Brigid Brophy writes with such style, elegance and wit that it is quite possible to read [Palace Without Chairs] without pausing to fathom the fable. It should first be said that this is often a very, very funny book, and also an extremely clever one. Whether it is the lethal exactitude of a pithy narrative phrase, a description of the setting-up of a committee to consider the provision of chairs in the uncomfortably unsedentary palace, or the consideration of the payment and nonproductivity of writers,… it all sparkles. The story is simple enough…. It is a fable of social and personal change and family responsibility. But, though the meaning is important, like all the best allegorists, Miss Brophy has created a wholly 'real' parallel world which it is a pleasure to enjoy just for itself. (p. 29)

Mary Hope, in The Spectator (© 1978 by The Spectator; reprinted by permission of...