Wives and Daughters Part IV

Cynthia tells Mr Gibson what has been going on. She says 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. He accepts that Aimee, his mother has to stay with the boy. Roger comes home when Osborne dies, to discuss estate matters, and he can see now 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. He is depressed on his own account, as he blames Mrs Gibson for not looking after Cynthia better. He accepts that his wife is flighty and silly and not very honest but he must put up with her. But he knows now that she was never likely to be much good at caring for Molly, as he had hoped. He orders Molly to rest. Cynthia pays a visit to her father's relatives in London. One of her uncles is an up and coming lawyer, who has just won a big case and has taken silk. While Cynthia is visiting, she meets one of his fellow lawyers, Walter Henderson. He 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 it's 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. She can see that Mrs Gibson's neglect and Cynthia's own flirtatious nature have left her vulnerable. She has a tendency to get into scandalous situations. But she's also shocked to find that Preston is such a stalker, chasing after Cynthia and averring that he won't 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 is disgusted at his nasty conduct. She 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 - which was 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 very ill and one day visits Molly. He tells her that as she knows he is married, he wants to give her some information. His wife, Aimee, lives in lodgings, down South. He is able, with Roger's help to provide her with a small allowance.. and they also have 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. 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 Osborne recently, so she 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 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. He also got into serious debt 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. 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 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. Osborne does not seem to have any ability to earn a living. Roger is doing better at college and it looks as if he will be able to win scholarships and do well for himself, but he's still only the younger son. Molly enjoys being with Cynthia. Her best 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 Cumnor daughter, 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. She is startled to hear of this secret marriage. The young men tell her that they dont want the squire to find out, 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.. 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. She tells him she will wait for him but she does not want to have a formal engagement. He is going away on a trip to Africa to study natural history, which will increase his chances of making a good living...But 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. 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 charming 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. She is not always very close to her mother but she is upset and angry at the lack of respect Preston has shown to her.. So she decided to end the engagement. 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 with Preston but he won't 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. It's set in a small country town, (based on Knutsford where Gaskell grew up). 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 aristocratic landlords of the area, down to the poor of the countryside. He is interested in science and is friendly with Lord Hollingford, Lord Cumnor's son, 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. 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... The squire is not so keen. 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, but he's not considered the equal of the local gentry, and it's hard for him to find a suitable wife. All that is available are farmers' daughters who are not ladies, and landowners' daughters, who would not marry a mere country doctor. 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 left to get 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. She is pleased 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..... Molly does not take to her new stepmother - she can see that the woman is silly and thoughtless and has little real feeling for anyone but herself. She is fonder of Mrs Hamley and visits her, as her health declines.

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 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 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 they get lost. They are relieved 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. 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. In spite of his selfish nature, he is really sorry to have caused someone's death. 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. 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 racist incident. Some American soldiers attacked 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. Also, 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. 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 still there, when they get married. He stays in for another operation to try to get his broken leg better and make it easier for him to walk. He 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 he decides, when he is walking better, to take a flat in another house nearby. He does not want to intrude on the married couple. He rents his flat from the 2 ladies 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. It's a lot more comfortable than it is back home. Archie and Elaine have a daughter, Louise. Jim realises that he himself has changed a lot over the years. He is now friends 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 Boxer and Bernie take part in the Dieppe Raid. They are missing and he believes them killed, because the raid was a fiasco. He knows they don't usually take prisoners in that sort of attack. Philippa, daughter of Edgar Frith's 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. She firmly believes that Bernie is safe. Jim is not so optimistic, and is very depressed at the idea of never seeing his boys again when he had become closer to them.. But news comes that both of them are alive. Bernie was seriously injured in the raid. Boxer stayed behind to take him to a German post. He surrendered to the Germans, who took Bernie away for medical attention. Bernie was badly injured and lost an arm, but survived. Jim has hopes that the Germans will exchange him when he has recovered, and he will be back in England. Boxer, having surrendered, 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 Pippa marry. 