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Strangers and Brothers #1
Time of Hope
The life of Lewis Eliot - documented across eleven novels with C. P. Snow's distinctive blend of precision and compassion - begins in Time of Hope.The novel opens in the summer of 1914 when nine-year-old Lewis hears the news of his father's bankruptcy, and closes in 1933, when, although hindered in his promising career as a lawyer by the neuroses of his wife, he realises that he cannot bear to leave her. In the course of this ambitious but ultimately unremarkable man's early life rage the great questions of the age - questions of class, of gender, of ideology and of war - asked and answered with wisdom and tolerance.A meticulous study of the public issues and private problems of post-war Britain, C. P. Snow's Strangers and Brothers sequence is a towering achievement that stands alongside Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time as one of the great romans-fleuves of the twentieth century.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
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About the author
C.P. Snow
94 books124 followersKnown British scientist Charles Percy Snow, baron Snow of Leicester, wrote especially his 11-volume series
Strangers and Brothers
(1940-1970).
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
May 28, 2018
I had no particularly high expectations for this novel. In fact I wanted to read another book by C.P.Snow; his famous and influential lecture
The Two Cultures
. But then I discovered that there was a new e-book edition of this 11-volume-series and I immediately fell in love with the shiny black cover of volume one (the others are blackish too; and black is my color) and bought it for a ridiculously low price. I don’t regret it. I love reading these overly long (4100 pages in this case) novels in which you can immerse yourself for weeks and months. That was the case with Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle series, as well as Walter Kempowski’s German Chronicle. I have high hopes it’ll happen again for me with Strangers and Brothers. It’s a little too early to tell as the first volume (called Time of Hope) make up only about 12% of the whole novel.
As an ESL I had some trouble at first to get reacquaint with the vocabulary used in this book and I confess that I have neglected British English too much. I don’t recall reading words like supine, halcyon, circumlocution, or pertinacity before. There’s also some jargon from legal education in England in the late 1920s which was quite new to me, like “Bar examinations”, “to be admitted to an Inn” or “waiting for briefs” (which has nothing to do with underwear), and, of course, the subtle difference between solicitors and a barristers.
One thing is already clear: The life of Lewis Eliot, the first person narrator of the story, is very interesting to witness indeed, at least for outsiders and – let’s face it – readers are also voyeurs somehow. His rise from a rather poor lower-middle class child in a small English town to a somewhat successful lawyer in London is one of the main subject matters of the first volume. Another one is the peculiar and at times unsettling relationship between Eliot and Sheila (upper-middle class), a woman Eliot can’t live with or without. I hope to learn more of this strange relationship in the books to come.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
As an ESL I had some trouble at first to get reacquaint with the vocabulary used in this book and I confess that I have neglected British English too much. I don’t recall reading words like supine, halcyon, circumlocution, or pertinacity before. There’s also some jargon from legal education in England in the late 1920s which was quite new to me, like “Bar examinations”, “to be admitted to an Inn” or “waiting for briefs” (which has nothing to do with underwear), and, of course, the subtle difference between solicitors and a barristers.
One thing is already clear: The life of Lewis Eliot, the first person narrator of the story, is very interesting to witness indeed, at least for outsiders and – let’s face it – readers are also voyeurs somehow. His rise from a rather poor lower-middle class child in a small English town to a somewhat successful lawyer in London is one of the main subject matters of the first volume. Another one is the peculiar and at times unsettling relationship between Eliot and Sheila (upper-middle class), a woman Eliot can’t live with or without. I hope to learn more of this strange relationship in the books to come.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
February 11, 2020
C.P. Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" series, published between 1940 and 1970 and following 1st-person protagonist Lewis Eliot and his friends, family and acquaintances from 1914 through the 1960's, begins with "Time of Hope" (first published in 1949--not the first published but the first in the chronological sequence of the narrative).
