Wives and Daughters Part IV

Cynthia tells Mr GIbson, who is fond of her but disapproves of her flirtiness, that she does not want Roger to come home to forgive her for her tangled relationship with Preston and her flirting. She would rather go abroad and make her own life. Molly has been restored to the good opinion of the town's ladies, and visits Lady Harriet. SHe also tries to cheer the squire up, as he misses Osborne. He is very fond of his grandson and finally accepts that Aimee, his mother has to stay with the boy. Roger comes home when Osborne dies, to discuss estate matters, and he accepts that Cynthia does not want to marry him. He is hurt, but Cynthia tells Molly that she feels sure that he's consolable, and that he has much more in common with Molly than with her. Mr Gibson is worried about Molly, who has been tired out of late, due to the stress of the Cynthia affair, and he himself feels that his marriage is likely to be far from a happy one. He accepts that his wife is flighty and silly and not very honest but he must put up with her.. and that she was never likely to be much good at caring for Molly, as he had hoped. He orders Molly to rest, and Cynthia pays a visit to her father's relatives in London. One of his relations is an up and coming lawyer, who has just won a big case and is doing well.. and while Cynthia is visiting, she meets one of his fellow lawyers, Walter Henderson who asks her to marry him. She accepts and they get married. Molly isn't well enough to go to the wedding, so she goes to stay with Lady Harriet, and is pleased to see Cynthia settled with a nice man she is fond of, who will be more her type than Roger. At the Towers, Roger meets Molly again and begins to fall in love with her, but he has to go back to Africa to finish the tour he set out on. The story breaks off there as Mrs Gaskell died suddenly, but it is clear that its going to end with Roger proposing to Molly and their having a happy marriage.

Wives and Daughters Part III

Molly is shocked at Cynthia's getting herself entangled with a man at such a young age, and realises that Mrs Gibson's neglect and Cynthia's own flirtatious nature have left her vulnerable to problems and scandals. But she's also shocked to find that Preston is such a stalker, chasing after Cynthia and averring that he wont let her go. He tells Molly that he has Cynthia's love letters that she wrote him and that he'll use them to get her back. Molly rather reluctantly agrees to act as a go between and get back the letters, but things go awry. She is seen with him on the common, and people begin to talk about her and Preston meeting secretly, rather than having an open courtshp. Because of Cynthia's involvement with Roger, and her promise to her sister to keep the secret, Molly cannot tell her father what has been happening. He is very upset, but believes her when she says that she has not done anything wrong but that she can't explain things to him. She finds that their friends in the town snub her, because she is seen as sneaking around meeting a man - and this was considered scandalous behaviour. However, when Lady Harriet finds out about this, she takes Molly out and calls to the Brownings' house with her, and the locals change their tune. Molly gets invited to Cumnor Towers, and enjoys an increasing friendship with Lady Harriet, but Osborne's health is declining. Dr GIbson is worried about him, because there's nothing much he can do. Osborne feels increasingly ill and one day visits Molly and tells her that as she knows he is married, he wants to give her some information. He tells her that his wife lives in another town and he is able, with Roger's help to provide her with a small allowance.. and that she has a baby son. He says that she used to be a nursemaid and is French and that he loves her. So he gives Molly her address in case anything happens to him. Soon after this, Osborne collapses and dies. HIs father is horrified, as the 2 of them had not been on the best of terms. Molly and her father come to the house and she tells them how she found out about his marriage and how she has the young woman's address. When she explains that Osborne met his wife while travelling in France, and that she used to be a servant, the squire is angry and doesn't want to believe his son could make such a bad marriage. But in the meantime, Aimee has not seen Osborn for a while and decides to come and find him at Hollingford. When she arrives, she finds that he's dead.. and the squire, while pleased to find that his son has a son, is not too happy at the arrival of a humbly born girl who is his widow. Mrs Gibson hears the news and is not happy as Cynthia is still engaged to Roger, but now there is an heir, Osborne's son. Cynthia writes to Roger to say that she wants to officially end their engagement, realising that she made a mistake. She toys with the idea of going abroad to work as a governess.

Wives and Daughters Part II

Mrs Hamley dies, leaving the squire miserable and alone. Osborne has been in a major scrape, having failed at Cambridge, then got into financial trouble through leading an extravagant lifestyle. He comes home but his father is angry with him. The Hamleys are going through a very unhappy phase, as the squire has money troubles and Osborne has added to them. Molly is pleased when Cynthia comes home and is happy to have a new sister. She is a very pretty, warm, charming girl, and they soon become friends, though Cynthia has a prickly relationship with her own Mother. Molly does not much like Mrs Gibson, realising that she is silly, often dishonest in small things and vain. Cynthia feels angry that her mother neglected her, spending as much time as she could with the Cumnors, and sending her daughter off on visits or to school. However Mrs Gibson tries to be a good stepmother to Molly, though more because she wants to be seen as sweet natured than out of genuine good feeling. She is pleased when the 2 Hamley sons start to visit regularly.. but not so pleased when Roger shows signs of being in love with Cynthia. He is the second son and Mrs Gibson who is very affected, professes to find him coarse by comparison with Osborne who is elegant and genteel. Molly enjoys being with Cynthia. Her friends in Hollingford are the Miss Brownings, the daughters of the late Vicar, who are kindly but not very clever... and middle aged. Mrs Gibson becomes irritated when Lady Harriet, the youngest of the Cumnor girls, who is still unmarried, becomes friendly with Molly... During one of Molly's visits to the Hamley house, she overhears Roger telling Osborne that there is a letter from his, Osborne's wife. THe brothers tell her that the marriage is a secret and that they are begging her not to speak of it, which she promises to do. Another friend they make at this stage is Mr Preston, the bailiff of the Cumnor estate, who has taken to socialising in the town.. but noone realises that he is doing this because he is in love with Cynthia, and is trying to get her to become openly engaged to him. However, Roger has proposed to Cynthia; she is reluctant to get engaged, and tells him she will wait for him but she does not want theirs to be a formal engagement. He is going away on a trip to Africa to study natural history, and he will be in some danger, so he agrees to have an informal private engagment, known only to his family and hers. Eventually, Molly learns that Mr Preston lent Cynthia some money a few years earlier when she was only 16 and had no pretty dresses, and he asked her to marry him then. Molly finds Cynthia and Mr Preston arguing, out in the countryside, and her step sister tells her the story. She explains that she was attracted to Preston then, he was a handsome man and she was only 16. But she felt uneasy at a secret engagement, and then when a little older, a girl at her school talked about him.... He mentioned how he flirted with a pretty widow and how the widow was infatuated with him and trying to lure him into marriage. Cynthia realised that Preston was talking about her own mother and she grew angry and decided to end the engagment. But he refused to listen to her, even when she tried to repay him the money he'd lent her. Now she's engaged to Roger, and really wants to finish wit Preston but he wont agree to this.

Wives and Daughters By ELizabeth Gaskell

THis is the last novel by Mrs Gaskell, and her best. It covers the years not long after the Napoleonic wars, when there were massive social changes. Its set in a small country town, where Molly Gibson lives with her widowed father, who is the local doctor. Dr Gibson is a Scot, and a clever man, whose practice ranges from Lord and Lady Cumnor, the landlords of the area, to the poor of the countryside. He is interested in science and is friendly with Lord Hollingford the heir to Lord Cumnor, who is also fond of studying scientific questions... Molly is nearly 17 when her father finds that she has an admirer, one of his apprentices, Mr Coxe, and he begins to worry about how to look after her, now that she is old enough to attract men. He sends her for a visit to the local squire, Mr Hamley, a good natured farming landlord who does not have much money, and has a devoted wife. Mrs Hamley is lonely and in poor health so she is glad of Molly's company... but the squire worries as they have 2 sons who are at the age when they might fall in love with a girl. The 2 sons are Osborne, who is poetical and thought to be very clever, and Roger who is more interested in science and natural history which is not as highly thought of, at the time. Mr GIbson decides to remarry, to provide Molly with someone to look after her and take her into local society. He is doing well, at his practice but he's not considered the equal of the local gentry, and its hard for him to find a suitable wife. He meets Hyacinth Kirkpatrick who has a small school, on the Cumnor estate. She is a widow, who used to be a governess to the Cumnor girls, and then married. She is not well off, but is a lady and suitable to marry a man of the professional classes. She has a daughter, Cynthia, who is at school in France, learning to be a governess. Hyacinth is a silly selfish woman who does not care much for her only child and is eager to remarry and not to have to work. Dr Gibson does not see her faults at first, and is willing to have Cynthia in his home, living on the small income she has from her father.....

