Once the powerful head of a global media corporation, aging Henry Dunbar hands over the business to his elder daughters Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom his decision. Now imprisoned in the upscale Meadowmeade sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian for company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels—but who will find him first, his beloved youngest daughter Florence, or Abby and Megan, so keen to divest him of his estate? Renowned for his five Patrick Melrose novels, Edward St. Aubyn's retooling of Shakespeare's King Lear is a scathing examination of power and the possibility of forgiveness.