It fits with "snow on the cover".

I tried to read this last year, but couldn't get into it. I'll give it another try this year.

I´m glad that you liked this book. I recently purchased this book and it is one my reading list for this December.

"Were all old English men such maliciously awful people? One wonders."

One does indeed ... in fact, the Golden Age authors would seem to be guilty of having created the cliché of the malicious tycoon / family patriarch singehandedly!