Avenue at War Part III

Jim like many other Londoners is homeless and has to find temporary accommodation until he and Edith can marry, though they will get some compensation later on for the loss of their houses. His daughters Fetch and Carry the younger twins are now seriously involved with the 2 Americans, Mitch and Orrie, who have gone into Normandy. The girls decide to leave London and get jobs in an American social club in Oxford and go there to live until their young men come home. Judy and Esme have bought a farm in Devon, since he has decided that he was never really meant to be a writer, and is taking up farming and setting up a riding school..but he can still do a little writing on the side. Judy becomes pregnant and leaves her job in the services to start her new life. Mitch and Orrie take part in the invasion. They are transport drivers but the invasion has its problems and they are releived to get ashore safely and live to fight another day. THey plan to set up a used car business in the US, when the war is over. Meanwhile Archie is doing his sentence and planning to lead a more sensible life after he gets out of Prison. He knows it was his drinking and the pressure of trying to defraud the income tax, that led him to the disastrous escapade which caused someone's death and he is genuinely sorry... Elaine visits him and tells him that she has an American boyfriend but that he does not seem to be that interested in her physically, and Archie reminds her that marriages to low libido men or gay men can work out.. and if Woolston is a generous rich man, she should take him. However, Elaine has a row with her beau over his being willing to overlook an attack by some American soldiers, on a young black soldier who was with a white local girl. She gets uneasy and when Archie is released she goes to meet him. He tells her that as Maria, his wife is Catholic, he may not ever get a divorce, but that he feels they have a good relationship, and after all their affair is already known. The odds are that people will overlook them living together, or they can cover it up. She moves in with him and having sold up his shops, he has some cash to start up in the property business. Archie then contacts JIm and Edith who are due to get married and tells them that he wants to give them his house on the Avenue as a wedding present.. as they are now close to retirement and they like living in the Avenue. He and Elaine are moving further out of town. Jim feels touched by Archie's wanting to show him friendship at last. He and Edith marry in January 1945, and move into the house. Harold has been in hospital for a long time, and is not out when they get married. He stays in for another operation to try to get his broken leg better, and tells Jim that he'll go into lodgings when he gets out, as he will never remarry. Edith suggests that he comes to share their house, but when the war ends, and he is walking better, he takes a flat in another house nearby, not wanting to intrude on the married couple. He has 2 ladies living in the house and they help out during the cold winter after the war... The girl twins marry their Americans and move to the US, where they enjoy life as war brides, and where life is a lot more comfortable than it is back home. Jim realises that he himself has changed a lot over the years, he is now freinds with a Tory like Harold, and he is no longer sure that the Labour movement is going to save the world. But he has over the years also become more tolerant, gotten a good relationship with his children, whom he tended to ignore years ago, and believes in the ordinary people of the Avenue, who helped to win the War. The two novels cover the social changes of the 20s 30s and 40s, and issues like the increased freedom for women to get jobs, easier divorce, and the political trends like fascism and communism. Jim and Harold can never agree about Soviet Russia but they both are grateful for American help, even if they disagree with the Americans on some issues. The American soldiers are liked by most of the women while some of the men think of them as over paid, over sexed and over here.. And Elaine is shocked at the casual racism of some of them. The 2 books are warm and pleasant reads, which cover a surprising amount of ground.

Avenue at War Part II

Jim has another bad experience when his sons Maurice (Boxer) and Bernie take part in the Dieppe Raid. They are missing and he believes them killed because the raid was a fiasco and they dont usually take prisoners in that sort of attack. Philippa, daughter of Edgar Friths' second wife, has moved to the Avenue (her stepfather and mother having gone to Wales to live and run a small antique shop) and she has fallen in love with Bernie and she believes that Bernie is safe. Jim is not so optimisitic and is very depressed at the idea of never seeing his boys again when he had become closer to them.. then they get a letter to say that both of them are alive. Bernie was seriously injured in the raid and Boxer stayed back to take him to a German post. He surrendered and Bernie was taken away for medical attention. He lost an arm, but survived and Jim has hopes that the Germans will exchange him when he has recovered. Boxer has been sent to a POW camp but is alive and well. Some time later, Bernie is repatriated and invalided out of the army, and he and PHilippa marry, in a double wedding with Esme and Judy. He struggles with his disabilty, but they buy a garage and he finds he can do a lot of work with only one arm. Boxer finds he quite enjoys being in a POW camp and taking part in Goon baiting, or playing pranks on the German guards. However the war isn't over yet and in 1945, Jim suffers yet another crashing event. The Avenue experiences a doodlebug, or V2 attack, which causes massive damage and death. Harold had been sent home from work one day, as he had been very tired out and his employers told him to take a holiday. He was at home, having a cup of tea with Louise and her husband, when the bomb struck and Jack and Lou were killed. Jim arrives and finds his part of the street in ruins and there is already a long list of the dead. Then he learns that Harold is there, alive but with terrible injuries. He is sent to hospital where he is ill for a long time, having broken both legs and his ribs. Jim has become very close to his friend and is afraid that he too may die. HIs home has been destroyed and he has lost Louise. In addition, Edith's simple minded sister Becky was hit and killed so she is now a woman in her fifties and all alone. Several neighbours were also killed and their homes flattened. After the first shock, Jim realises how much he relies on Edith and Harold and he asks her to marry him. They have been friends for over 20 years and turn to each other.

