This is part two of "The Avenue"-- to be read after The Dreaming Suburb. I really enjoy the second part more because learning about what the English suffered and how they persevered against Hitler is amazing. There are lots of long political rants that are tedious but either side of those rants are juicy paragraphs full of soap-opera like happenings, romance, death, betrayal and the like.It's the kind of book that you wish you could just read forever--- I would love for it to just go on describing the characters lives for as long as I live! I have read it twice and finished it with regret both times. Such a delightful book.