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. He has always followed his brother's lead and now he is having to be independent and make decisions for himself, and he likes it. However, the war isn't over yet and in 1945, Jim suffers yet another terrible 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. His boss, knowing what an asset he is to the firm, tells him to go home and to take 2 weeks off and have a holiday. Harold, not displeased, went home early... He had just arrived and having a cup of tea and planning his little holiday. He was in the garden, chatting with Louise and her husband, when the bomb strikes. Jack and Lou were killed instantly. Jim came home to finds his part of the street in ruins and there is already a long list of the dead. Then he learned that Harold is there, alive but with terrible injuries. Harold has to go to hospital where he is in very bad shape, 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. But she finds an admirer, Jack Strawbridge who is a jobbing gardener. They get married and move into the Carver house. Louise seems contented with her hard working life. As war approaches, Jim wonders what is best to do. He wants to take part in the war against Hitler. 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.. He still wants social reform, but he realises that 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. Archie becomes a spiv, 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. Eunice goes to Devon with the baby, to get away from the London bombing. 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. But he feels 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 is 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 for a walk. She is hit by a stray bomber. Harold is deeply shocked and grieved, and when Esme comes to London to tell his wife the bad news, 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 he 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... Tim, her husband had 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 earlier asked Jim to move in with him. He is alone in his house, with Eunice and Esme away. Jim's house was crowded with his several children. 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. But they get on well and Harold is pleased to have a companion and Jim is pleased to have someone to take on some of the housework. 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, Woolston Erickson, 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. He then finds that his wife has taken 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 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 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 father that he behaved stupidly and badly and does not see much point in trying to defend himself. He has also heard that Tony, his elder son who had joined the army, had been killed in Egypt. He is so depressed at losing Tony that he does not really care about being sent to prison. 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, Mitch and Orrie, from the US and start dating them. Jim like most British has his doubts about the Americans but he likes the 2 young men. He is touched when they offer to bring some food when he invites them to supper. They have been told by their officer "don't you go eating those poor bastards' rations".

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. The marriage ends in divorce, when Edgar falls in love with Frances. She is a young 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. 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 worships her from afar. Elaine leaves home and takes a variety of jobs, in places like circuses and cinemas and hotels. She like sex and has affairs. But Esme continues to carry a torch for her - not noticing that Judy, Jim Carver's 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 Mosley's Union of Fascists but does not like the violence so he leaves very soon. Judy gets interested in horse riding and takes a job at a riding school. 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. She settles for him, as she has not had any luck in finding a really rich husband. James is depressed during the 1930s. He has found steady work as a lorry driver and financially life is easier... but he finds that his Socialist friends are pacifists 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. Becky had a breakdown years ago and has to be looked after. Edith is not well off. She takes in lodgers, gives music lessons and 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. He wanted to write 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, a sergeant in the army, has served for 4 years. He is a youngish 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 to war and poverty. He has developed an interest in politics, and comes back determined to work for the Labour cause. However, in the Spring of 1919, his wife Ada has just died. She caught Spanish flu after giving birth to twin daughters. His eldest daughter, Louise, is keeping house, having also worked part time through most of the war, and looked after the younger children. 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 he can see that with so many children, they need a roomier house. He gets a job as a porter but finds it hard to get steady employment, and he has so many children to support. Louise is needed to keep house. He spends most of his spare time working for the labour movement.. Archie is very different and within 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, Esme... Eunice is silly but sweet natured and Harold, who is shy and has been very lonely, adores her. Her son is the same age as Jim's twin boys, Bernard 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.. Jim manages to get some training as a lorry driver, and he gets regular work which he likes, so he's less woried about making a living. When his boys leave school, Bernard and Boxer become motor cyclists who do displays, and Esme tries to become a writer. Archie makes a marriage of convenience with an Italian girl, the daughter of a shop keeper. He does well 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 Sins of the Father