The Avenue at War

Louise, the eldest of Jim's children, continues to keep house, unselfishly and finds an admirer, Jack Strawbridge who is a jobbing gardener and they marry and move into the Carver house. As war approaches Jim wonders what is best to do. He wants to take part in the war against Hitler, and although he has been critical of Churchill, he feels now that he is the one politican with the guts to stand up to Nazi Germany.. and that while he wants social reform, right now the Left and the Right are going to have to pull together to fight the war. He has arguments with friends in the Labour movement on the pacifist issue and finds himself making common cause with Tories. When War breaks out in September 1939, Jim decides to become a full time ARP warden, and he later joins the Home Guard. He is proud when his twin sons decide to join the army, and turn out to be natural soldiers, being physically strong and adventurous. He is less proud of Archie, who is now quite well to do, but who soon joins the ranks of the spivs, and skims money from the income tax. He is also an unfaithful husband, finding mistresses through his work, and ignoring his Italian wife, who moves out of London with her 2 younger children. Tony, his elder son has been sent to a public school and wants to join the army. Archie worries about holding onto his money and also that he might be called up, as he is still under 40. He gets friendly with Elaine, who had a baby daughter just as war broke out. She is not maternal and leaves the child to the care of her grandmother Eunice, and a few months later, Eunice goes to Devon with the baby, to get away from any bombing that might happen. Harold toys with the idea of going there to be with his wife, as his firm of solicitors think of opening a branch outside London for safety reasons. Harold is not a very strong man, and has never been a soldier, unlike Jim Carver but he does feel that even if he can't fight, he should stay in London to show solidarity. Elaine soon embarks on an affair with Archie, who can get her nice things and si there to keep her company while her husband has now joined the RAF. Harold hears gossip about his stepson's wife but ignores it. After a few months Eunice is killed while taking the baby to the seaside, for an outing and she's hit by a stray bomber. Harold is deeply shocked and grieved, and when Esme comes to London to tell his wife, he finds that Elaine is away. She then comes back from a weekend away with Archie. He walks out on her, taking the baby and hands the child over to Edgar Frith and his wife.. while planning to divorce Elaine. He meets up with Judy who has joined the women's services and is now widowed after a short marriage... her husband having been drowned en route to Egypt. They have been companions in the Avenue as kids and now, they fall in love. Esme realises that he romanticised Elaine, who never pretended to be more than a good time girl.. He and Judy plan to marry when he gets a divorce. With wartime separations, divorce was becoming a lot more common; wives left alone for a long time found other men...and families broke up. Meanwhile in London, Harold had already asked Jim to move in with him. He is alone in his house, with Eunice and Esme away and Jim's house was crowded with his several children coming and going. He moves in to share Harold's home and keep him company. After Dunkirk, Bernie and Boxer turn up safe and come home. THey next join the Commandoes, seeking further adventure. Jim and Harold disagrees a bit still about politics but can see each other's point of view better. Harold is still dubious about Britain allying with Soviet Russia. Esme and Judy try to find a time to get married, but Esme's plane is shot down and he goes missing. Elaine finds an American lover, who is well to do..but seems very slow at trying to seduce or marry her. He is a southerner and she feels a bit uneasy at his racist attitudes, but she tries to persuade him to get engaged. Archie starts to get into trouble with income tax and he finds that his wife has takne the money that he stashed away, in a hiding place. In a fury, he gets drunk and drives off to confront his wife, and crashes his car, killing a pedestrian. Jim is horrified and angry and he feels ashamed of his eldest son. He has broken up his marriage, been dishonest in business and broken up Esme's marriage to Elaine. Now he has caused an accident which resulted in the death of a young woman. He refuses to go to court,to support Archie until Edith persuades him. She is a devout Christian and finally manages to get him to go to see his son. Archie tells his fahter that he behaved stupidly and badly and does not see much point in trying to defend himself, and that he heard recnetly that his elder son who had joined the army, had been killed in Egypt. He gets a sentence of 18 months, and settles down to try and work his time out and plan what to do when he is released. He tells his father not to visit him, but he gets letters from Edith and Jim. The younger twins, Felicity and Caroline, are now working as waitresses and get jobs in an American army canteen.. where they meet 2 soldiers, from the US and start dating them. Jim like most British has his doubts about the Americans but he likes the 2 young men.

The Avenue, Part II

The first novel covers the 1920s and 30s- the Depression, the General Strike, the rise of fascism, and so on. It also covers subjects like social life in the 20s, women having more freedom, and divorce. Edgar Frith, an assistant at an antique shop has an unhappy marriage with a woman who dislikes both him and sex. THey have 2 children, Elaine and Sydney.. but the marriage ends in divorce, when Edgar falls in love with a woman who works in his shop and who has had a daughter by a a soldier who died in the War. Divorce was slowly becoming more common even among lower middle class people, though working class people could not usually afford it. Edgar leaves his wife and marries Frances, his love and Elaine who is beautiful and sensuous, tries to find a rich man who can satisfy her sexual needs but also provide her with a comfortable lifestyle. She attracts Esme Fraser, but he tends to worship her from afar. Elaine leaves home and takes a variety of jobs, in places like circuses and cinemas and hotels. But Esme continues to carry a torch for her - not noticing that Judy, Jim Carver's younger daughter, has always been in love with him. Edgar's son, Sydney, is his mother's favourite and wants to get out of lower middle class life and get on. He dabbles with Mosleys Union of Fascists but does not like the rough stuff and drops out. Judy gets interested in horse riding and takes a job at a riding school, teaching, and she meets Tim Ascham, a young man from a military family and they plan to marry. Esme meets Elaine again and they get married, not long before war breaks out. James is depressed during the 1930s. He has found steady work as a lorry driver and his children are growing up, and financially life is easier... but he finds that his labour movement friends are pacificists and he realises that the only way of stopping Hitler is to go to war. Over the years, he still believes in improving the world, but he is disillusioned with a lot of his comrades. He grows friendly with a middle aged spinster, Edith Clegg, a vicar's daughter, who lives in the Avenue with her sister Becky, who had a breakdown years ago and has to be looked after. Edith is not well off.. coming from a clergy family. She takes in lodgers, gives music lessons and for a time plays piano in the local cinema. She often asks Jim for advice and they get on well. JIm lives next door to Harold and Eunice, but he thinks of Harold as a Tory who is good natured but wrong thinking.. while Harold thinks of Jim as a nice chap but dangerously left wing.

The Avenue By RF Delderfield

Some of my favourite books by Delderfield are the 2 Avenue novels, which are set in South London, in the years before and during the Second World War. Delderfield spent some years in Croydon, as a boy and wanted to write something about the suburbs, about ordinary working or lower middle class people, rather than the upper class. The first book starts at the end of World War One. James Carver has been in the army for 4 years, and is a married man with 7 children, including 2 sets of twins. He is a working man but has never followed a steady trade so he's worried about getting a job when he comes home from the war. He is also angry at the four years of blood letting and feels that only socialist reform will put an end ot war and poverty. He comes back determined to work for the Labour cause. However, his wife has just died having caught Spanish flu after giving birth to two daughters. His eldest daughter, Louise is keeping house and his eldest son, Archie is working as a shop assistant. Jim is surprised that the family have moved to South London, to the Avenue, as it is a better area than they had lived in before, but with so many children he can see that they need a roomier house. He gets a job as a porter but finds it harder than he expected to get steady employment, and he has so many children to support. Louise is needed to keep house and look after the smaller children. He spends most of his spare time working for the labour movement... However, Archie is very different and withing a few years, he and James are barely speaking to each other. Archie is selfish, often dishonest about money and determined to set up his own business, and he thinks his father's idealism is ridiculous. Another family in the Avenue are the Godbeers. Harold is a managing clerk for a firm of solicitors and a conservative member of the middle classes. He has married Eunice, an officer's widow who has a son and a modest income of her own...Eunice is silly but sweet natured and Harold, who is shy and has been very lonely, adores her. She has a son, Esme who is the same age as Jim's twin boys, Bernaard and Boxer, and they go to the same school. Esme is clever and does well at school. They are far from clever and always in mild trouble.. when they leave school, the Carver boys become motor cyclists who do displays, and Esme tries to become a writer. Archie makes a marriage of convenience with an Italian girl, and sets up a chain of corner shops. Jim feels disgusted when his son takes the side of the Government during the General Strike and relations become even frostier.

Howatch

Rich Are Different was one of Howatch's earlier novels. It was followed by Sins of the Father, which followed the history of the Van Zale family up to the 1960s. We learn that Dinah died rescuing soldiers at Dunkirk but she destroyed Mallingham and prevented it form falling into Cornelius' hands. After her death, Cornelius took her children to America, where tehy spent a few years under Emily's care but during the War, Alan, her son and Tony, Steve's son were killed in Normandy. Sins follows Cornelius' later life, the problems of his marriage to Alicia and his love for his daughter Vicky. He finds it hard to communicate with people, even his wife, and she turns to another man. Cornelius is close to Scott, Steve's elder son but eventually he realises that Scott secretly hates him for Steve's death and is plotting to take over the bank. Vicky falls in love with Scott but he is unstable, and in the throes of his power struggle with Cornelius, he ends by committing suicide. Vicky has been married to Sebastian, Alicia's elder son and at the end of the book she goes back to him and we know that he will get the bank and Cornelius will die a lonely man. Sebastian's story is based loosely on the Emperor Tiberius, and Vicky on Julia, the daughter of Augustus.

