Behind the gates of Temple Alice the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires. Keane wrote plays and novels under the name of M.J. Farrell from 1926 to 1961 when her last play, Dazzling Prospect failed. She did not write again until 1981. Good Behaviour may not have seen the light of day if not for Keane’s friend actress Peggy  Ashcroft’s reading of the manuscript and urging her to publish – for the first time – under her own name.