'Communism's all right for a gentleman like yourself, but you'll get over it.'

The Kettlewells are a dysfunctional family. Richard is an old Etonian whose business ventures are failing. Over one crowded weekend, his daughter Pamela, whom he hardly knows, returns from Russia, a passionate communist; his ex-wife and mistress both turn up; and his butler has a big win at the races.

The Roundabout is a funny, touching, highly perceptive look at England in the 1930s, when it looked, just possibly, as if the social order might be changing.