The Hound in the Left-hand Corner A Novel [Paperback]

In this brilliantly witty satire -- a bestseller in the UK -- a prestigious British museum launches an ambitious new exhibit...which quickly becomes a seasonal nightmare.
Think that a day in the life of a London museum director is cold, quiet, and austere? Think again. Giles Waterfield brings a combination of intellectual comedy and knockabout farce to the subject in this story of one long day in a museum full of scandals, screw-upsŠand more than a few scalawags.
At the beginning ofThe Hound in the Left-hand Corner,Auberon, the brilliant but troubled director of the Museum of British History, is preparing one midsummer's day for the opening of the most spectacular exhibition his museum has ever staged. The centerpiece is a painting of the intriguing Lady St. John strikingly attired as Puck, which hasn't been shown in London in a hundred years. As the day passes, the portrait arouses disquieting questions, jealousies, rivalries -- and more than a few strange affections -- in the minds of the museum staff. As guests and employees pour in, the tension rises -- and Auberon himself has the hilariously ridiculous task of keeping the peace, without losing his own sense of reality as well.
For everyone who loves the farce of David Lodge and Michael Frayn, or even theAntiques Roadshow,the fast-paced, hilarious satire ofThe Hound in the Left-hand Corneris sure to delight and entertain.Giles Waterfieldhas worked at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and as director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. He now writes, teaches, and curates exhibitions. His first novel,The Long Afternoon,published in England, won the McKitterick Prize in 2001.Chapter One

The Museum, 3 AM.

At 0300 hours the guard on patrol duty on the first floor is due to walk through Exhibition Suite One. In his central control room in the basement, with its cameras watching every public gallery, the staff corridors and meeting rlþ