In it we see Lewis Eliot's first personal drama, the bankruptcy of his amiable but unfocused father; his arrival, through excellent academic performance, on the brink of possibility, and its receding due to his family's lack of capital; the way he struggles through law studies and to admission to the Bar by dint of hard work, talent, and audacity (and a seed of luck); his tragic love for and marriage to the damaged Sheila Knight; and his involvement with the charismatic idealist George Passant and his entourage known as "the group."
Snow's depiction of English society from just before WWI to the 1930's is detailed and seems to the modern reader sepia-toned, reminding of us how very different customs were a century ago; but his acute psychological observations, for his novels are as much about character study as they are chronicles of 20th-century history, continually strike sparks of recognition with their penetrating insight, implying that our human nature is unchanged.
The tone is sober and frank, the prose clear and memorable; descriptions are spare and efficient but with graceful images, visual or auditory, serving as mnemonic milestones. For example, chapter titles include "Steaming Clothes Before the Fire" and "Chime of a Clock." These aren't the subject of the chapters but notable sensory details. He often uses this device of associating an important knot of plot and motive with a mnemonic detail and mentioning the detail to summon up the earlier, more complex description of action.
Snow's great strong point is character. He has created a large cast, each character imagined down to fine details of desire and habit, mood and conviction; he describes their basic make-up, what he often calls their nature, and the myriad ways that time, circumstance, and the influence of others seem to change it in ways both subtle and transformational. Very like Proust, whom I suspect he read avidly, he is fascinated by the fluidity of personality and impulse, the difficulty of overcoming the deepest barriers in the self, and the way the same forces within us can produce a bewildering, even contradictory variety of outcomes in our feelings and behavior over a lifetime. He lays this bare with compassion and not an ounce of moralizing judgment. The result is an absorbing and moving collective portrait.
In "Time of Hope" he also introduces us to many of the characters who will populate several further books, including the next two in the series, "George Passant" and "The Conscience of the Rich."
Snow, who was a scientist and civil servant, is better known nowadays for his famous 1959 lecture, "The Two Cultures," about the growing gulf between the humanities and the sciences. But the "Strangers and Brothers" series is essential reading.
In it we see Lewis Eliot's first personal drama, the bankruptcy of his amiable but unfocused father; his arrival, through excellent academic performance, on the brink of possibility, and its receding due to his family's lack of capital; the way he struggles through law studies and to admission to the Bar by dint of hard work, talent, and audacity (and a seed of luck); his tragic love for and marriage to the damaged Sheila Knight; and his involvement with the charismatic idealist George Passant and his entourage known as "the group."
Snow's depiction of English society from just before WWI to the 1930's is detailed and seems to the modern reader sepia-toned, reminding of us how very different customs were a century ago; but his acute psychological observations, for his novels are as much about character study as they are chronicles of 20th-century history, continually strike sparks of recognition with their penetrating insight, implying that our human nature is unchanged.
The tone is sober and frank, the prose clear and memorable; descriptions are spare and efficient but with graceful images, visual or auditory, serving as mnemonic milestones. For example, chapter titles include "Steaming Clothes Before the Fire" and "Chime of a Clock." These aren't the subject of the chapters but notable sensory details. He often uses this device of associating an important knot of plot and motive with a mnemonic detail and mentioning the detail to summon up the earlier, more complex description of action.
Snow's great strong point is character. He has created a large cast, each character imagined down to fine details of desire and habit, mood and conviction; he describes their basic make-up, what he often calls their nature, and the myriad ways that time, circumstance, and the influence of others seem to change it in ways both subtle and transformational. Very like Proust, whom I suspect he read avidly, he is fascinated by the fluidity of personality and impulse, the difficulty of overcoming the deepest barriers in the self, and the way the same forces within us can produce a bewildering, even contradictory variety of outcomes in our feelings and behavior over a lifetime. He lays this bare with compassion and not an ounce of moralizing judgment. The result is an absorbing and moving collective portrait.