The Rich Are Different was one of Howatch's earlier novels. It was followed by Sins of the Fathers, which followed the Van Zale family up to the 1960's. We learn that Dinah Slade died rescuing soldiers at Dunkirk, but she destroyed Mallingham and prevented it from falling into Cornelius' hands. After her death, feeling guilty, Cornelius took her children to America, as both their parents were dead. His sister Emily is a motherly kind woman and she took in the children and they spent a few years under Emily's care. However during the War, Alan Slade and Tony, Steve's son were killed in Normandy. The Sullivan children went back to England when they left school and did not make contact with Cornelius again. 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 their sexual relationship is damaged by the fact that she knows Cornelius is infertile. This emasculates him and he can't make love to her. He finds a mistress, a Polish girl, who wants to be an artist, called Teresa. Alicia, feeling lonely, turns to another man, Jake Reischman, one of Cornelius's few close friends. Vicky marries twice, to Sam Keller, Cornelius' closest ally at the bank.. and after his death she marries Sebastian Foxworth, her step brother, but their baby son dies and they split up. Cornelius is close to Scott, Steve's elder son, and regards him as a surrogate son. But he then 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 grown close again to her ex husband, Sebastian, and after Scott's death, she goes back to him. She had loved her father but he behaved so badly to Scott, that she became disillusioned. We know that Sebastian 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, now that the war has started. She is good friends with her solicitor, Geoffrey Hurst who lives in Norfolk and was her admirer years ago -. They both like sailing and have boats. She registers her boat with the government, in case it might be of use in the war. Then, during the Phony war, Cornelius arrives in Mallingham. They talk and he tells her that he owns the house. He offers 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 won't 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. 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. They have had a second daughter, Lorraine, but Steve by then was realising that his marriage was a mistake. He was fond of his wife, 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 he begins to realise 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 moves to a job in the London branch of the bank. Emily accepts that the marriage is over, and returns to New York, with her children. Steve contacts sees Dinah who has been very lonely, alone with her 3 children. He tells her that he is finished with Emily and that he wants to marry her... so they make plans. Emily makes no trouble about a divorce, as she is a good kindly woman. However, Steve's 2 sons are angry and upset at their father's leaving Emily, whom they love. Emily, who adores children, agrees to keep them with her. Steve feels that it would only upset the boys for him to insist on them living with him and Dinah. So he leaves the boys with his ex wife. Steve and Dinah get married. 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 get away from Cornelius by setting up a bank on his own. She is willing to fund him by selling 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 it's not easy for him to put a woman into that role. Dinah is having another baby, so she is happy to stay home for a while and the new bank opens. 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. Dinah is worrying about his drinking. She finally tells him that she loves him but if he doesn't stop, 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. 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 has always loved her and that 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 he's not happy in America and would like to live with her in England.

Rich Are DIfferent Part VI

Now back in New York, Steve marries Emily, a year later. Cornelius has become involved with a widowed socialite who is 16 years his senior, Vivienne Coleman. She is a cousin of the Da Costa brothers. 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, even though she is pregnant. He finds out that Vivienne was Stewart Da Costa's mistress and that later she was involved emotionally with Greg Da Costa. He tips off the ATF about Greg's smuggling activities. Greg is killed in a gun fight. It is a bitter divorce. Vivienne gets sympathy from the upper classes. The press, the gossip mags, and society think poorly of Cornelius for fighting his older pregnant wife in the courts. Then, while he is unhappily struggling with the bad publicity, he falls in love with another socialite, who is around his own age, and who is married to a politican, Ralph Foxworth. Cornelius is desperately in love. Alicia has been married very young and has discovered that her husband married her for her money. She now falls for Cornelius. She leaves her husband and takes her small son and moves in with him. 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. Ralph refuses to sell his children. He says he was willing to accept money to divorce Alicia as she was a whore. But he won't give up his children. Alicia has another son, Andrew whom she has to give up to Ralph. The couple marry, and they plan to have a large family... Steve and Emily have a baby daughter, Rosemary, but Cornelius, visiting his sister, catches mumps from Tony, Steve's young son. 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 else's. The couple are both very much loners, and neither of them has ever had many friends, but they have each other. Cornelius is badly shaken by his infertility. He throws himself into his work, and 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. He wants to believe 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. He loves his mother but she, like many of the Van Zale women, was too highbrow to get on well with him. So he goes hunting for papers and letters, relating to Paul and finds a letter that Paul wrote to Dinah before his 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 he is hurt that Paul did not seem to like him. He 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 some day he will use this against her.