Rich are Different Part VIII

Dinah goes back to live in Mallingham, at the start of the War. She has her son George with her, but her older children and Tony Sullivan are at school or college. She grieves for Steve, but is worried that Cornelius may have found the deeds to the house. However, she hopes that he will be tied to America, with war happening. She is good friends with her solicitor, Geoffrey Hurst who lives in Norfolk and was her admirer years ago -. She registers her boat with the government, in case it might be of use in the war. Then, after some months, Cornelius arrives in Mallingham. They talk and he tells her that he owns the house, but he would be prepared to bring her to America and set her up in business there, and he would manage to protect Mallingham if the Germans invade. She says the Germans wont be coming. However, she plays along with him and agrees to meet him in London in a day or so. She knows that he will ill treat her and that she cannot save Mallingham forever. Even if it survives the war, it may be commandeered by the Government and the post war world will not want great houses. She decides to destroy the house herself so that Cornelius cannot get his hands on it. She gets a call to say that the British army needs boats to rescue them from France, and she realises that this gives her a good excuse. So she leaves a radio on, which has a defective wire, and leaves Mallingham for the last time, to go away to sail off to France.

Rich are Different Part VII

Steve and Emily have gone to Paris for Steve to work in the bank there, and while they are there, he finally decides that his marriage was a mistake. He was fond of her, but her perfection began to irritate him and he hated himself for getting fed up with her. He has always been a heavy drinker and knew that staying with his wife would drive him to drinking even more. He goes to London, and tells Dinah that he still cares for her. He takes a post at the London branch of the bank and Dinah who has been very lonely, alone wiht her 3 children, and she still cares about Steve. He tells her that he is finished with Emily and that he wants to marry her... and they decide to marry. Emily gives him a divorce but Steve's 2 sons are angry and upset at their father's leaving Emily, whom they love. In the end, Emily, who adores children, agrees to keep them with her, and Steve feels that it would only upset the boys for him to insist on them living with him and Dinah. He and Emily have 2 daughters as well, and he leaves the boys with his ex wife. Steve and Dinah get married, and Cornelius gives his partner a strong hint that he could ruin Steve's career by revealing how Steve covered up the deaths of Paul's murderers. Dinah suggests to her husband that he could set up a bank on his own, and that she's willing to fund him by sellng her make up business. He is delighted at first and says that he will take her into the bank as a partner, but that she will have to wait a while, as women dont become investment bankers. Dinah is having another baby, so she is happy to stay home for a while and the new bank opens. However, Steve is still drinking a lot and the bank does not do as well as they had hoped. Within a couple of years, he has lost a lot of clients and Dinah is worrying about his drinking. She finally tells him that she loves him but if he doesn't stop drinking it is going to kill him and she walks out. Steve goes back to her and says he will go into a clinic, and that he wants to save their marriage. While he is in the clinic, Sam Keller, Cornelius' right hand man comes to London, and suddenly a picture appears in the paper of Steve outside the clinic. He gets drunk and drives off to confront Sam, and crashes his car. Dinah has closed down the bank and paid off her debts, and now she is called to Steve's bedside. He is dying, and tells her he was a fool to throw away all their happiness. He dies, and Dinah is kept busy with looking after her children and preparing for the war. Antony, Steve's second son, comes to stay, and tells Dinah that hes not happy in America and would like to live with her in England.

Rich Are DIfferent Part VI

Steve marries Emily, a year later, and Cornelius has become invovled with a widowed socialite who is 16 years his senior, Vivienne Coleman. He is infatuated with her and rushes into marriage. But within a year, he finds out that she married him for his money, and he sues for divorce. It is a bitter divorce. Vivienne is pregnant and the press and society think poorly of Cornelius for fighing his older pregnant wife in the courts. Then, while he is unhappily struggling with the divorce, he falls in love with another socialite, who is around his own age, and who is married to a politican. Cornelius is desperately in love and Alicia leaves her husband who has married her for her money and takes her small son and moves in with Cornelius. She is pregnant by her husband, so America explodes with fascinated horror at this other scandal. Cornelius is able to justify his behaviour to himself, he loves Alicia. Her marriage was very unhappy. But her husband starts a custody battle for both children, and gets them. Cornelius pays him a large sum of money to give her a divorce and Alicia marries him. However, she is a very maternal woman. She has few friends, and is very dependent on her lover and her children, but now she has lost them. She and Cornelius plan to have a large family... Steve and Emily have a baby daughter, but Cornelius, visiting his sister, catches mumps from Tony, Steve's young son and he does not realise it at first but it leaves him infertile. He and Alicia have 3 children between them but they will never have any more. He offers Alicia a divorce but she says no, she loves him and wanted his children, not anyone elses. The couple are both very much loners, and neither of them has ever had many friends, but they have each other. But Cornelius is badly shaken by his infertility. He throws himself into his work, but also becomes obsessed with Paul 's history. Paul had told him years ago that ALan Slade was his son, and now Cornelius wants to prove to himelf that that's true... so that maybe there is some slim hope that he himself can also father a son. He has always identified with Paul, since he lost his father young and his Mother like many of the Van zale women was too highbrow to suit his tastes. So he goes hunting for papers relating to Paul and finds a letter that Paul wrote to Dinah before is death, but never gave to her. In the letter Paul speaks of wanting to go to England with Dinah, and says that although Cornelius is his heir, he finds him cold and does not like him much. When he reads this, he is furious and hurt. He looked up to Paul and thought of him as a tough unsentimental man, now he has to see him as a middle aged man mooning over a younger woman, and a man who did not like him. He is badly shaken, and tells himself that some day, he will get back at Dinah for damaging his image of Paul. But as he's hunting through the papers, he finds the deeds to Mallingham and he realises that Paul still owned the house when he died, so it is now his property. He plans that soe day he will use this against her.

Rich Are Different Part V

Steven is married with 2 sons, and like Paul is not a faithful husband. He is a bon vivant who likes to party and drink and play sports. When he has to go to London, in 1929 3 years after Paul's death, he thinks about Dinah and wonders if she might be up for an affair with him. He looks forward to going to London, as he and Cornelius are not getting on and the younger man is richer and more powerful than he is. Cornelius has essentially blackmailed him into having a leading role in the bank when he is very young, by reminding him that he knows of Steve's covering up the murder of O'Reilly... and the behaviour of Charley Blair. He tells Steve that if he's forced to go to the police about this issue, he will claim that he was not part of the covering up and that he was a scared kid who didn't know what to do when he found out about it. Steve plans on being in London alone while Caroline, his wife, stays in New York with the children but she wll follow on later. Caroline does not like England and doesn't really want to go with him. Steve calls Dinah soon after his arrival, and they embark on an affair, as he hoped. He is touched by Alan, Paul's son, and gets interested in Dinah's cosmetics business which is doing very well. Dinah asks Steve if she should approach Cornelius now, to buy back Mallingham and Steve warily tells her that Cornelius is a far tougher customer than he had originally thuoght. He tells her that the deeds to the house seem to have been lost, and the odds are that with all his property, Cornelius will never find out that he is the legal owner of Mallingham and in due course, Dinah can leave it to her heirs. Dinah then tells him she's pregnant, and Steve tells her that he does not want her to have his child outside marriage, like Alan.. and that he will go home and talk to Caroline and get a divorce. Dinah realises that she made a mistake in having Alan out of wedlock and she's fond enough of Steve to think that marriage with him might be a happy one. But she is aware that she underestimated Sylvia's hold on Paul... Steve plans to go back to the US to see his wife, and ask for a divorce, but Caroline wires to say she is ill, and he plans to go back but feels that he can't look for a divorce if she's ill. Caroline recovers but before Steve can go home, he and Dinah have a bitter row. The Wall St Crash happens and his twin brothers are caught in a financial scandal. Dinah tells him not to get drawn into the problems of the bank in New York, and to let his brothers sort out their own mess. They both get angry and she says that she loved him and wanted him to be her husband but he has always been a clumsy insensitive man with women. Angrily he retorts that Paul only had women to prove he wasn't gay. Steve angrily breaks up with her and returns to America, where the bank is in a mess, and the Crash has a terrible effect on the economy. He finds that his wife has just died, and he urgently goes to take care of his boys. Cornelius has not lost any of his fortune because he was rich enough to settle for conservative investments. Cornelius' sister Emily is a clever girl who is a few years his senior and she offers to help out with Steve's boys when his wife dies.