In "Time of Hope" he also introduces us to many of the characters who will populate several further books, including the next two in the series, "George Passant" and "The Conscience of the Rich."
Snow, who was a scientist and civil servant, is better known nowadays for his famous 1959 lecture, "The Two Cultures," about the growing gulf between the humanities and the sciences. But the "Strangers and Brothers" series is essential reading.
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January 25, 2020Someone (I wish I could remember who) once described C.P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence as A Dance to the Music of Time (Anthony Powell) as narrated by Widmerpool. It remains one of the most brilliant one-liner reviews that I have ever seen, although for anyone unfamiliar with the Dance it doesn’t work quite as well. “It doesn’t work quite as well” is my whole feeling re Strangers and Brothers, of which Time of Hope is the third published volume, first chronological volume. Lewis Eliot is a brilliant but poor young man from a small town. He is convinced, rightly so, of his own intelligence and capacities, but being right doesn’t make him any more attractive as a character. He has an abrasive personality, seems prone to self-pity, is often a poor judge of character, and generally does not engage much reader sympathy: not a strong foundation from which to narrate a 3000+ page, 11 volume sequence novel. This is likely my last run through of Snow’s novels, acting on the Robertson Davies premise that one should read a novel three times in life: once as a young man, once in middle-age, and once as an older man. He was speaking specifically of Don Quixote, but it does generally work for a lot of books. The reader sees differently according to where the reader is on his own personal timeline. On this read, I feel I like Eliot even less, but understand him more.
January 6, 2018
The first book of a long saga narrated by Lewis Eliot. The writing appeals to me as it is just the sort of English that I was brought up on. I found the tale of hopeless love quite gripping. Eliot's professional success seems to come a little too easily and there were too many coincidences and strokes of good fortune. The insight into life in England in the 1920s was wonderful. There were some slang words, e.g. "sunket", that I did not recognize.
February 12, 2021
Well, the writing was good, but that's about the best I can say I'm afraid.
The book is written in the first person, which I always find a bit difficult because the reader gains no insight into the actions, motives and thoughts of the other characters, other than what the narrator perceives them to be, or chooses to share with the reader.
Set in the early part of the 20th century, the story covers the early life of Lewis Eliot, beginning with his father's bankruptcy. The shame and privations suffered by Eliot as a result of this give him the burning ambition to become a barrister and to do not just well, but to be outstanding. This ambition, and Eliot's unrequited passion for Sheila (who later becomes his wife), form twin strands of the book.
I found the characters to be unlikeable and irritating! Lewis seems to me to be full of self pity (when he's not bemoaning the fact that his abiliities are overlooked by the senior barrister in his chambers) and is completely unable to move on from his early infatuation with Sheila - an incredibly cold individual who seems to be utterly devoid of empathy. Yet Lewis marries her, and stays with her, even though he finally understands that she doesn't love him, and never will love him, and acknowledges that her actions have badly damaged his career - you honestly want to give him a shake!
This is the first of an 11 novel series, but I don't think I'll read any more
The book is written in the first person, which I always find a bit difficult because the reader gains no insight into the actions, motives and thoughts of the other characters, other than what the narrator perceives them to be, or chooses to share with the reader.
Set in the early part of the 20th century, the story covers the early life of Lewis Eliot, beginning with his father's bankruptcy. The shame and privations suffered by Eliot as a result of this give him the burning ambition to become a barrister and to do not just well, but to be outstanding. This ambition, and Eliot's unrequited passion for Sheila (who later becomes his wife), form twin strands of the book.
I found the characters to be unlikeable and irritating! Lewis seems to me to be full of self pity (when he's not bemoaning the fact that his abiliities are overlooked by the senior barrister in his chambers) and is completely unable to move on from his early infatuation with Sheila - an incredibly cold individual who seems to be utterly devoid of empathy. Yet Lewis marries her, and stays with her, even though he finally understands that she doesn't love him, and never will love him, and acknowledges that her actions have badly damaged his career - you honestly want to give him a shake!
