Posted in
|
Elizabeth Jane Howard
|
|
||
|
Genre
|
|||
|
Media
|
Book
|
||
Publisher | Pan | ||
ISBN | 978-033042712 | ||
|
Reviewer
|
Ann
|
Synopsis
This is a beautiful, very moving, melancholic and elegiac novel set in the late 1960s in Melton, a small town in the West Country. The story revolves around a disparate group of people who come together there to establish an arts festival. There is Jack Curtis a self-made millionaire who has bought and refurbished the local stately home, Florence Plover, a garden designer in her sixties whom he has employed and her Anglo-Greek niece, Persephone. There are the Musgrove siblings, Thomas and Mary, whose family originally owned Melton Hall, who run a failing garden nursery nearby and there is Francis Brock, whose sister Celia, Thomas' wife, was tragically killed in a car crash some years previously. This is the story of their intertwining relationships and how they come to love, and not to love each other in different ways and why - a perfect book to curl up and read by the fireside on an autumn afternoon and as satisfying a read as "Brief Encounter" is a film.
Review
An elegantly written, gentle novel, concerned with emotions rather than plot. It seemed the author wanted to explore the many aspects of love, but didn't quite manage to tie them into a cohesive story.
I found it unbelievable, too many stereotypical characters to care about, except maybe Floy - the elderly spinster gardener. Lots of irrelevant matters such as why Percy is half-greek, its of no import in the tale and is never mentioned after the initial explanation of why she is alone.
From the start there were obviously too many men to women so it always was a question of who gets the prizes, and who doesn't. But, as hinted, could Jack, the insecure millionaire businessman really settle with Rosalie, the promiscuous hippy single mother ? Also well drawn characters who are really extraneous, why is Reggie in there ? or Juan, or Hugo, or the Admiral, and what happened to Miss Fanshawe ? I know in real life ends don't always get neatly tied up, but this is a novel and I was left disappointed in the finale.
If you enjoy what we provide, please consider making a donation.
