If I were to summarize The Wheel of Fortune in one sentence, it would be Downton Abbey on Steroids. (And, yes, I realize that's a phrase and not a sentence.) You've got scandals, you've got forbidden romance, you've got bodies and butlers and wars galore. It's easy to imagine Julian Fellowes scratching out notes as he pored over Susan Howatch's tome on the manor life.
Howatch gives us the Godwin family with their lovely home of Oxmoon set deep in the Welsh countryside. Just as Mary would stop at nothing to have her family home, so too are the various Godwins possessed, driven to all manner of madness and ill-deeds by the pull of lovely Oxmoon. "Take me back to Oxmoon, the Oxmoon of our childhood" becomes a regular refrain throughout the years and generations. (Really, I must break this streak of multi-generational sagas!)
By shifting perspectives regularly - here a hundred pages from the perspective of Robert, there a hundred or so from Ginevra, and so on - Howatch also makes the reader think about the ways in which events are perceived by different members of a family, or even a husband and wife. Howatch provides a primer on how skeletons find their way into the closet, and occasionally back out, as well as the burdens of blood and birth.
The Wheel of Fortune is long.There's no question that it's well-written or has a plot that draws the reader in. Reading it, though, is definitely a commitment.
Three-and-a-half stars.
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
The American Heiress
Perhaps I might have liked The American Heiress better if the protagonist - the American heiress who weds an English duke and with her considerable fortune revives his estate - were not named Cora. To say nothing of one of Cora's few friends and kindhearted characters being named Sybil. Downton Abbey much?
Cora Cash is the richest girl in America, with the most overbearing mother. Her mother has decided that Cora needs a title, and takes her husband-shopping in England. Cora is particularly distressed, as she would have preferred to marry her dear friend Teddy, who deems her fortune too great a burden and sends her packing. Cora falls into the lap, almost literally, of an impoverished duke, with his own sorry history. They marry, and naturally misunderstand one another utterly.
I've said this about other books in the past, and it sounds a little tired, but this isn't a bad book. It's not badly written, the characters aren't overly tedious or annoying. It's just not the book for me. Interestingly, author Daisy Goodwin's name was seemed familiar to me, and I searched my blog where I discovered that a few years ago, I read another of her books, The Fortune Hunter. Re-reading my post, it seems as if I felt the same way about that one.
Final verdict: utterly forgettable, but also completely harmless.
Cora Cash is the richest girl in America, with the most overbearing mother. Her mother has decided that Cora needs a title, and takes her husband-shopping in England. Cora is particularly distressed, as she would have preferred to marry her dear friend Teddy, who deems her fortune too great a burden and sends her packing. Cora falls into the lap, almost literally, of an impoverished duke, with his own sorry history. They marry, and naturally misunderstand one another utterly.
I've said this about other books in the past, and it sounds a little tired, but this isn't a bad book. It's not badly written, the characters aren't overly tedious or annoying. It's just not the book for me. Interestingly, author Daisy Goodwin's name was seemed familiar to me, and I searched my blog where I discovered that a few years ago, I read another of her books, The Fortune Hunter. Re-reading my post, it seems as if I felt the same way about that one.
Final verdict: utterly forgettable, but also completely harmless.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Murder Most Malicious
Murder Most Malicious is a lighthearted murder mystery set at one of England's great manor houses just as the first World War has drawn to a close. It's not often that I would describe a murder mystery as "lighthearted" but Alyssa Maxwell writes with a breeziness that seems to convey to the reader to not become too overwrought.
So. It's Christmas, 1918, the war has finally ended, the men are finally home - those who do not lie in Flanders field, at least - and all is merry and bright. The Renshaws - Lord and Lady and the like - are hosting a large gathering at their estate, Foxwood Hall, when one of the guests is discovered missing in a most unpleasant manner. The local constable believes he has the case sewn up neatly, but 19-year-old Lady Phoebe is certain he has the wrong man. It's up to her and her ladies maid, Anna...er, Eva, to catch the real culprit before anyone else is hurt.
