The Way of the World and Other Plays

Nov 24, 2025 8:29 AM

Author:William Congreve

With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of 'society' where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation--and money--eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation--Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant--Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal.

'The language is everywhere that of Men of Honour, but their Actions are those of Knaves; a proof that he was perfectly well acquainted with human Nature, and frequented what we call polite company.' --Voltaire

'Congreve quitted the stage in disdain, and comedy left it with him.' --A contemporary

Reviews

A marvellous debut by any standards... Beautifully done

—— Sunday Telegraph

Witty, hard-edged and mouth-watering. A tightly crafted, vibrant book filled with the romance and hardships of family life, violence, music and butter

—— I-D

Rich and compelling. Warm social comedy, period detail and perceptive psychology... Kurlansky writes from the heart and taste-buds

—— Literary Review

Whimsical. Kurlansky's powers of description and humour are abundantly engaging... [An] impassioned, nostalgic, charmingly written novel

—— Daily Telegraph

Exuberant...hilarious. Recipes for some of the mouth-watering dishes mentioned in the book provide a satisfactorily eccentric coda to an original New York novel

—— Good Book Guide

Just dive in and mind the chocolate

—— Jewish Chronicle

'Very enjoyable...Evans writes with tremendous verve and dash. Her ear for dialogue is superb, and she has wit and sharp perception...A consistently readable book filled with likeable characters: a study of loss that has great heart and humour'

—— Independent

'A serious and accomplished first novel, an affecting study of togetherness and separation in a family, a marriage and, most importantly, between the twins'

—— Time Out

'An exciting and vibrant read. It's a weird and wonderful fairy-tale about the lives of twins...26a is brilliant and a great read'

—— Sunday Express

'Poetic, complex and lingering'

—— New Statesman

'Highly coloured, linguistically inventive...Evans has a powerful and often beguiling imagination'

—— Daily Telegraph

'Sensual and poetic, as well as powerful and uncompromising...A mature, compelling and beautiful first novel'

—— Times Literary Supplement

'The writing is both mature and freshly perceptive, creating not only a warmly funny novel of a Neasden childhood - with its engaging minutiae of flapjacks and icepops, lip gloss and daisy hairclips - but a haunting account of the loss of innocence and mental disintegration.'

—— Maya Jaggi , Guardian

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