Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope

Posted on 12 January 2025 by Katrina

Castle Richmond Book Cover

Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope was published in 1860, the setting is mainly County Cork, Ireland, at the time of the potato famine of 1846 – 47.

Castle Richmond is owned by Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, he’s wealthy with adult children, a son Herbert and two daughters. His wife, Lady Fitzgerald, had been married previously, but her husband had died in France apparently and Sir Thomas had set his lawyers to find evidence of his death before marrying. The eldest son is expected to inherit the estate and all that goes with it, and as was usual with wealthy Irish landowners Herbert hadn’t been trained in any profession for that reason. He has fallen in love with a local lass, Lady Clara, the young daughter of an impoverished but ‘aristocratic’ widow and they plan to marry. Unfortunately Lady Clara had been very briefly attached to Herbert’s cousin Owen Fitzgerald not long before. Her mother had put a stop to that as Owen didn’t have enough money for her liking, but more importantly she rather fancies the young man for herself despite him being years younger than her, young enough to be her son really. It’s a tricky situation especially as Owen is determined not to give up Clara.

When Sir Thomas begins to be visited by some English ne’er do wells – a father and son – Sir Thomas’s health takes a turn for the worse, something is obviously worrying him but he is keeping it to himself. Eventually he has to admit the reason for the visitors arriving, the worst has happened and it seems that Lady Fitzgerald’s first husband is still alive, which means that the children are all illegitimate and of course Herbert will not inherit anything at all, they will be penniless and homeless on the death of Sir Thomas – and cousin Owen will inherit the estate.

I did enjoy this book although some parts of the plot are predictable – see above, apparently it wasn’t one of Trollope’s more popular books. Parts of it are about the potato famine, I imagine that may not have been popular with readers but it is I’m sure a very authentic portrayal of those times, and it’s desperately sad. There’s also quite a bit of Protestant/Catholic antagonism with Trollope being more sympathetic to the Catholics, which won’t have gone down well with many readers.

There are some light moments though, when Herbert’s aunt is trying to persuade him to become a church minister, with an eye to him being a bishop:

Aunt Letty was strong for the Church. A young man who had distinguished himself at the University so signally as her nephew had done, taking his degree at the very first attempt, and that in so high a class of honour as the fourth, would not fail to succeed in the Church.

Who knew that there was such a thing as a fourth class degree?!

This is the first Trollope with an Irish setting that I’ve read. Related titles with a similar setting are

An Eye for an Eye

The Kellys and the O’Kellys

The Landleaguers

The Macdermots Of Ballycloran

I might get around to those ones – sometime.

It seems that I read An Eye for an Eye back in 2015 and I blogged about it then. That’s the advantage of blogging as I just had a vague memory that I might have read it, well it was about ten years ago.

Over the River by John Galsworthy

Posted on 16 December 2024 by Katrina

In Over the River by John Galsworthy Dinny Cherwell’s younger sister comes home from India where she had been for all of the seventeen months of her marrriage to the much older Sir Jerry Corven. She has left her high ranking British army officer husband as she’s unable to put up with his cruelty and brutality any more, she’s been thoroughly humiliated by him.

On the voyage back Clare has begun a friendship with Tony Croom, a man nearer her own age. He has fallen in love with Clare, but it’s all very platonic as far as Clare is concerned.

When the dastardly husband arrives in London to make Clare go back to him in India he’s outraged that as far as he is concerned she’s already moved on in her life. If she doesn’t go back to him he will sue Tony Croom, naming him as co-respondent in the divorce case, despite the fact that there is no evidence of infidelity. It will ruin Tony’s life, especially as the husband intends to ask for £2,000 as ‘damages’ from Tony.

This was a really good read, it features Fleur Forsyte and Michael Mont as minor characters.

As usual Galsworthy was writing about the hypocrisy of society, it was almost impossible for ordinary people to get a divorce, but even for wealthy people it wasn’t straightforward, especially if only one of the spouses wanted a divorce.

I can clearly remember the shenanigans that people had to get up to even in the late 1970s, involving private detectives and chamber maids in divorce courts as ‘witnesses’ to infidelity – not that Clare and Tony got up to anything nefarious at all, it just looked it.

Flowering Wilderness by John Galsworthy

Posted on 10 December 2024 by Katrina

Flowering Wilderness is the second last book of the last Forsyte trilogy (End of the Chapter), a nine book series which for years I thought ended with the death of Soames Forsyte, just as the TV dramatisation did – but it didn’t.

The year is 1930 and Dinny Cherrell (Cherwell) has fallen head over heals with Wilfred Desert, a fairly impoverished poet. He had been the best man at Dinny’s cousin’s (Michael Mont) wedding to Fleur Forsyte, and a few years after that he had caused ructions within that marriage which led to Wilfred leaving Britain for the Middle East. When he returns to London it seems that Wilfred is as besotted with Dinny as she is with him so all should be sweetness and light, but a rumour has reached London that while Wilfred was living in the Middle East he had been forced to renounce Christianity and become a Muslim – at the point of a gun!

