Persimmon Tree

The Parrotts were a strange family. Not only did they live in isolation from their neighbours, but, more important, from each other. The father, Old Tom, ex All-Black, dour, unloving and unloved; the mother, remote, living within herself and flirting with the near reaches of insanity. Hildred, the favoured son, giving nothing but taking what he can. And Gerry, the elder son, inextricably linked to the property, alienated from and yet bound to his father.