Rich Are Different Part IV

Dinah now has a small son, Alan Slade, who is about 2, and she convinces herself that Paul's asking her to come to New York means that they have a special relationship, even if neither of them wants a marriage. because of her father's marital history, Dinah has always been uneasy with the idea of marriage though at times she wonders if she did the right thing in having Alan outside wedlock. However, her business is doing well and she has enough money to shield him.... On her arrival in America, she's shocked at how ill Paul looks. She and he renew their affair, but she then sees Sylvia at a party and realise that Paul is in love with his wife and that she is never going to be more than his mistress. During her time in New York, she studies the cosmetic business and makes friends with some of Paul's people including his best friend, Steven Sullivan, who is a partner in the bank. She becomes friendly with Terrence OReilly, who is still working for Paul but not as his close aide, and she becomes suspicious that there are enemies surrounding Paul. Accidentally, she reads a letter from one of the Da Costa sons to Terence, mentioning an anti bank protest which is due to take place the following day. Frightened, she calls Paul but only get Sylvia. She is embarrassed but tells Sylvia to tell Paul not to go to the bank the next day... Sylvia thanks her and politely wishes her bon voyage and she does try to persuade Paul not to go to work that day. The following day, Bruce Clayton, the son of Paul's long term American mistress, who has been a family friend for years, comes to the bank and asks to see Paul. He is part of the anti bank protest, and he is left wing. Paul says he is never too busy to see his young friend, and lets him in and suddenly, Paul is shot by a Russian member of the protest. Bruce shoots the Russian. Steve Sullivan realises there must be a conspiracy to kill Paul, and that members of the bank must be involved or Kraskov could not have gotten into the bank, and hidden there till he could shoot his target. He spends a lot of time trying to make sure that rumours of an inside job do not get out, but he tells Sylvia that he will look for Paul's killers, even if he cannot bring them to legal justice. Steve narrates the next part of the book; he is several years Paul's junior and regards him as a patron and big brother...He does not share Paul's intellectual interests but they enjoy each other's company.. and he is more intelligent than he appears to be. He is the one who ends up dealing with Cornelius, who has inherited Paul's share of the bank and is surprised when Cornelius tells him that he wants to go into the bank and learn the business, and not go to college. Steve finds that Cornelius is tougher than he expected... and more determined to do things his way. He works with him but is wary of him. Bruce Clayton commits suicide after a year or so, and leaves a note saying that he had made himself believe that the assassination of Paul was justified because of his wealth, but he now feels guilty. He refers to others being in on the conspiracy. Steve finally ends up working with Cornelius to take the law into his own hands and bring the killers to a vigilante justice. He finds out that the conspiracy to kill Paul came about because Charley Blair, one of the partners, had money troubles and had embezzled money from his yacht club. The others were the Da Costa brothers, Bruce Clayton and O'Reilly, but Blair was able to let the assassination gain entry to the bank. Steve knows that he can't bring them to court as it would destroy the bank, but he has a confrontation with O'Reilly and Blair and Charley Blair shoots O'Reilly, tries to shoot Steve and kills himself. Steve covers it up, and hopes that this will be the end of things. However, he is wary of having let Cornelius whom he thinks of as a kid, in on what happened. He keeps in touch with Dinah occasionally, and she tells him she wants to buy back her house from the Van Zale estate, which she had been planning to do when Paul was killed. He tells her to wait a while...but the deeds of the house do not turn up..

the Rich are Different Part III

Sylvia accidentally gets a bill for a silver christening mug, which Paul had bought as a gift for Dinah's baby son. She confronts her husband who tells her that he had never promised her fidelity, but that he did not mean for his young English mistress to get pregnant. Sylvia is angry and upset, and it creates a rift between her and Paul. Then to her amazement, Terence OReilly, her husband's aide who has always seemed a very dull young man, tells her that he knew of Paul's affair in 1923 and that he himself cannot understand why he should get mixed up with a young plain woman when he had Sylvia. She is startled to find that O'Reilly has been harbouring a secret passion for her, and even more surprised to find that she is a little attracted to him. But she tells herself that she loves Paul. However, she had always believed that he played straight with her and now that illusion is being shaken. Paul becomes more absorbed in his work, and more distant. Terence pushes things further by passing on a note from Dinah to Sylvia, and she realises that Paul has been lying to her even more, that he is still in touch with Dinah. When they are argue about this, Paul suddenly collapses and has an epileptic fit. Sylvia realises then that this has been the secret that her husband has been hiding all his life, the reason why he wont have more children. She waits till he comes around, thankful that noone saw his collapse. When he recovers he tells her that his epilepsty has been his shameful secret all his life. He had been well for a long time but a few years earlier, when Vicky died in childbirth, he had another attack. He was furiously angry with Jason, Vicky's husband who had mocked him as a boy for his fits, and he fitted the banker up so that it looked as if Jason had made a serious mistake in dealing with a client, and that would push him to resign from the bank. However, Jason killed himself and Paul, had had another attack, from guilt. He could not forgive Da Costa for, as he saw it, causing Vicky's death by letting her get pregnant... and he begins to fear that he is getting deeper and deeper into a blood stained life. Sylvia understands that that was partly why he had a lot of mistresses, to distract him from his worries about his illness and the problems that it led him into. Paul tells her that he has lied and done wrong in order to wreak his revenge on Jason, and that O'Reilly as his closest aide knows that he has a lot of dark secrets. He wants to fire O'Reilly but the man knows too much. Paul is grateful for Sylvia's loyalty, and tries to go on with his life, but his health has been undermined by the strain of the last few years. He fears another epileptic attack, and fears even more that he would have to give up his work and he'd be wondering if people would snigger if he had an attack. His depression has an effect on him sexually and while he and Sylvia had usually had a good sex life, he now cannot make love to her. After a while, she tells him that she realises that he cant get over hs sexual problems alone - it would help him if he had someone who didnt know about his illness who would make him happy for a time. She tells him to send for Dinah.

Rich Are Different Part II

Paul meets Dinah, who tells him that he could help her, if he wanted to, if he could lend her enough money to buy her manor house and repair it, and some money to start up a cosmetics business. She learned about making perfumes from an old Indian Ayah and she believes that she could make a decent living if she had a start. Paul buys the house, and Dinah promises to buy it from him when she is making money. Paul finds her amusing, and she is only 21, so her youth stimulates him. He seduces her and they start an affair, and he agrees to fund her in her business venture. Dinah falls in love with him, though he is a lot older than her and married. He is intelligent and well read, and a talented businessman to boot. However, to Paul's horror, she tells him that she sees nothing wrong with having a child outside marriage, in the modern world. He says he doesnt want children. He lost his only daughter Vicky, and never wanted to have any more after that. Dinah becomes pregnant, and Paul cannot persuade her to have an abortion. However, he then gets word from the US that business rivals are causing trouble and he will have to go home. He leaves Dinah but she has convinced herself that he loves her and will come back some day. Back in the US, Paul has to deal with trouble from the sons of Jason Da Costa, who were his daughter Vicky's stepsons. He goes back to his wife, Sylvia, who is a gentle beautiful woman who adores him and has made up her mind to put up his affairs, in order to hold onto her marriage. Sylvia is lonely because Paul does not want children and she herself in any case has not been able to carry children and has had several miscarriages. Paul also tells himself he really must try and get to know Cornelius, his great nephew who is his nearest male heir. Cornelius lives in a provincial city, in the Mid West, with his mother, stepfather and sister and Paul has been thinking for ages that the boy might be able to cope with inheriting the bank and being very rich, but he must get to know him and see if he is tough enough to cope. So he invites the 14 year old boy to New York. Sylvia likes him. He is handsome, well brought up and charming, and she wishes he were her son.. but he does not share any of Paul's intellectual interests. Paul thinks however that the boy is tough and strong minded, and that he is intelligent enough to learn about banking and seems keen on the idea.