This is the first of an 11 novel series, but I don't think I'll read any more
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2021
The book I read has this cover illustration but my Penguin copy #1763 was published in 1963 and sold for 4 shillings and sixpence.
As I've mentioned in my Strangers and Brothers reviews, I'm reading the novels in the order they were published.This means that Time of Hope is #3 although, as it goes back to the upbringing of the narrator, Lewis Eliot, it is now regarded as #1. A reader who follows the recommended chronological sequence will discover a strange dissonance in the language when they move on to George Passant. In my review of The Light and the Dark which was also written before Time of Hope the syntax in that book undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes 'modern' when the story moves into the Second World War. Gone are the strangulated double negatives and corseted descriptions of CP Snow's previous writing and having broken free it continues in the new style in this book. Thus readers moving from this to the next in the sequence chronologically hit the unfamiliar and anachronistic barrier of the formal and tortuous prose of Snow's earlier writing.
I'm willing to concede that this is a minor point that doesn't deserve the space I've given it.
Moving on to another cavil: the title. If there is a book where the main theme, in this case Lewis's courting (if you can call it that) and eventual marriage, is so out of kilter with the title I have yet to read it.
I'm afraid I found the on-off relationship and the psychological 'insights' that accompanied it tiresome.
Thank fully the other storyline, Lewis's rise in his chosen profession, was interesting enough to hold me to the end of book.
As I suspected it might, this project (reading all 11 novels in the series) has become an intellectual exercise rather than a reading pleasure, but again, judging by the length of this review, (if you've reached this far!) you'll perceive that CP Snow gives the reader tough meat to chew on.
A more appropriate title for this one would be A Time of Despair.
As I've mentioned in my Strangers and Brothers reviews, I'm reading the novels in the order they were published.This means that Time of Hope is #3 although, as it goes back to the upbringing of the narrator, Lewis Eliot, it is now regarded as #1. A reader who follows the recommended chronological sequence will discover a strange dissonance in the language when they move on to George Passant. In my review of The Light and the Dark which was also written before Time of Hope the syntax in that book undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes 'modern' when the story moves into the Second World War. Gone are the strangulated double negatives and corseted descriptions of CP Snow's previous writing and having broken free it continues in the new style in this book. Thus readers moving from this to the next in the sequence chronologically hit the unfamiliar and anachronistic barrier of the formal and tortuous prose of Snow's earlier writing.
I'm willing to concede that this is a minor point that doesn't deserve the space I've given it.
Moving on to another cavil: the title. If there is a book where the main theme, in this case Lewis's courting (if you can call it that) and eventual marriage, is so out of kilter with the title I have yet to read it.
I'm afraid I found the on-off relationship and the psychological 'insights' that accompanied it tiresome.
Thank fully the other storyline, Lewis's rise in his chosen profession, was interesting enough to hold me to the end of book.
As I suspected it might, this project (reading all 11 novels in the series) has become an intellectual exercise rather than a reading pleasure, but again, judging by the length of this review, (if you've reached this far!) you'll perceive that CP Snow gives the reader tough meat to chew on.
A more appropriate title for this one would be A Time of Despair.
May 4, 2024
It was great to reread this book from my favourite author C.P. Snow. That said, this is by far not my favourite book of the Strangers and Brothers series. But it’s probably the most honest about its main character, his behaviour and deepest emotions.
When rereading this book it felt more slow that I remembered it which was disappointing. But it still felt like coming home in the life of Lewis Eliot.
When rereading this book it felt more slow that I remembered it which was disappointing. But it still felt like coming home in the life of Lewis Eliot.