Rich Are Different Part V

Steven is married with 2 sons, and like Paul, he 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 London, as he and Cornelius are not getting on and the younger man is richer and more powerful than he is. Cornelius has blackmailed him into having a leading role in the bank when he is very young. He has a hold on Steve because he has a tape of Steve's conversation with Blair. 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. He can say that he was a scared kid who didn't know what to do when he found out about it. So Steve agrees to his having a more prominent role in the bank. Steve goes to London alone. Caroline, his wife, stays in New York with the children but she will 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, who is a bright little boy, and looks like Paul. Steve 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. He warily tells her that Cornelius is a far tougher customer than he had originally thought. He tells her that the deeds to the house seem to have been lost. 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. Steve tells her that he does not want her to have his child outside marriage, like Alan. He says he will go home and talk to Caroline and get a divorce. Dinah has come to realise that it was 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. So now, he has to put off the idea of divorce. 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 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. His twin brothers who are not very bright, have embezzled money. He also finds that his wife has just died, her cancer had returned. He 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 also very pretty. She is a little older than her brother. She had gone to look after Steve's sons when Caroline got ill again. Steve is very grateful that someone was willing to take care of them. He still feels bitterly angry at Dinah's criticisms of him, and is upset that he may never see the babies that she is expecting.

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. On her arrival in America, she's shocked at how ill Paul looks. She and he renew their affair and they enjoy their times together. She meets a lot of people in New York, and likes the place. However, she goes to a party where she sees Sylvia with Paul. She realises 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 Terence O'Reilly, who is still working for Paul. She becomes suspicious that there are enemies surrounding Paul. To make matters worse, she meets Elizabeth Clayton, who reveals to her that Paul has epilepsy. She is shocked because she had always believed that Paul was honest with her. Then when she is visiting Terence's apartment, she accidentally comes across 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. It seems as if more than an anti bank protest is going to happen. Frightened, she calls Paul, but only gets 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. However Paul insists on going to the office. He leaves with Steve Sullivan. When they get to the office, Bruce Clayton, the son of Paul's long term American mistress, who has been a family friend for years, comes 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, dismissing his bodyguard. 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. He knows 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. He is startled 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... He is only 18 but he's very determined to do things his way. Steve is now very wary of him. Bruce Clayton commits suicide after a year or so. He 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, but does not name anyone. 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. He had embezzled money from his yacht club. He had asked Paul for help and Paul refused. The other conspirators were the Da Costa brothers, Bruce Clayton and O'Reilly. Blair was the one who was able to let the assassin gain entry to the bank. Stewart Da Costa had been killed in a gun incident by a detective whom Paul had sent to watch him, and this adds to Greg Da Costa's anger against Paul, so he took part in the plot. O'Reilly left New York after Paul's death and moved to South America, but he contacted Sylvia later in hopes that she would become his wife. Steve knows that he can't bring them to court as it would destroy the bank. But he gets O'Reilly to come to New York, by getting Sylvia to invite him. Then he has a confrontation with O'Reilly and Blair. 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 afraid that letting Cornelius in on the whole thing was a mistake. He keeps in touch with Dinah occasionally, and she tells him she wants to buy back her house from the Van Zale estate. She had been planning to do this 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 son, Alan. 