The Rich are DIfferent, by Susan Howatch

This is one of Howatch's family sagas, set in 20th Century America and England. She wrote several before she started to write about the Church of England. The story is loosely based on the history of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony. Dinah Slade, the Cleopatra figure, is the daughter of a landowner in East Anglia. She wants to hold onto her family home, Mallingham, when her father died, leaving her with nothing but debts. She decides to set up a business and make money but she needs cash to start up and to buy the house from her infant brother who was the male heir. Paul Van Zale is a middle aged American investment banker, in the glory days of the 1920s, when millions were being made on the stock exchange.. and banking was unregulated. He comes from a branch of an Old Money family in New York, but he himself went through a period of being very poor. As a young man he went to college in England and made a girl pregnant. He wanted to do the right thing and married her, then found that his richer relatives would not help him to get a start in business, unless he divorced his pregnant working class wife. Paul found that his wife, Dolly had married him because she thought that all Americans were rich, and he becomes much more cynical about life and women. He manages to get a low ranking job in a Jewish bank and makes a little money on the stock exchange. His wife has a daughter, Vicky, and then dies giving birth to another child, who also dies. Paul gives his loyalty to his Jewish employers, who have been kind to him, and he works his way up in the bank, while his daughter is looked after by his own elderly mother... who like many upper class New Yorkers is not favourable to Jews. However, he knows that he can only go so far in a Jewish bank - and in the end, he marries the daughter of a man who has a small investment house and sets up in his own bank. He takes in as partner a distant relative, Jason Da Costa, and is very successful. However, he is not a happy man. Paul has remarried, but his only chld has died in childbirth, and his third wife while he is very fond of her, is not that close to him. He has always been a womaniser, and when Dinah hears that he is in London, she decides to try and meet him and see if he would help her to start up her own business. She has heard that he is interested in British history and literature, and she has a valuable book that she uses to get him to take notice of her.

Available on Amazon by Nadine Sutton

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Music-Nadine-Sutton-ebook/dp/B01AEQS0G0/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2573KYRWVZC38&keywords=nadine+sutton&qid=1675963728&sprefix=nadine+sut%2Caps%2C735&sr=8-2 A story set in the 1970s and 80s about a country rock band. Not a romance with a happy ever after ending but a real story, about singing in a band.

Scandalous Risks Part V

Neville is frequently at odds with Charles over the cathedral; at this point he is arguing with him over putting a modern sculpture in the grounds, which Charles regards as ugly and liable to be judged obscene. Venetia begins to worry about this argument.. the 2 men have to work together but they disagree so much, that she worries that if anything got out about her friendship with him, it would completely destroy Neville's career. It is the time of the Profumo scandal and she feels that Neville is in a similar situation. Eddie Hoffenberg tells her, as this row goes on, that there are rumours going round that Neville is seeing a woman on his days off, and he tells her that he has guessed she is the woman, and that she has to break it off with him, or he will end up ruined. He reminds her that he himself cares for her and he cares for Neville too, and that if she broke up with Neville, he wants to marry her and believes they get on well as friends and would be happy. Venetia tells Eddie that she cant do it, then says that she will finish with him, but she finds it impossible. She becomes ill with strain and ends up collapsing in Charles' house when she is working for him. Lyle looks after her but Venetia can't bring herself to talk about the affair. Lyle tells everyone she has flu, and after a couple of days, she gets visitors, Eddie, Charles and to her horror Neville. Venetia chats to them briefly, and hopes that she has not betrayed herself, but as they are leaving, she says goodbye to Neville, calling him by his name, Neville, rather than his title or the name that DIdo has given him, Stephen. She realises that now she has given herself away, and collapses again. Lyle consoles her and tells her that they all knew there was a relationship, and that Charles as a senior cleric was trying to find some way of handling the whole mess without causing an open scandal. Lyle has never liked Neville since her own brief attraction to him, years ago, during the war and she now foolishly tells Venetia that when she has recovered, Neville will be all right, and that she should marry Eddie who loves her and is a good man. Venetia does not know if she cares that much for Eddie, but she does tend to listen to Lyle, and she also believes that Neville wont accept that their affair is over, unless she takes some radical action like finding another man. She knows that he cares deeply for her and that he is a stubborn man. So she agrees to marry Eddie and then writes to Neville to say that their relationship must end and she's marrying Eddie. He tells her that though he is fond of Eddie, he believes that his melancholy personality would make for a bad marriage, but then, he accepts the inevitable and goes for counsellng to get back on track. Lyle remarks that he should resign his office in Starbridge, but that he wont do that, and he does stay there... Venetia gets married to Eddie but their marriage is a mess. She does not care much for him or find him attractive and though they go to London to live, things dont work out. Venetia is not faithful... like most of her set, she takes part in the wild antics of the Swinging Sixties, and when they have a daughter she is not sure who the father is, but Eddie believes that it is his. Eddie dies young, and Venetia, now a widow, takes to drinking and sleeping around, and does not spend much time with her daughter. In the 1970s, she receives a letter from Neville, who is now elderly and retired asking if he could visit her when he's makng a trip to Norfolk. He has had a stroke and is very frail but when he comes to her house, she can see that he came because he had always loved her and wanted to see her before he dies. And she knows that she never stopped loving him and that perhaps they would have been happy had they been free to marry and closer in age. After his death, she goes on drinking and leading an aimless life, but some years later, she meets Nick Darrow, and tells him about the affair with Neville and turns to him for counselling. She becomes interested in theology and goes to college. She finally begins to live the life she wanted to lead.....

Scandalous Risks Part IV

Venetia becomes increasingly uneasy and tells Lyle that she has a new boyfriend in London, but that she has a friend, Dinkie, an American girl, who has become invovled with a married man. She also encourages Edward Hoffenberg to go out with her as a further cover. Working with Charles Ashworth, she finds herself confused as Neville is a liberal minded Protestant and she has accepted his point of view about the rightness of their relationship, but she knows that someone like Charles would have a very different viewpoint. Occasionally she meets Dido at social events, and from her, learns that Neville used to be friends with Jon Darrow who is now an elderly widower who lives in Starbridge and gives spiritual advice. She knows Nick Darrow, Jons son by his second marriage, and she also knows of Martin Darrow, the actor, Nick's much older half brother. She decides to try and meet Jon, and succeeds in catching him at the local theatre. She goes to Jon's little cottage where he lives like a reclusive monk and tells him about her relationship with Neville... He tells her that the affair cannot continue, it will destroy both of them. Venetia doesn't quite believe him, but his intensity frightens her.

Scandalous Risks Part III

Venetia is naive for her age, since she has never been good at social events or attracting young men, and she does not realise that a sexless friendship isn't that easy to maintain. She does realise that Neville has strong moral beliefs and that he is not like men and women of her own class who dont regard fidelity in marriage as all that important. Marina also tells her friend that she found out some few years earlier that her real father was not her mother's husband. Her mother is a socialite who is a well known painter and has had affairs, one of them with an art critic who fathered Marina. Marina tried to get to know him but he had not been interested..Her mother tells her that this man was never keen on children and that she has 2 parents who love her, but Marina is clearly damaged by the absence of her blood father. Venetia starts working for Charles Ashworth who is writing a book on modern morality, and she knows that he is a very strict moralist so she feels uneasy at times, though she is fond of Lyle. Neville tells her that Lyle and Charles are probably trying to find a girlfriend for their son Charley, who is a very narrow minded young man who seems awkward with girls. Michael, the younger Ashworth son, is young but quite a womaniser. Venetia's parents are relieved that she seems to have a job she enjoys and is living in Starbridge, and her father even seems to tolerate the idea of her dating Eddie Hoffenberg, whom he dislikes as a German. Venetia at first is happy with her relationship with Neville, to have someone who seems to enjoy her company and find her attractive is a novelty for her. He tells her that he accepts that their affair will not last as Venetia is a lot younger than him and she will want to marry a younger man in due course. She also feels uneasy about his relationship with Dido, he seems so obsessed with tryng to make her happy, that at times Venetia believes that he's still in love with his wife and possibly sleeping with her.

