; his vague wife Cynthia, and their son George, a young man working in a merchant bank. The Whales are solid, passive and prone to daydreams but their respectable façade threatens to crumble when external forces infiltrate their family unit. Very Like a Whale, Ferdinand Mount's first novel, displays quiet wit and elegance as he explores the underlying theme of power in personal relations.