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 O'Reilly, her husband's aide who has always seemed a very dull young man, tells her that he knew of Paul's affair in 1923. He says he 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 while he was unfaithful, 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 arguing 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 is distant and why he won't have more children. She waits until he comes around, thankful that noone saw his collapse. When he recovers, he tells her that his epilepsy has been his shameful secret all his life. He had had it in childhood but had become fitter and had been well for many years. However a few years earlier, when Vicky died in childbirth, the shock caused him to have another attack. He was furiously angry with Jason, Vicky's husband who had mocked him as a boy for his fits. He also blamed Jason for letting Vicky get pregnant and causing her death. So he plotted against his colleague... making it look as if Da Costa had made a serious mistake in dealing with a client, and that would push him to resign from the bank. He only meant to shame him and drive him to an enforced retirement, in Florida. Jason killed himself instead. Paul had had another attack, from guilt. He could not forgive Da Costa for, as he saw it, causing Vicky's death.... and he begins to fear that he is getting deeper into a blood stained life. Sylvia understands that that was partly why he had mistresses, to distract him from his worries about his illness. Paul tells her that he has lied and done wrong in order to wreak his revenge on Jason. Worse, O'Reilly, as his closest aide, knows that he has lied to portray Jason as incompetent and that a lot of his life is based now on lies. He wants to fire O'Reilly but the man knows too much. He promotes him to a better job, where he does not have to see him as much, but is worried about him. 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. His depression has an effect on him sexually and while he and Sylvia had had a good sex life, he now cannot make love to her. After a while, she tells him that she realises that he can't get over his sexual problems alone - it would help him if he had someone who didn't 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. She needs someone to lend her enough money to buy her manor house and repair it, and 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 back 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 doesn't want children. He lost his only daughter Vicky, and never wanted to have any more after that. Dinah however, wants a child, and 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 Jason Da Costa's sons, 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 stay married to him. She had been married before and widowed. Sylvia is lonely, because Paul does not want children. But she herself has had several pregnancies that all ended in miscarriage. 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. 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 that the boy is tough and strong minded, and that he is intelligent enough to learn about banking and seems keen on the idea. Cornelius has some of Paul's ruthless qualities - and he hates Veletria, Ohio, the provincial city where he has been brought up. It is boring and his mother and sister who are both intellectuals, bore and irritate him. He is delighted at his visit to New York and being taken up by his uncle, and seeing the exciting world of great wealth where he lives.

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 her series 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. Her father died a while before, 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. His father did not leave much money, but at the age of 18, Paul went to college in England. He liked England and loved Oxford, but he met a working class girl and got her 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 a second 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. He works out a plan and marries Marietta Chalmers, whose father owns a small investment house and has no son to inherit. Paul 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. He gets a divorce from Marietta, and marries a young upper class widow, Sylvia Woodard. But his only child, Vicky has died in childbirth. He is very fond of Sylvia but she and he are not very close. He has always been a womaniser. 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 issues in 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. He is a distinguished man, a clergyman - and his enmity with Charles is very dangerous. 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. She tries to ignore what he's saying but he tells her that he has guessed she is the woman. He says that she has to break it off with Neville, or he will end up ruined. He reminds her that he himself cares for her and he cares for the Dean too. He tells Venetia he wants to marry her and feels they would be happy, but she has to break off the affair. Venetia tells Eddie that she can't 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, 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 won't accept that their affair is over, unless she takes some radical action like finding another man. So she tells Eddie she will marry him. She writes to Neville to say that their relationship must end and she's marrying Eddie. Neville tells her that though he is fond of his protege, he believes that Edward's melancholy personality and his ill health would make him a bad husband. He accepts the inevitable and goes for counselling to get back on track. Lyle remarks that he should resign his office in Starbridge, but that he won't do that, and he does stay there... Venetia gets married to Eddie, but Neville's prediction is right. Their marriage turns out badly. She does not care much for him or find him attractive. They go to London to live, things don't work out. She does not like being a clergyman's wife. Venetia is not faithful... like most of her set, she takes part in the wild antics of the Swinging Sixties, but Eddie knows a divorce would ruin him. Later on, they have a daughter, and she is not sure who the father is. Eddie believes that it is his. He dies young. Overall he has not had a very good life. Venetia, now a widow, takes to drinking and sleeping around, even more. She does not spend much time with her daughter, Vanessa who is looked after by her Aunt Sylvia. In the 1970s, she receives a letter from Neville, who is now elderly and retired asking if he could visit her when he's making 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. He wanted to see her before he dies. She realises 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. Some years later, in the 1980's, 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, (She makes up a relationship with Christian Aysgarth's friend, Perry Palmer). She says that she is hopeful of this one working out. However, she tries to ask Lyle for advice by saying that she has a friend, Dinkie, an American girl, who has become involved 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. 