Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane (Virago Modern Classics, 1990, originally published in 1952)

 

This novel (originally published under the pseudonym M. J. Farrell), is about three generations of an Anglo-Irish family who inherit a magnificent family house, full of beautiful and valuable things, but have no money to maintain it, so must resort to hosting "paying guests," an idea the younger generation, who are most responsible, propose, but that the careless and selfish middle generation reject and attempt to sabotage.  The paying guests are three wealthy Londoners eager to escape the deprivations of post-WWII England, and imagine that at an Irish castle they will be warm, well-fed, and cosseted.  They are immediately and severely disappointed, but stay on nevertheless, and eventually things work themselves out, much helped by the discovery of precious rubies hidden in a stuffed bird.

Molly Keane writes with eccentric brio and originality.  Her thoughts, and sentences, are odd and interesting, and one feels fortunate to experience the world from her unique point of view.