What a wonderful book.I first read this book many, many years ago and it has always lingered. It is at its most simple a very beautiful story of love and at its most complex, a powerful story of the loss and sorrow of the First World War, a commentary on the fast changing social, family and economic climate that occurred after the war, and the effects this has on Claire, Benedict and the rest of the Swanfield family plus Kit and Euan and other characters within the story. Each character has their own complicated story. Miriam Swanfield– the matriarch – seemingly shallow and frivolous, but underneath deeply shrewd and calculating, whose socialite way of life has been upended by the war and the loss of her son Jeremy, and the knowledge that the pre-war rigid rules of class and status have changed forever.Nola Swanfield – an unhappy, lost, unloved woman. Constantly seeking new friends and causes to try and keep the tedium and frustration of her life at bay, only to find herself ever more lost.Eunice Swanfield – so smotheringly devoted and protective of her husband and her children, that she wrongly perceives enemies everywhere and alienates herself in the process.Polly Swanfield – spoilt, silly and self obsessed. Desperate for adventure and fun, who feels that the war has ruined her chances of attaining a wealthy husband so rushes head first into the post war freedom for young women of the flapper age of night clubs, cocktails and dancing.Toby Swanfield – lazy and enjoys rather too much the finer things in life, good-natured but cowardly, stunted by his over bearing wife Eunice. Benedict Swanfield – the head of the family. A cold, enigmatic and cynical man, trapped as much by his responsibilities within the family and his position as head of Swanfield Mills, as his own cynical indifference.Euan Ash – a young gentleman Officer, broken by his experiences during the war, and unable to feel that anything really matters anymore, including himself.Kit Hardie – likeable, strong, confident and always ambitious. A Butler to the Swanfield’s before the war who has now risen to the rank of Major, and realises that times are changing and that he has opportunities open to him, that he would not have had previously and intends to make the most of them. Claire Swanfield – a very young bride at the outbreak of the war, now widowed and returned from four years nursing on the battlefields of France. Like Euan, she has her own loss and terrible memories, but has an indefatigable generousity of spirit, and believes that life and love have to be grabbed at and held onto as long as one can.This book is beautifully, sometimes harrowingly, sometimes joyfully written and I found myself savouring the almost stark but poetic quality of the prose. The book starts at the close of the war and with Claire returning as a widow to the Yorkshire town of Faxby, a very different woman from the young child bride of Jeremy Swanfield, that she was when she left. Now grown up and changed by her terrible experiences, she feels stifled by the expectations of both her own family and her late husband’s family the Swanfield’s and at a loss with what to do with her life. Brenda Jagger weaves the story around all the trials and tribulations of the other characters with Claire at the centre, and her growth through love and sorrow, to a strong, independent woman who helps others to better understand themselves and in so doing finally understands herself. This book does not have a traditional happy ever after, but a more realistic conclusion where Claire is at peace with her decisions. I loved this book – and was completely gripped throughout, and enjoying it so much I almost didn’t want to reach the end. I will definitely be reading more of Brenda Jagger’s books.