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. Jon is now an elderly widower who lives in Starbridge and gives spiritual advice. She knows Nick Darrow, Jon's 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 uses Eddie as a cover, having asked him to take her to see a play. She goes to Jon's little cottage where he lives like a reclusive monk. She 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. She does not realise that a sexless friendship isn't that easy to maintain. She does realise that Neville has strong moral beliefs. He is not like people of her own class who don't regard fidelity in marriage as all that important. Marina also tells Venetia that she found out a few years earlier that her real father was not her mother's husband. Her mother, Alice Markhampton, is a socialite who is a well known painter and has had affairs. One of her lovers was 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, (a riposte to Bishop John Robinson's book, Honest to God). 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. 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. He is sure 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 trying to make her happy. So 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 girl, who is inclined to talk about philosophy at dinner parties. It being the '60's, almost the only jobs available for girls are secretarial jobs. Venetia cannot find anything that she 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 the Archdeacon's office, and although she is not a great success with men, she seems contented with her life. She is clever and a good organiser, and does well in her job. Venetia 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 of complaining, and to hypochondria. Venetia thinks him a crashing bore. He met Neville when Aysgarth was ministering to the German POWs in the war. He took an interest in Edward, and helped him to get to college and train as a clergyman. Eddie decided to stay in England. Venetia can't understand why Neville gets on so well with him. In 1963, she is 26 and gets fed up with her father lecturing her, and leaves home. She goes to Starbridge.. where Charles Ashworth is now the Bishop. 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. 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 popular with all the young men of their set. She is beginning to feel that her life is getting to be 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. She does not want to be unkind to Eddie, but it depresses her that he seems to be her only admirer. Neville tells her that he cares for her and admires her, and they realise that they are falling in love. Neville has had romantic 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 women, but in truth she is still jealous. She is not a very happy person, and her step children can't stand her. Venetia is inexperienced in romantic relationships but she knows that this friendship must remain utterly secret. 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, and they talk about all sorts of things. She is also happy to share a flat with Marina. Marina 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 with 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. Neville makes the best of things. He loves his son and daughter by Dido, Pip and Elizabeth and he enjoys his work. He also flirts innocuously with younger women, but his wife, while she is jealous, mostly overlooks it. 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 don't much like Dido, because she has a sharp tongue and very little common sense, and is always making brutal comments. It is generally held that her lack of tact has hampered Neville getting on in his church career. He has done well but not as well as he could have, with a more supportive wife. Venetia is friends with Primrose Aysgarth, Neville's elder daughter who is rather plain but very clever. She envies her friend having a devoted father, as she feels like noone in her family takes much notice of her. Venetia comes out in the 50s, but is not a success in the social world. 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. Desperately, 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 sheep's 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. He is the leader of the smuggling ring and 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 with him, telling her he will get out of England and she will be his companion. She can't stop him takng her 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 Patience is a weak silly woman and cannot break free of her husband. Mary meets Jem Merlyn, Joss's younger brother, who is closer to her in age. 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 he seems to be the man in charge of the smuggling, is a drinker. 