I am craving a new book to read, but I have a very specific craving.
Something similar to:
- FitzOsbornes in Exile (and A Brief History of Montmaray but I liked Exile more)
- The American Heiress
- Downton Abbey
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Brideshead Revisited (although I didn’t LOVE it, but it has the setting I might like)
I’m thinking a book that deals with:
- upper class (but can also have other lower class characters)
- late 1800s to beginning of WWII (but nothing set in the frontlines of a war), but I lean towards 1900 – 1920s
- European in setting but would also be open to the northeast US
- realistic
- somewhat literary – I don’t want a bodice-ripper or trash, but I also do not require a literary masterpiece
- can be YA but am thinking it will be easier to fill my needs with adult fiction
Any ideas? I’m coming up dry so far.
Have you read Martin Boyd’s Langton Quartet? I’ve only read A Difficult Young Man (#2) many years ago but sounds like what you are seeking. The first book is The Cardboard Crown, and although it begins in 1949 this book looks back to the narrator’s grandmother in late 1800s. The quartet moves through from then to WW1 and crosses, as does the family, back and forth between England and Australia. Boyd uses much of his own famous family history and it is beautifully written. See Perry Middlemiss’ Aus lit page on Boyd. He includes some info and the first para for 3 of the 4. I might just take my own advice on this as well.
http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/boydm/boydm.html#bibliography
Wow, that sounds good! I’ll have to track it down. Thanks!
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