May 28, 2019
My mother had been recommending the first of the Strangers and Brothers books for sometime. Perhaps it was because if the strongvrevommrndation that I found it a little underwhelming. The story follows Lewis as he grows up, his early childhood, his father's business failure and on as his makes his way on the career ladder. Lewis is someone with whom one feels sympathy, he is poor but ambitious, working hard to rise above his working class origins at a time when this was much harder.
However, Lewis in love is not so engaging. He has the misfortune to love a woman who doesn't return his affections and instead becomes a dead weight, holding him back from a promising career. There are times when reading this when you want to shake him and shout "pull yourself together man", something his friends continually advise but Lewis is deaf.
It's an engaging read for the wonderful characters who are very real, even if it's a bit if a frustrating story.
However, Lewis in love is not so engaging. He has the misfortune to love a woman who doesn't return his affections and instead becomes a dead weight, holding him back from a promising career. There are times when reading this when you want to shake him and shout "pull yourself together man", something his friends continually advise but Lewis is deaf.
It's an engaging read for the wonderful characters who are very real, even if it's a bit if a frustrating story.
March 8, 2024
Definitely of its time, I don’t think I will bother reading the next 10 in the series!
August 18, 2015
I really like the writing of C P Snow. For some while, I had thought that I would like to re-read the Strangers & Brothers series. I have read it piecemeal when I was younger, more determined by my ability to find books in the series rather than anything else. This time round, I plan to read the books in the chronological order of the narrative, almost like a series of biography.
Although Time of Hope is the third book in the series to be written, it chronicles the early life of Lewis Elliot. It is an account of his childhood, and thus rank as the earliest account chronologically. I have to say that I enjoyed it greatly. There is much within the narrative that touches a nerve with me. The story of a boy from a provincial backwater, with an ounce of talent but no connections, who is then provided with a bit of luck and who then decides to make that small amount of luck go a long way.
This is the story of how Lewis Elliot got started. I have witnessed a similar path followed by a number of people over the years. Despite our pleas of egalitarianism, we are not all in it together, and wealth and influence still has a large part to play in advancement in Britain today. The template for those born without wealth and influence is still the same today - work hard at school, bide your time for the break to appear, recognise your break and take it (possibly taking a bit too much of a risk), and then to become useful, followed by indispensable. Of course, occasionally one meets those who tried to follow this path and failed, along with those rarer beasts who were doing well on the path but decided to get off it.
C P Snow writes incredibly well. He has a use of English that I envy. The narrative flows along, and you never feel bogged down in a plot line. I like most of the characters, and I find them very real. I think what enhances the enjoyment is that the characters are so closely observed. C P Snow writes about a world that he knows well, and he writes well about that world.
I can't wait to continue with the series.
Although Time of Hope is the third book in the series to be written, it chronicles the early life of Lewis Elliot. It is an account of his childhood, and thus rank as the earliest account chronologically. I have to say that I enjoyed it greatly. There is much within the narrative that touches a nerve with me. The story of a boy from a provincial backwater, with an ounce of talent but no connections, who is then provided with a bit of luck and who then decides to make that small amount of luck go a long way.
This is the story of how Lewis Elliot got started. I have witnessed a similar path followed by a number of people over the years. Despite our pleas of egalitarianism, we are not all in it together, and wealth and influence still has a large part to play in advancement in Britain today. The template for those born without wealth and influence is still the same today - work hard at school, bide your time for the break to appear, recognise your break and take it (possibly taking a bit too much of a risk), and then to become useful, followed by indispensable. Of course, occasionally one meets those who tried to follow this path and failed, along with those rarer beasts who were doing well on the path but decided to get off it.
C P Snow writes incredibly well. He has a use of English that I envy. The narrative flows along, and you never feel bogged down in a plot line. I like most of the characters, and I find them very real. I think what enhances the enjoyment is that the characters are so closely observed. C P Snow writes about a world that he knows well, and he writes well about that world.
I can't wait to continue with the series.
August 4, 2024
11/11/20
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It brought me a lot of comfort and I admired how observant, patient, and tactful Lewis was with others. But the ending disappointed me. Maybe I'm not at the right age to appreciate the second half.
