Barbarians

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It is 2008, late capitalism is in crisis, and the great and the good are gathered at an Islington house party. The hosts are waspish Sherard Howe, scion of a publishing dynasty and owner of a left-wing magazine, and his wife, Daphne, whose feminist work The Third Sex is seen as an intellectual cornerstone of the Blair era. The guests include cabinet ministers, celebrated artists and peers of the realm; but somehow it's doubtful that any number of grandees would overshadow Afua, the Howes' beautiful and ambitious adopted daughter, already a rising star of the Labour Party. Into this world arrives 24-year-old Elizabeth 'Buzzy' Price, an aspiring poet only too aware of her suburban background. Moral support is at hand from shy but devoted Henry, the Howes' biological son - though perhaps Buzzy is most grateful for her friend's connection to her own unrequited love, Afua's boyfriend, the worldly Marcel.