As you may have guessed from the paragraph above, Murder Most Malicious put me in the Downton Abbey frame of mind almost from the opening page. The Renshaws, like the Crawleys, have three daughters, the oldest of whom is a bit of a cold fish. The middle daughter, Lady Phoebe, is the most sympathetic, so she's no Edith, but Mr. Giles could easily be Mr. Carson. In many ways, the similarities are not surprising, given that M3 was published in late 2015, well into Downton's run as the definitive source on Britain's WWI experience. I should add, too, that the similarities with Downton in no way take away from Maxwell's writing or the mystery at the heart of the book.
Murder Most Malicious is no Agatha Christie, where the reader is blindsided by the developments and can rarely guess the outcome. It's in the same class as the Kalorama Shakedown or M.C. Beaton: good, fun, quick, and certainly not too dark.
So. It's Christmas, 1918, the war has finally ended, the men are finally home - those who do not lie in Flanders field, at least - and all is merry and bright. The Renshaws - Lord and Lady and the like - are hosting a large gathering at their estate, Foxwood Hall, when one of the guests is discovered missing in a most unpleasant manner. The local constable believes he has the case sewn up neatly, but 19-year-old Lady Phoebe is certain he has the wrong man. It's up to her and her ladies maid, Anna...er, Eva, to catch the real culprit before anyone else is hurt.
As you may have guessed from the paragraph above, Murder Most Malicious put me in the Downton Abbey frame of mind almost from the opening page. The Renshaws, like the Crawleys, have three daughters, the oldest of whom is a bit of a cold fish. The middle daughter, Lady Phoebe, is the most sympathetic, so she's no Edith, but Mr. Giles could easily be Mr. Carson. In many ways, the similarities are not surprising, given that M3 was published in late 2015, well into Downton's run as the definitive source on Britain's WWI experience. I should add, too, that the similarities with Downton in no way take away from Maxwell's writing or the mystery at the heart of the book.
Murder Most Malicious is no Agatha Christie, where the reader is blindsided by the developments and can rarely guess the outcome. It's in the same class as the Kalorama Shakedown or M.C. Beaton: good, fun, quick, and certainly not too dark.
Monday, November 16, 2015
White Mischief: The Murder of Lord Erroll
In the midst of World War II, Lord Erroll was murdered in Kenya. His circle of wealthy aristocratic friends closed ranks - and as a notorious womanizer (among other character flaws) - there was no shortage of suspects who might have wanted Erroll dead. Still, police closed in pretty quickly on Sir Jock Delves Broughton, whose young wife was Erroll's latest conquest. In fact, she planned to run off with him. He was arrested, tried, and ultimately found not guilty - yet the question lingered, did he do it and, if not, then who did?
In somewhat the same way as Donnie Eichar became interested and then obsessed in the mystery of who or what killed a party of Russian hikers in the 1950s, so James Fox became obsessed by who killed Lord Erroll in 1941. He worked on the case from 1969 to 1984, when he published White Mischief, and there is no reason to believe he has got it wrong.
More interesting than the death of Lord Erroll is the colonial life in Kenya. The overwhelming majority of the expats succumbed to the "Three A's": alcohol, altitude, and adultery. It is a life not unlike the one described by Lady Pamela Hicks in, My Life As a Mountbatten, in which she recounts her parents' lovers who lived with the family at various times, or the very unhappy Porchey and Catherine Carnarvon. (In fact, Porchey makes an appearance or two in White Mischief, and years later Fox visits Highclere Castle to learn what the Carnarvons make of it all. It's a bit surreal to read descriptions of the rooms I've come to know so well from the set of Downton Abbey!)