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11/8/20
I’m reading Time of Hope by C.P. Snow. I can’t believe I’ve never read a book like this before. I want to say that it’s a masterpiece and possibly the best book I’ve ever read, but I can’t tell if maybe it’s because it’s my first time stepping into the genre and that there are, in fact, a million other books just like this. Anyways, even if there were a million other books like this, I would be pleased to read them for the rest of my life for the continual nourishment of my soul.
“People got through life with their lies and pretences, with their spontaneity, with their gluey warmth denied to her. She was left out of the party. So she told them that the party was false and the good-fellowship just a sham, and in telling them so she was sometimes no truer than a hurt child; but sometimes she tore the facade off the human condition, and made us wince at the truth.” pg 188.
Such a brilliant paragraph. So perceptive. Wise, piercing. The rest of the practical details and descriptions in the book only serve to accentuate and support the brilliance of reflections like this.
I know it’s just fiction, but the best fiction is truer than the reality I am able to perceive on my own.
The back cover of this book says that “for copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in the U.S.A.” And yet, I had paid for this book. A whole $2 it was I think, from a row of book stands outside The Strandt. Well, it’s probably the best $2 I’ve ever spent in my life. Such a curious, exquisite book. I tried looking online for other books in this series that I might buy in print, and either the covers are hideous or they’re inexplicably expensive.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It brought me a lot of comfort and I admired how observant, patient, and tactful Lewis was with others. But the ending disappointed me. Maybe I'm not at the right age to appreciate the second half.
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11/8/20
I’m reading Time of Hope by C.P. Snow. I can’t believe I’ve never read a book like this before. I want to say that it’s a masterpiece and possibly the best book I’ve ever read, but I can’t tell if maybe it’s because it’s my first time stepping into the genre and that there are, in fact, a million other books just like this. Anyways, even if there were a million other books like this, I would be pleased to read them for the rest of my life for the continual nourishment of my soul.
“People got through life with their lies and pretences, with their spontaneity, with their gluey warmth denied to her. She was left out of the party. So she told them that the party was false and the good-fellowship just a sham, and in telling them so she was sometimes no truer than a hurt child; but sometimes she tore the facade off the human condition, and made us wince at the truth.” pg 188.
Such a brilliant paragraph. So perceptive. Wise, piercing. The rest of the practical details and descriptions in the book only serve to accentuate and support the brilliance of reflections like this.
I know it’s just fiction, but the best fiction is truer than the reality I am able to perceive on my own.
The back cover of this book says that “for copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in the U.S.A.” And yet, I had paid for this book. A whole $2 it was I think, from a row of book stands outside The Strandt. Well, it’s probably the best $2 I’ve ever spent in my life. Such a curious, exquisite book. I tried looking online for other books in this series that I might buy in print, and either the covers are hideous or they’re inexplicably expensive.
December 4, 2013
This novel is engaging and highly readable, although I found the main character objectionable. If I have time, I shall get back to this review and write a proper appreciation. Suffice to say for the moment that CP Snow tells a story with ease and grace, very much in the manner of an upper working class Somerset Maugham, with the same vivid character description, the same relentless snobbery. As in Somerset Maugham, love is a fatality. People fall in love with wildly inappropriate persons and there is naught they can do about it. I think it unusual for a novelist to protray such an unsympathetic "hero" so sympathetically. I am reminded of John Wain'S Hurry on Down and novels of the Angry Young Men in general, but this novel is aware of right and wrong beyond career moves and living for the moment. However, I doubt the novel makes a lasting impression on many readers. I read it four weeks agao and the memory is fading already of a protagonist whose principle aim in life seemed to be advance advance and leave the past behind. I may be unfair and may return to revise this review when I have some more leisure.
