Hugh Walpole

A Prayer for my Son Hugh Walpole

Mother learns of grandfather's sinister influence over the family which her young son has been living for ten years. This belongs to the Man With The Red Hair Walpole, and is again a story of a sadist, in this instance a grandfather with an overweening ego and a thirst for a gratification of his sense of power. The boy's mother, his aunt, the boy himself are prey to his madness, and the story gathers momentum until they are forced to escape from the setting which gives him his power. It's a skilful build-up of atmosphere and suspense.