The Late Breakfasters

"I suppose calling anything by Robert Aickman weird or odd would be quite superfluous to those who are familiar with Aickman's enigmatic stories. The Late Breakfasters, an early, very hard to find, novel which was published in 1964, exhibits Aickman's standard absurdities and odd cast of characters but in clocking in at 250 pages is by far his longest work. Aickman allows himself more character development, particularly with the heroine of the novel, Griselda de Reptonville. The novel is a fine mix of drawing room comedy, Greek fairytale, feminist tract, a lesbian love story, a spoof of the upper classes, a screed against communism and the unwashed masses, and, I suppose, the death of a particular way of life... a truly strange and wonderful story." – Richard Romeo