November 8, 2014
Such brave and honest and perceptive narration. Brave to have a first person narrator who has so much to dislike about him. Brave to have a major female role who is, if anything, even harder to like. But we care about them. We believe in them. For long parts of this novel I was clear in my intention. I know it's the first of a big series of books but I had no intention of reading more than this one. In the last hundred pages I have changed my mind. I will read part two but I'll wait a while first.
He isn't a first rate poetic writer but there is a flow to the prose (there is a lot of it...he's not a master of brevity).
It has been a very good book to read out loud and practice a slightly repressed regional version of received pronunciation.
I may revise my rating up to five stars. I feel as though I have read an important book.
How does it compare with the Forsyte Saga and A Dance to the Music of Time? Well, it's coming third at the moment but that's like coming third behind Edrich and Compton, or Coe and Ovett, or Galsworthy and Powell. It is very good indeed, very readable and very engaging.
He isn't a first rate poetic writer but there is a flow to the prose (there is a lot of it...he's not a master of brevity).
It has been a very good book to read out loud and practice a slightly repressed regional version of received pronunciation.
I may revise my rating up to five stars. I feel as though I have read an important book.
How does it compare with the Forsyte Saga and A Dance to the Music of Time? Well, it's coming third at the moment but that's like coming third behind Edrich and Compton, or Coe and Ovett, or Galsworthy and Powell. It is very good indeed, very readable and very engaging.
March 6, 2014
1) 'A Time of Hope'
After what seemed like a lifetime clerking in a council office, Lewis had resolved to break free: free from Leicester, free from his class, and free from his past. The ticket to his new life was passing the exam to study at the bar in London. It is July 1927. Lewis is 22 and George Passant, his night school teacher, is throwing a party to celebrate his success for passing the exams.
Dramatised by Jonathan Holloway from C. P. Snow's 1949 novel, "Time of Hope".
With Adam Godley [Lewis Eliot], Anastasia Hille [Sheila Knight], Stephen Moore [Herbert Getliffe], Danny Webb [Percy Hall], Jamie Glover [Charles March], John Standing [Leonard March], Emma Williams [Ann Simon], Laura Doddington [Marion Gladwell], Carla Simpson [Katherine March], Bill Wallis [George Passant], Brett Usher [Dr. Morris / Reverend Laurence Knight], Suzanna Hamilton [Mrs. Getliffe] and David Haig [The Narrator]. 60 minutes.
After what seemed like a lifetime clerking in a council office, Lewis had resolved to break free: free from Leicester, free from his class, and free from his past. The ticket to his new life was passing the exam to study at the bar in London. It is July 1927. Lewis is 22 and George Passant, his night school teacher, is throwing a party to celebrate his success for passing the exams.
Dramatised by Jonathan Holloway from C. P. Snow's 1949 novel, "Time of Hope".
With Adam Godley [Lewis Eliot], Anastasia Hille [Sheila Knight], Stephen Moore [Herbert Getliffe], Danny Webb [Percy Hall], Jamie Glover [Charles March], John Standing [Leonard March], Emma Williams [Ann Simon], Laura Doddington [Marion Gladwell], Carla Simpson [Katherine March], Bill Wallis [George Passant], Brett Usher [Dr. Morris / Reverend Laurence Knight], Suzanna Hamilton [Mrs. Getliffe] and David Haig [The Narrator]. 60 minutes.
May 5, 2020
I'm still wetting my feet in the Strangers and Brothers series. It feels so promising to me, but I have yet to fall in love with any of its volumes.
What's most promising about the Snow books is that they have no reveal. I couldn't possibly put a spoiler in this review, because -- as is true of each of the others I've read in the series -- you read without the prod of any burning question. So the author manages to keep you engaged without any kind of tease. This lack of engagement trickery is impressive; it's why I keep expecting to finally conclude (as have many before me) that Strangers and Brothers is a masterpiece. But I'm not there yet . . .