Nowadays that would be a no brainer but back in 1930 among the upper classes it was an outrage – what sort of man wouldn’t be happy to have his brains blown out rather than abandon Christianity? Not that Wilfred was any sort of believer anyway.

Dinny doesn’t care a hoot about it all, and she’s happy to get married and follow him back on his eastern wanderings, but her parents think very differently, and when Wilfred makes matters worse by writing to a newspaper admitting his ‘conversion’ it makes the whole situation impossible as far as Dinny’s family is concerned.

This is a great read, Galsworthy’s books are full of social history, often highlighting the hypocrisy of the law, and of those in society who think they are above everyone else. I suppose Galsworthy was the Dickens of his day, but I’m not a big fan of Dickens, controversially (no doubt) I think Galsworthy is a better writer.

I’m now half way through the last book in this series, Over the River, and I hope to be able to review that one soon too.

L’Assommoir (The Drunkard) by Emile Zola

Posted on 12 May 2024 by Katrina

L’Assommoir by Emile Zola was first published in 1876. It’s the seventh book in his Rougon Macquart series. My copy of the book is a Penguin Classic, published in 1985, it was translated by Leonard Tancock. I think he made a really good job of it.

The story begins with the young mother Gervaise waking up and realising that her partner Lantier hasn’t come home overnight – for the first time – she’s desolate. The couple had got together when Gervaise was just 14 and Lantier 18 and Gervaise had their first child when she was 14. They moved to Paris from the countryside when Lantier came into some money, and they had lived the high life until the money ran out. He leaves Gervaise, runs off with a local woman and cons Gervaise into pawning her clothes before he goes, so she’s left with the clothes she stands up in, he even took the pawn tickets.

In truth he’s no loss though, Gervaise can get on better without him and eventually she takes up with Coupeau, a roofer, and they get married and have a daughter, Nana. Gervaise is a hard working laundress and dreams of having her own laundry, she’s able to save money but just as it looks like she’ll be able to become her own boss Coupeau has an accident, falling off a roof. Gervaise is determined to nurse him herself, not trusting the doctors in the hospital, it’s a slow recuperation but a bit of a miracle that he has survived at all. However, all of the money has been used up by the time he is able to get out of bed, but worse than that, his whole personality has changed.

Coupeau’s previous strong work ethic has evaporated, he had enjoyed lazing in bed, has probably lost his nerve anyway, roaming about on roofs doesn’t have the same appeal to him now. Worst of all is that he has gone from hardly drinking alcohol at all to meeting up with old workmates in bars and drinking the day away. But Gervaise never complains, she’s far too easy going.

She does get her dream though as she manages to borrow money from a neighbour whose son is sweet on Gervaise, and it isn’t long before her laundry business is doing very well, she’s good at her job. Nobody is perfect though and Gervaise is concerned with what others think of her, she has a kind nature but she also likes to show off and is generous to people, which all costs money. Food is her downfall, she loves to cook delicacies and a party is more like a Roman feast, with everyone stuffing themselves and drinking wine until they throw it up. But she ends up owing money to all the shopkeepers and she is keeping Coupeau in money, he has no intention of working, but has turned into a drunkard.

Things go from bad to worse when Lantier turns up again and moves in with them – well – he is the father of her sons, but you can imagine what the neighbours thought of that situation. Gervaise now has two men to feed, clothe and keep in alcohol. It all ends in tears of course.

So that’s the bare bones of the book, there are a lot more ins and outs. It’s a great read although grim. I’m reading this series all out of order which I don’t think is really a problem, but this one features the childhood of Etienne – of Germinal fame, and of course Nana. I didn’t mean to take so long to get around to reading more by Zola, hopefully I’ll get around to another one next month.

Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham – The 1937 Club

Posted on 21 April 2024 by Katrina

I was having a tough time finding a 1937 book to read that I hadn’t already read, until I realised that I had a copy of Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham in a Far and Wide omnibus edition. I really liked it, he was such a good writer. The 1937 week is hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.

In Theatre, Maugham, as a successful playwright was writing about a subject that he knew well. Julia and Michael are married and have become a celebrity couple over the years, with Michael concentrating on the business side of things as he realised that he didn’t have the talent to become a successful actor, unlike Julia. Michael is supposedly the best looking man in the country, which is what drew Julia to him in the first place, but they weren’t married long before Julia realised that he was a tight-fisted, narcissistic bore.

Julia is never off the stage, she’s always acting out her emotions, or the emotions that she thinks correct for the occasion, she’s completely artificial but seems to fool everyone, or so she thinks. It comes as a shock to her in her middle-age that others have been judging her, and she has been found to be wanting.

