Other Delderfield Novels

My favourite Delderfield Novels are the Avenue Books and To Serve them all my Days. Delderfield also wrote a trilogy set in Victorian England, about the Swann family.. Adam Swann, a professional soldier in India, from an army family, returns to England and decides to give up the army and set up a business. He thinks of having a transport firm, carrying goods where the railways do not go. He marries Henrietta Rawlinson, a businessman's daughter. They have a large family. The children take up various professions. His son, George, wants to motorise the fleet, and is involved in developing motor engines. His son Giles is a reformer and works as a welfare officer in the company. However the books are rather more sexist than some of his other works and the women are often bullied by their menfolk. Diana is a novel set in the 1920s and 30s, about a young socialite who falls in love with John (Jan) Leigh, who is from a poor family. They are friends from childhood but when she grows up, she realises that she cannot marry a young man like John, who is poor. But they become lovers. She marries a Frenchman, and goes to live in France. But her husband turns out to be a fascist and collaborator. She gets into SOE during World War Two, and marries John after her first husband is killed. But her adventures in France put strain on her heart, and Jan realises she is going to die young.