The Ten Commandments

by Warwick Deeping

Written in 1931, it is a story which contrasts the old and the new. A wounded soldier who loves beauty and a beautiful young woman who cares only for the modern world of jazz and fast living.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

George Warwick Deeping was a prolific novelist and short story writer, who is best known for his 1925 novel "Sorrell and Son."

Deeping was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then Trinity College, Cambridge to study medicine and science, and then to Middlesex Hospital to finish his medical training. During the First World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He later gave up his job as a doctor to become a full-time writer.

Deeping's early work was primarily historical romances. His later novels can be seen as attempts at keeping alive the spirit of the Edwardian age. He was one of the best selling authors of the 1920s and 1930s, with seven of his novels making the best-seller list. His short fiction also appeared in several US magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Adventure.

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This is published under two titles, the original being "The Road", which personally I think fits it better.

The setting is a roadside teahouse run by a mother and her two modern daughters. Nearby lives a one eyed WW1 veteran and part time horticulturist. Their lives will eventually mingle when one daughter gets into a motorcycle accident and is paralyzed.

This is a mellow story with a slightly moralistic tone, celebrating the gentleness of the pre war era and wagging its head at the fast and careless jazz age. Although I agreed with its message, I still found the overall story, sentiment and characters a little on the knight-errant syrupy side.

Still, a book I enjoyed picking up on the evening.

CONTENT:

SEX: None. Talk of post war morals and out of wedlock pregnancy, an attempted rape
VIOLENCE: A motorcycle crash
PROFANITY: Mild. D, B

MY RATING: Mild PG

[Angelica Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every reader prays for the moment when you shut a book and just need time to digest. To come to grips with what you just read and the fact that it is over. For the bitter sweet longing of those characters you have come to love and now must depart from. This book was everything and more for me. The love and wisdom of a mother, the love of a daughter, the joining of two unlikely characters and the growth that lies in tragedy. This book is one I will forever treasure.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been in the mood to read old books. This one had a powerful message which was delivered in a gentle way.

[Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my review from 2009 from bookcrossing...

I finished this book today - have had it a long time so it's about time I got it read and moving again.

I knew nothing about the book or the writer when I got this. So I went into this book not even knowing what kind of a story it was going to be. There's no blurb in English... well, there is a short one, but it's covered by the bookcrossing label... and there's no real cover design to give you any idea of what it might be about. Interestingly, on the front cover it says "Copyright Edition - Not to be introduced into the British Empire of the USA". Heck! As far as I can tell, this copy is from around the same time as it was written - 1933??According to Wikipedia, Warwick Deeping was a British writer, a he - I don't think the name gives it away, but from the writing style I would have said it was a woman to be honest - who wrote a lot of books. The link on the book The Road from the bibliography there actually takes you to another book by the same name by an American writer.

So, basic plot. This is set in a little village in the south of England below London, between the first and second world wars. It's about the residents whose houses are on the road in the village: a rich aristocratic lady who owns the major property there; Mrs Binnie who runs a tea room with her two daughters Rachel and Rhoda; the gardening mad war veterean with one eye only Nicholas Bonton, a strange old man who helps him in the garden and his slightly stern and humourless housekeeper, as well as various other bit characters from the area and the nearby town. It's just following a year or so in their lives, and their trials and tribulations. The plot is predictable and not exactly groundbreaking, but there is something comforting and quiet in that in a way, and it makes for nice escapism into an old idealised idea of chocolate box country villages that don't exist anymore. It does come across as a bit reactionary and anti communism and socialism - the idea of a national health care system is made to sound like a bad thing would you believe it! - and just generally anti progress/developement/urbanisation etc etc. A child of its time and a little look into a time now gone.I suppose you'd class it as melodrama/love story. And the two love items are wet blankets, but it's nice to know they get together in the end. I honestly thought though that this was written by some prim old woman, so I was surprised to read on wikipedia that this is a male writer. Unless wikipedia is telling me lies.