Ultimately, my verdict is that White Mischief is interesting for its examination of the colonial ruling class in Kenya, particularly in the midst of a world war. Fox does the field of journalism proud in his dogged pursuit of the aged and far-flung protagonists as he pieces this back together decades after the fact. Still, I wouldn't put this in the must-read category.
In somewhat the same way as Donnie Eichar became interested and then obsessed in the mystery of who or what killed a party of Russian hikers in the 1950s, so James Fox became obsessed by who killed Lord Erroll in 1941. He worked on the case from 1969 to 1984, when he published White Mischief, and there is no reason to believe he has got it wrong.
More interesting than the death of Lord Erroll is the colonial life in Kenya. The overwhelming majority of the expats succumbed to the "Three A's": alcohol, altitude, and adultery. It is a life not unlike the one described by Lady Pamela Hicks in, My Life As a Mountbatten, in which she recounts her parents' lovers who lived with the family at various times, or the very unhappy Porchey and Catherine Carnarvon. (In fact, Porchey makes an appearance or two in White Mischief, and years later Fox visits Highclere Castle to learn what the Carnarvons make of it all. It's a bit surreal to read descriptions of the rooms I've come to know so well from the set of Downton Abbey!)
Ultimately, my verdict is that White Mischief is interesting for its examination of the colonial ruling class in Kenya, particularly in the midst of a world war. Fox does the field of journalism proud in his dogged pursuit of the aged and far-flung protagonists as he pieces this back together decades after the fact. Still, I wouldn't put this in the must-read category.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey
Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey is the Countess of Carnarvon's second book chronicling the lives and times of the inhabitants of Highclere, aka Downton Abbey. The family at the center of this book is that of American-born Catherine, who was descended of two of New York's first families, the Wendalls and the Lowells as well as the first family of the south, the Lees, and the sixth earl, known to all as Porchey.
Unlike Prochey's parents, Lady Almina and the fifth earl, Catherine and Porchey seem to have been rather unhappy. This might have had more than a little something to do with his inveterate womanizing. Of course, the years following the Great War were not easy ones for the heirs of the great houses, and what the Roaring Twenties wrought came due in the form of the Great Depression and World War II, the latter of which features especially prominently in this book. (As a side note, the Countess's first book, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, covers the reign, if you will, of the fifth earl, which coincided with World War I.)
One of the aspects of Lady Catherine that I really enjoyed was the warts-and-all treatment of the principle characters. The Countess has endeavored to give her readers a true portrait of the family and the events that affected them, rather than creating a glowing and distorted one. Porchey, for example, does not come off particularly well - he is a poor money manager, a questionable judge of character, and a cheating husband (though a generous ex). And one assumes that his image has softened with the passage of time. Catherine struggles with alcohol and loneliness - more than once she escapes the world by entering a monastery - though she can also be quite spunky in a Debs at War kind of way.
Although I preferred Lady Almina to Lady Catherine, this is still an interesting and worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in English great houses and history. Also, the photos are really great.
Unlike Prochey's parents, Lady Almina and the fifth earl, Catherine and Porchey seem to have been rather unhappy. This might have had more than a little something to do with his inveterate womanizing. Of course, the years following the Great War were not easy ones for the heirs of the great houses, and what the Roaring Twenties wrought came due in the form of the Great Depression and World War II, the latter of which features especially prominently in this book. (As a side note, the Countess's first book, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, covers the reign, if you will, of the fifth earl, which coincided with World War I.)
One of the aspects of Lady Catherine that I really enjoyed was the warts-and-all treatment of the principle characters. The Countess has endeavored to give her readers a true portrait of the family and the events that affected them, rather than creating a glowing and distorted one. Porchey, for example, does not come off particularly well - he is a poor money manager, a questionable judge of character, and a cheating husband (though a generous ex). And one assumes that his image has softened with the passage of time. Catherine struggles with alcohol and loneliness - more than once she escapes the world by entering a monastery - though she can also be quite spunky in a Debs at War kind of way.