Scandalous Risks Part II

Venetia has 3 older sisters, all of whom are married and 2 brothers who regard her as a rather plain sister who is inclined to talk about philosophy at dinner parties. She dabbles in various secretarial jobs but cannot find anything that she really wants to do, and has rows with her parents over her 'doing nothing. She is fond of Neville, because he treats her seriously, and seems fond of her, but she thinks of him as an uncle as he is more than 30 years her senior. Primrose works in Starbridge in a church charity and although she is not a great success with men, she seems contented with her life. Venetia however gets irked because the only man who seems interested in her is Canon Edward Hoffenberg, who was a German POW and who lost all his family in the war. He is clever but not very attractive and prone to gloomy bouts and to hypochondria. He met Neville when he was ministering to the POWs in the war, and afterwards, Neville helped him to get to college and train as a clergyman, and he elected to stay in England. Venetia thinks he is a bore, and cant understand why Neville gets on so well with him. In 1963, she is 26 and gets fed up with her father lecturing her on her lack of direction, and leaves home... which had always been too comfortable to her, to drive her to make a statement like this. She goes to Starbridge.. where Charles Ashworth is now the Bishop and Lyle is the Bishops wife. Lyle who has 2 sons, takes an interest in her and persuades her to make a renewed effort to have a more exciting life. She buys some new clothes and gets a flat, and Charles offers her a job as his part time secretary, to type up his academic works. She begins to find Primrose a bit dull, and makes a new friend, society beauty Marina Markhampton, who is wildly popular with all the young men of their set. She is beginning to feel that her life is getting more fun, and then she realises that she is in love with Neville. He rescues her at a party where she is pursued by Edward, and she cries on his shoulder, saying that she does not want to be unkind but she feels at times very depressed by her lack of charm. Neville tells her that he cares for her and admires her, and they realise that they are falling in love. Neville has had romantic flirty friendships before, as a break from his difficult marriage but he has always managed to keep them at a safe level. Dido has always claimed to be generous and tolerant of her husband's friendship with young woman but she's not, really. She is not a very happy person, but is still devoted to Neville. Venetia is inexperienced in romantic relationships but she knows that this friendship must remain utterly secret for Neville's careers sake. He tells her that they must not discuss Dido, and they agree to having a weekly meeting on his day off, going off in his car. She enjoys this at first, they talk about all sorts of things, and she pursues her friendship with Marina Markhampton who tells her that she is not interested in the men who chase her, because she is in love with a married man, but she is happy with a sexless warm friendship.

Scandalous Risks by Howatch Part I

This is the 4th Novel in the Starbridge series, and is the only one related by a woman and a lay person. Venetia Flaxton is an upper class girl, from a large family, who is growing up in the 1950s and 60s. The story is about her romance wiht Neville Aysgarth who is now an older man. THe book is set in 1963, seventeen years after Neville has committed himself to his difficult marriage to Dido, in 1946. His marriage has settled into a routine, and Neville has learned to put up with its frustrations. He and Dido are not that close however and Dido is if anything more neurotic than she used to be, though she sees psychiatrists. She and Neville produced 5 children, a daughter, and 4 sons, but three of the sons died at birth. Venetia's family are friendly with the couple, as Lord Flaxton, her father, is a liberal minded agnostic, who owns land in the Starbridge area. The family dont much like Dido, because she has a sharp tongue and very little common sense, and is always making brutal comments. Its generally held that her lack of tact has hampered Neville getting on in his church career. Venetia is friends with Primrose Aysgarth, Neville's elder daughter who is rather plain but very clever, and she envies her friend having a devoted father, as she feels like noone in her family takes much notice of her, since she is the youngest of 6. Venetia comes out in the 50s, but is not a success in the social world, and by 1963, she has not found a husband, or any occupation that she enjoys. She claims that she enjoys reading and studying and that this frightens off upper class males, but she has also refused to go to university, feeling that it would reduce her chances of marrying to zero.

Jamaica Inn, Part III

Mary continues her fight against Joss, she can see that he is beginning to crack under the strain of running the smuggling operation, and he is now drinking and having nightmares more often. She ends up witnessing an incident where people are killed and horrified, she decides she has to turn him in, even if it causes Patience to end up in trouble as well. However, it is difficult for her to get help. Jamaica Inn is so isolated and she can only get away by walking long distances. On hearing that Joss is planning to take his wife and escape from Cornwall, she walks to the vicarage of the Rev Francis, the white haired vicar, but finds that he is out. Desperatley she goes to the house of the local squire Bassat, but his wife tells her that the squire has gone after Joss, and plans to arrest him. Mary is worn out and frightened. She is only a farmer's daughter and has no horse to ride, and she knows that the squire's family are wary of her, as the girl who has been working as a lowly barmaid in Jamaica Inn. She goes back home, and finds her aunt and uncle have both been stabbed and are dead. Squire Bassat thinks that it is a pedlar who has had a grudge against Joss, but they find him locked up in a room in the Inn. So it cannot be him. Mary goes for shelter to the vicar's house and there she finds drawings in his drawing room, of his congregation with sheeps faces. She realises that he is not a kindly vicar but he's an evil man, and he comes in and catches her and tells her that she now knows his secret, that he was the leader of the smuggling ring and that he despises the local people. He was the one who stabbed the Merlyns. Horrified, and feeling helpless Mary tells him she will fight him, just as she fought Joss, but she feels very much the burden of her sex. He drags her off wth him, telling her he will get out of England and she will be his companion. She cant stop him takng her out of his house and onto the moors, but a fog comes down and they have to stop and wait for it to lift. She fears that if the Squire looks for him, the vicar will kill her to hasten his escape. They are sheltering on a tor in the moorlands, and she sees Jem Merlyn, following them. He shoots at the vicar who falls and is killed. Mary is saved and the squire, admring her courage, takes her in to his house. He suggests that she could be a nursemaid or a companion to his wife.... and says that he will get a new landlord for Jamaica inn. Mary hates hearing the whole story over and over, and thinks that when she's recovered she will go back to South Cornwall and try to start a new life on a farm there. Jem Merlyn asks her to come away with him. He turned his brother in, and killed the vicar, but he still likes to be free and live his own way. Mary tells him she wont go with him.. and then changes her mind and agrees to become a wanderer, like him.

