Flora Poste, orphaned at 19 when he

Flora Poste, orphaned at 19 when her parents are both carried off by the 1919 Spanish flu epidemic, is penniless. Her only option is to throw herself on the charity of her remote Sussex relatives, the Starkadders – Judith, her preacher husband Amos, their sons Seth and Reuben, several other cousins (Harkaway, Urk, Ezra, and Caraway) including the dominant matriarchal figure of aunt Ada Doom – all living, or partly living, in Cold Comfort Farm, Howling, Sussex. The Starkadders’ farm is an ominous place with a priapic bull, Big Business, and a hopeless herd of Jersey cows – Graceless, Pointless, Aimless, and Feckless – attended by several taciturn, brooding rustic inhabitants. Among some memorable comic set-pieces, cousin Amos preaching hellfire and damnation to the congregation of the Church of the Quivering Brethren is a high point.