The Ideal Wife

"The Ideal Wife was based on something I read about in a colour supplement, not that I’m much given to reading colour supplements, but it was about someone very local to where I live. He was a great fan of Rousseau . He adopted two girls with a view to keeping them and marrying whichever one turned out best – and marrying off the one that didn’t turn out so well. Which is a really creepy idea. He raised them on Rousseauian ideals. It’s a monstrous idea to adopt two orphaned children and raise them up to find out which one you fancy most – which one fits best to your ideals. He’s so wrapped up in himself that he doesn’t really notice the sexual aspect. His intentions are almost scholarly – scientific – but he’s cruel. He’s inadvertently absolutely wicked. He was eventually (in real life, I mean) killed by his horse. His horse kicked him in the head, which I would have liked to use in the book, but it didn’t lend itself."