Image of a Society by Roy Fuller

First published in 1956, this novel is still relevant and still a cracker. Beautifully written, it deals with some rather anal people in the upper echelon of a Northern England building society.
Fuller does wonderful work with this unpromising material. A man in line for promotion agonizes over the parking spot; the society's lawyer is in thrall to dominating parents; there is much SHY WRANGLING over things that shouldn't matter; and there is an affaire.
The novel is so beautifully crafted I didn't want to put it down. The characters who "strut and fret their hour upon the stage" are real. The book wouldn't be everyone's cup of cocoa but it was certainly mine.