There’s obviously a lot more to the book than I’ve said, if you get the chance you should give it a go. I’m already planning to read another by Maugham soon.

The Years by Virginia Woolf

Posted on 1 March 2024 by Katrina

Previously I had read three of Virginia Woolf’s novels and I had decided that she really wasn’t my cup of tea, but I found The Years to be much more enjoyable, probably because it’s a bit of a family saga.

The chapters are headed with a date, beginning with 1880 and continuing to 1891, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1917, 1918 and ending with The Present Day (which of course was 1937.) The first and the last chapters are more novella than chapter length. The setting is London, where the Pargiter family live, they’re a middle class family headed by a father who had been in the army. Colonel Pargiter had been wounded in the Indian Mutiny so has a damaged hand. His wife is dying and is upstairs in her bedroom, strangely everyone seems just to be tired of the whole process, she’s taking too long to die, there seems to be no love there, even from the grown children. The colonel has a mistress, but that’s a rather tepid affair too.

Each chapter contains some of the members of the wider family, over the years some drop out of sight, and re-appear later on, just as often happens in families.

You would think that World War 1 would feature in those war years, but it really doesn’t, it’s still all very domestic. I thought this one was like a mini Forsyte Saga, but that might just be because it was set in the same era.

Jack also read this and blogged about it here.

Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf

Posted on 13 February 2024 by Katrina

Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf was published in 1941, but seems to have been written on the cusp of war. Not long after finishing this book Woolf had filled her pockets with stones and walked into the River Ouse, depression is a terrible thing. Her husband wrote that he didn’t think that she would have made much in the way of changes to the text, if she had lived. That’s a real shame as for me the best thing about this novella was that it was only 100 pages long. Suicide was obviously on her mind as she even mentions a man who had drowned himself.

About half of the book features a local village pageant, something which was popular in the days when people had to make their own entertainment, and also features in one of E F Benson’s Mapp and Lucia books, albeit briefly. A pageant is the sort of thing that people would have gone to because ‘their wee Jeannie’ or someone they knew had a bit part in it. I found it really boring. Between the acts of the play/pageant there’s chat among the audience.

The blurb says: Between the Acts, an account of a village pageant in the summer preceding the Second World War which successfully interweaves comedy, satire and disturbing observation.

Sadly it just didn’t do it for me. I’m a bit worried about having to read her The Years for the Classics Club spin, especially as it’s a lot longer.

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff

Posted on 8 March 2023 by Katrina

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff was first published in 1931 but my copy is a Persephone reprint.

The Stevens family of London consisting of mum, dad, grown son Dick and daughter Mary and younger son Ernie, always have a fortnight in September at Bognor. They always stay at the same boarding house which over the years has got shabbier and shabbier but they stay loyal to Mrs Haykin the owner. As both their older children are now out working there had been talk of Dick and Mary going elsewhere for their holiday this year, but that idea had come to nothing so Mr and Mrs Stevens are extra happy to be going away as normal as a family, it might be the last time.

There’s not a lot going on in this tale, the family pack and arrange for the luggage to be taken to the railway station, buy train tickets, worry about getting seats on the train, eat their sandwiches and resent the other travellers. But arriving at ‘Seaview’ in Bognor is like slipping on an old pair of comfy shoes to them, it’s going to be a great holiday – and it is, with wonderful weather.

Money has always been a bit tight for the family and they’re thrilled when the father decides that they will just be able to afford to hire a beach hut this time, it’s such a luxury. Everything is carefully calculated including the ginger beer they drink with their meals, and the bottle of port as a medicine for Mrs Stevens which Dick carefully marks with fourteen lines so that she knows how much to pour out each evening.

This is a real comfort read about a very ordinary family who presumably live in Sydenham as their home has a view of the Crystal Palace which is half a mile away. They’re such a lovely set of people though and as families go they’re very close, possibly because they don’t live in each other’s pockets and have some time away from each other doing their own thing. It’s their kindness and loyalty to old Mrs Haykin that marks them out as decent people, standing above others who might presume to be their betters, it’s an unexpectedly entertaining read.

I did think though while I was reading this book that young Ernie should have been at school in September, and his elder siblings too when they were still of school age. Presumably that was because Mr Stevens was so budget conscious, and September boarding house prices were lower than July or August rates.

Lady Susan / The Watsons / Sanditon by Jane Austen

Posted on 30 December 2022 by Katrina

As it’s almost the end of the year I’m just ‘redding up’ (tidying/clearing up) my book reviews. Actually I must admit that this isn’t even a review, just a mention that as expected I enjoyed re-reading Jane Austen’s Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon. However, it’s so long since I actually read the books that I can’t really go into any details!

Luckily Jack read them just before I did so if you’re interested in his thoughts you can have a look here. Can you believe that Jack had never read anything by Jane Austen before 2019?!

Pining for the West

Meanderings about recipes, books, craft and more

Tag Archives: classic literature