Jamaica Inn Part II

Mary is not happy at the inn, and wishes she could take her aunt away but knows that Patience is unable to break free of her husband. She meets Jem Merlyn, Joss's younger brother, who is closer to her in age, and he tells her he's a horse thief, but that he's not violent, like his brother. She is attracted by Jem, but keeps telling herself that she does not want to be tied down by a man... She finds that Joss is a smuggler and a wrecker.. He and his gang lure ships onto the shore and kill the crew and passangers and steal the cargoes. Mary becomes increasingly determined to stop him from his murderous career and bring him to justice. She is afraid of Patience getting into trouble, however, so she hesitates. She meets the Vicar of a nearby parish, a strange but seemingly gentle man who has white hair and light coloured eyes. She feels that she could turn to him for help. Mary talks a few times to Jem Merlyn but she is not willing to become his mistress. She finds that Joss while apparently the man in charge of the smuggling, is a drinker and when he's drunk he tells her how he remembers the women and children he's killed.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

Jamaica Inn is a thriller novel by Du Maurier, set in Cornwall in the early years of the 19th century. The heroine, Mary Yellan, comes to the inn to live when her mother who had a farm dies. Mary is a strong girl used to farm work and has never taken much interest in young men. She would like to have her own farm and run it, with her moter as housekeeper, but her mother dies some years after her father's death, and tells Mary to go to Jamaica Inn, in another wilder part of Cornwall, where her Aunt Patience lives. Patience is a pretty rather silly woman, who married some years earlier and moved away and has rarely seen her sister, Mrs Yellan for years. Mrs Yellan however wants her daughter to be safely with relatives who will look after her. So Mary sets out to go to the Inn and finds that it is on a road miles from any settlement. The people on the coach tell her that the inn is not frequented by respectable people nowadays. She becomes nervous and when she gets to the Inn, it seems far from comfortable. Her aunt Patience is not now the pretty lively litlte woman she used to be, but a frightened woman, older than her years. Patience tells Mary that she will have to get on with her husband, Joss Merlyn, who is the owner of the inn and that he has a hot temper and expects her to work for him. Mary is willing to work but she wonders why Patience is so scared of her husband and why there are no rooms for hire at the business. Joss Merlyn proves to be a big gigantic man, rough and savage in his manners, and she can see then why Patience is afraid of him. He mocks Mary, and laughs at his wife.. who tries to tell her niece that the inn does have people coming in to drink and that the local squire comes in at times. He tells Mary that she will have to obey him, and when he tells her to go to bed and lock herself in, she has to do this.

Ultimate Prizes, Part V

Neville returns home, but a little later, he has to go to Stoneyford, Alex's village to attend the funeral. Lyle is there, and he finds himself still feeling an attraction to her, though he does not like her and she is snappy with him. Carrie, Alex's widow, is exhausted, and while she rests, Neville and Lyle find themselves kissing. They almost end up in bed, but manage to stop, but the following day Neville is appalled at his own behaviour as a clergyman. He feels desperately ashamed, but when he gets home, he finds Dido is back. She tells him that she does care for him and she wants to make the marriage work... so they reach an agreement that she will try to cope with sex. Neville knows that she is partly doing this because she does not want to admit to her father that her marriage is a failure. He tries to gently introduce her to sex, but she is not that happy and neither is he. Soon, she becomes pregnant, and secures a separate bedroom. Neville keeps on trying to make the marriage work, and hopes that things will improve when they have children. Dido goes into labour, and has a hard time and her doctor tells Neville that the baby cannot be saved. She has a son, born dead, and he realises that the marriage will probalby never work out. Dido is too neurotic, she has failed at having a child and that will upset her even further and she has not managed to fit into the world of clergy wives. His world as a clergyman is in ruins. God seems to have abandoned him and Dido. He then accidentally meets Jon Darrow, who is head of the local theological college and while he dislikes Darrow, he dimly feels that perhaps help has arrived. Darrow was a monk, and his order specialised in helping clergy who were in trouble.. Neville talks to him and to another member of the Fordite monks, Aidan Lucas, and works his way through his family's history. His father had died when he was young and Neville knows that there is some kind of mystery about the death. In the end, he discovers that his parents' marraige was far from happy, and he himself while claiming to love his mother, found it hard to get on with her. He goes to visit an elderly uncle, his mother's brohter Willoughby and finds that Arthur, his father did die in bizarre circumstances, their old servant, Tabitha, accidentally gave him a sleeping drug meant for Neville's mother, and Willoughby had to cover up the near scandal. The trauma affected everyone in the family, including his mother who became a weeping widow and very possessive of Neville. This led to an angry row when she was an old lady, which ended in Neville hitting her which he has suppressed because it is so painful. He now understands that she felt guilty that she and her husband did not get on well, that she didnt like sex or having children and it caused a rift in her marriage..and as a result she was not a very affectionate mother. He ends by telling Jon that he now feels he can only atone for his cruetly to his mother by staying with Dido and making the marriage work, no matter how hard it is. He talks to Dido, knowing that she is basically an immature woman and will never be a very close companion to him, but hoping that they will achieve some kind of marital happiness. Jon tells him that he will have to try very hard, and that trying to stay married to a woman like Dido will be a long lonely road, but he can see that for Neville its the only way he can go forward.

Ultimate Prizes Part IV

Neville hastens to the village where Jardine is living in retirement, and finds that Lyle Ashworth, formerly companion to Jardines' wife, is staying with them. He has never much liked Lyle or Charles, thinking him much too academic and cerebral. However, he finds that he is attracted to Lyle, in spite of his dislike. She tells him that she can't believe that her husband, who is a prisoner of war, is still alive. Neville is horrified at how ill Alex is, he can see that he is dying, and he's even more shocked when Alex asks him to look after Charley and Michael, Lyles' two young sons. Alex explains that Lyle is his illegitmate daughter, (not true as we discover in other books but a fiction that Alex puts out to explain things to Neville). He says he had a fling before he was ordained and kept in touch with Lyle, and he and his wife were very upset when she decided to get married. He tells Neville that he is worried about the boys if Charles does not come home from the war. Alex says that when Neville agrees to look out for the children, he feels that his last wish has been granted and they will be all right. He further adds however, that he experienced terrible trauma in his own family as a boy. His father was a religious maniac, who tried to keep his family in isolation, but when Alex was a young man and starting out his clerical career, Ingrid, Alex's step mother went to keep house for her stepson.. and while she was away, the old man committed incest with his daughter and drove her insane.. Ingrid went back to him to stop him abusing the other sister. Neville can hardly believe this horror story, and wonders if Alex's cancer has affected him mentally... but he realises eventually that his friend is telling the truth. He has to go back home, but Lyle tells him that Alex can't live much longer and that he wants Neville to conduct his funeral. He agrees.... but is shaken by the revelations of how awful Jardine's life has been and how it does not chime with his own theology.

Ultimate Prizes Part III

Neville arranges the funeral, and has his brother and sister to stay, and tries very hard to stay in control of his emotions. His siblings, Emily and Willy, have not become brilliant successes as he has. Emily is clever but plain and has married a middle class man and lives in London. Willy teaches at a small public school, near London and is not ambitious. Neville tells them he does not want to talk about their parents, who are both dead. He feels desperate and believes that only Dido can understand his feelings so he writes to her. He is now determined to marry her, but she takes fright, because she enjoyed the game of flirting iwh a married clergyman but she does not want to marry a widowed man with a moderate income and several children. Neville tells her he loves her and is determined to get her to marry him. He devotes himslef to his work but tries to persuade Dido to agree to a marriage. Her father, a bullying Scottish millionaire, tells him that Dido wont be a suitable wife, and that he wont give her a large dowry. Neville retorts that he is marrying for love. He continues to pursue her, but his brother and sister disapprove and he has a big row with Alex Jardine, who tells him bluntly that he should not marry her. They become alienated. Neville remains determined to marry Dido, and she meets his younger children but they dont take to her. However at the end of the War she finally gives in and they become engaged. Her father who has been waiting for ages for his youngest daughter to get married, gives them a flashy wedding but Neville is uneasily aware that he will have money problems keeping an expensive wife and more children. As soon as the wedding is over, disillusionment sets in. They go to Scotland for a honeymoon and Dido immediately reveals her neuroses which includes a fear of sex and she's unable to consummate the marriage. After a couple of days, she leaves him to go and stay with her sister Muriel, and tells him that she feels the marriage is hopeless and cannot be saved. Neville is horrified, as a clergyman a divorce would wreck his career and an annulment would not be much better. He goes back to Starbridge, and tries to get in contact with Dido.. but then gets a call from Alex Jardine to say that he, Alex, is dying.....