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 mother as housekeeper, but her mother dies some years after her father's death. She advises 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 safe 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 there, it seems shabby and uncomfortable. Her aunt Patience is not now the pretty lively little 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. 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 few days later, he gets the message that Alex has died. He has to go to Stoneyford, Alex's village, to take the funerral service. Lyle is there, and he finds himself still feeling attracted 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 having sex, but manage to stop. Next day, Neville is appalled at his own behaviour as a clergyman. She and he agree to put the incident behind them. He feels desperately ashamed, but when he gets home, he finds Dido is back. She tells him that she does care for him. 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 has an excuse to sleep in a separate bedroom. Neville keeps on trying, and hopes that things will improve when they have children. She is scared and does not find it easy to get on with the children, who take more and more of a dislike to her. Dido goes into labour, and has a hard time. Her doctor tells Neville that the baby cannot be saved. She has a son, born dead, and he realises that the marriage will probably never work out. Dido is too neurotic, she has failed at having a child. She will be even more upset, and knows 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. He dislikes Darrow, yet 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. He discovers that his parents' marriage was far from happy. He himself, while claiming to love his mother, found it hard to get on with her. He goes to visit his elderly uncle, his mother's brother, Willoughby, who took charge of him when he was a boy but was never a kindly father figure. Uncle Willoughby tells him that Arthur, his father did die in bizarre circumstances. Their old servant, Tabitha, who was illiterate, accidentally gave him a sleeping drug meant for Neville's mother. Arthur was a heavy drinker..so the drug combined with alcohol, killed him. 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 - a memory 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 didn't like sex or having children and it caused a rift in her marriage. 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 cruelty to his mother by staying with Dido and making the marriage work, no matter how hard it is. Jon sympathises and tells him it WILL be a hard road. 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 trying to stay married to a woman like Dido will be a long lonely road, but he can see that for Neville it is the only way he can go forward. Neville grieves over his stillborn son, and arranges a funeral, giving him the name Arthur. He goes back to his wife. They talk and he tries to understand her better. He learns that her father was unfaithful to her mother and kept his wife at home because she was not quite a lady. He only liked his daughters insofar as they married well and added to his prestige. Jon tells him that he will try and support him, and that he thinks that Neville should give up drinking as he does depend on it rather too much. Neville however decides that he will keep on drinking, it will give him a boost when times are hard. He tells himself that at least he's been given a way to survive his marriage and go on with his career in the church.

Ultimate Prizes Part IV

Neville hastens to Stoneyford, 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, Lyle's two young sons. Alex explains that Lyle is his illegitimate 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. This was why 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 he's reassured that 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 in his clerical career, Ingrid, Alex's step mother went to keep house for her stepson. While she was away, the old man committed incest with his elder 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 that his friend is telling the truth. It frightens him to be reminded of what terrible evil there is in life. 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 such brilliant successes as he has. Emily is clever but plain and has married a middle class man, a salesman, and lives in London. But she is glad to have escaped being a spinster daughter. 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 with a married clergyman. However, 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 himself to his work but tries to persuade Dido to agree to a marriage. Her father, a bullying Scottish millionaire, tells him that Dido won't be a suitable wife, and that he won't give her a large dowry. Neville retorts that he is marrying for love. He continues to pursue her, but his brother and sister disapprove. Alex Jardine tells him bluntly that he should not marry her. Alex, who was his friend and patron, is hurt and angry - they become alienated. Neville remains determined to marry Dido, and she meets his younger children but they don't take to her. However at the end of the War, she 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. 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 reveals her neuroses, which includes a fear of sex. 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 cannot be saved. Neville is horrified. As a clergyman a divorce would wreck his career. An annulment would not be much better. He goes back to Starbridge, and tries to get in contact with Dido. He then gets a call from Alex Jardine to say that he, Alex, is dying.....