Although I preferred Lady Almina to Lady Catherine, this is still an interesting and worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in English great houses and history. Also, the photos are really great.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
Lady Almina is the history of the life and times of the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, i.e., the real-life counterpart of Cora Crawley. Almina Wombwell was an heiress to the Rothschild fortune whose marriage to the Earl of Carnarvon shored up Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey, at the turn of the 20th century. Lady Almina was a bit of a fireball, traveling regularly with her husband to Egypt (where he would eventually discover King Tut's tomb, then die of blood poisoning on the eve of its full uncovering) and, perhaps most importantly, helping to make nursing a proper and respectable profession for women - young and old - of the upper class. The ladies who came of age a decade later (whose own remarkable stories are told in Debs at War), likely owe much Lady Almina (and a small handful of similarly minded women like her).
Lady Almina is remarkable not only for its connections to Downton Abbey - for example, the distinctive green wall coverings in the drawing room that figures prominently in many DA episodes, were the work of Lady Almina - but for the family and castle's own history during World War I. Highclere, yes, was a hospital for wounded officers during the war and the author, the current Countess of Carnarvon, reminds her readers that such hospitals were the backbone of a healthcare system that largely did not otherwise exist, hospitals and doctors being largely, almost exclusively, funded by wealthy individuals. Before and after it was a hospital, though, Highclere was the playground of the good and great of English society. T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, was a family friend and Highclere visitor; Lady Almina provides an interesting perspective on some of the events described in Hero, particularly in relation to the partitioning of the Middle East. Lady A's husband and brother-in-law were well-regarded experts on the Middle East and their despair at the broken promises of self-government and nationhood are as palpable as those of Lawrence in Hero.
Although the reader is treated to plenty of grand spectacles, especially early in the book (after all, Almina reigned as Countess for nearly twenty years before World War I), Lady Almina does not shy away from the horrors of the Great War. Many of the passages surrounding the war itself, particularly the battle of Gallipoli, rival the intensity of the descriptions in The Beauty and the Sorrow (still the best, most complete book I have read on World War I).
The Countess of Carnarvon does an exquisite job of illuminating a bygone era and anyone with even a passing interest in late Victorian, Edwardian, or World War I history should find it fascinating - to say nothing of Downton Abbey fans. Lady Almina seems to have been quite a character and one can only imagine that she would highly approve of her literary reincarnation.
Lady Almina is remarkable not only for its connections to Downton Abbey - for example, the distinctive green wall coverings in the drawing room that figures prominently in many DA episodes, were the work of Lady Almina - but for the family and castle's own history during World War I. Highclere, yes, was a hospital for wounded officers during the war and the author, the current Countess of Carnarvon, reminds her readers that such hospitals were the backbone of a healthcare system that largely did not otherwise exist, hospitals and doctors being largely, almost exclusively, funded by wealthy individuals. Before and after it was a hospital, though, Highclere was the playground of the good and great of English society. T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, was a family friend and Highclere visitor; Lady Almina provides an interesting perspective on some of the events described in Hero, particularly in relation to the partitioning of the Middle East. Lady A's husband and brother-in-law were well-regarded experts on the Middle East and their despair at the broken promises of self-government and nationhood are as palpable as those of Lawrence in Hero.
Although the reader is treated to plenty of grand spectacles, especially early in the book (after all, Almina reigned as Countess for nearly twenty years before World War I), Lady Almina does not shy away from the horrors of the Great War. Many of the passages surrounding the war itself, particularly the battle of Gallipoli, rival the intensity of the descriptions in The Beauty and the Sorrow (still the best, most complete book I have read on World War I).
The Countess of Carnarvon does an exquisite job of illuminating a bygone era and anyone with even a passing interest in late Victorian, Edwardian, or World War I history should find it fascinating - to say nothing of Downton Abbey fans. Lady Almina seems to have been quite a character and one can only imagine that she would highly approve of her literary reincarnation.
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