The last novel Lash wrote before her premature death in 1993 is a dense family drama that centres on the relationship between Violet Farr, a middle-aged Irish woman, and her grandson, Spencer, the unwanted child of her son, himself the unloved product of her loveless marriage. In prose that is lavishly detailed - sometimes tiringly so - Blood Ties explores the troubled existence of a richly dysfunctional family. Yet it is not entirely bleak: when Spencer has a child and the family saga enters its fourth generation, a reconciliation of sorts is achieved and the novel ends on a relatively optimistic note. (Bloomsbury £6.99). EP