What's most promising about the Snow books is that they have no reveal. I couldn't possibly put a spoiler in this review, because -- as is true of each of the others I've read in the series -- you read without the prod of any burning question. So the author manages to keep you engaged without any kind of tease. This lack of engagement trickery is impressive; it's why I keep expecting to finally conclude (as have many before me) that Strangers and Brothers is a masterpiece. But I'm not there yet . . .
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December 7, 2012Great book - sets the early years basis for the rest of the series.
November 11, 2016
Very good character development. If the series is read in order by primary characters chronological age the next two books that follow (written earlier) may disappoint, but don't give up.
July 25, 2021
Time of Hope covers a span of nineteen years, from 1914 to 1933. We meet Lewis Eliot, the protagonist in this 11-book series by C P Snow, on June 19, 1914, when he is ‘nearly nine’, amid trouble at home with his father going bankrupt. Eliot’s mother is a very strong woman, handsome, imperious, vain and a snob, mortified by her husband’s failure. She wanted three things from life: love, luxury and status and acknowledges that ‘she had married the wrong man’, and she inculcates in Lewis the importance of ambition and success.
I like Time and Hope a lot because it is a wonderful depiction of what is, amid Lewis’ actually achieving his goals through superlatively hard work, in essence an unrequited love. Lewis nonetheless remains faithful to that love above all else. It is unrequited because the woman he falls for and remains in love with is psychologically incapable of returning love. Sheila is, as described by Lewis to a would-be lover of hers, ‘pathological and schizoid’, and yet she finds in Lewis someone she can trust. This story resembles Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. The difference though is that in Bondage, the young man Carey is in love with someone who is less crazy than simply evil. Here both Lewis Eliot and Sheila Knight know that she is broken, and yet that is not enough to break the bond they have with one another.
So, this is principally a love story. Sheila Knight is actually an immensely beautiful woman, and has numerous affairs. It seems first an obsession of Lewis’, then something of a competition, and then, a punishment, as there is something of ‘I want a man who knows something about himself. And is appalled. And has to forgive himself to get along’. There is a moment when Lewis loses control and almost rapes Sheila, and it is one of the few moments where we see how ruthlessly ambitious he is. He muses some years later, after a tremendous humiliation, that ambition and vanity are intertwined. Lewis knows that he is ambitious after his mother’s urging, and somewhat ruthless as perhaps he had to be to raise himself from near-poverty in England.
He had known Sheila for seven years, and had fallen in love with her immediately, perhaps simply because of her beauty. This was in England during the roaring twenties and what was something of time of sexual revolution, with Sheila in that milieu on an avid search for her true-love, or any man who could deeply satisfy her and make her feel alive. Even with Lewis, who among her many men she admired and trusted most, she was not satisfied. Much later – and this is a dark moment in the book - when she does seem to find someone, Hugh Smith whom she describes to Lewis as ‘it’s like finding a part of myself’, asking him, trusting him as she has always done, to vet Hugh for her and arrange things so ‘as to not lose him’. Lewis does this, and finds Hugh both wanting and paradoxically a source finally that might well truly bring Sheila the happiness she seeks. But his obsessive jealousy overcomes him and he consciously, almost gleefully, torpedoes the relationship. It is a difficult situation because as readers we know that she has, in her coldness and indifference, over the almost past seven years consistently hurt Lewis, and recognize to some degree that this is Lewis’ revenge. Ultimately though as Lewis hopes, but with something of a faint hope, Sheila finds her way back to him. The truth is, and this is something we and Lewis know, that Sheila will never find happiness. As he had brutally but honestly described to Hugh, that Sheila is loveless, crazy and will end up in a mad-house so, perhaps as in all C P Snow’s stories, it all unfolds as a complex characterization, an innately human one but with that quality I admire in his fiction: these persons are observed, in their goodness and badness, with judgment always withheld.
Lewis and Sheila do marry, and then, Lewis having succeeded in finally possessing the love he had so long sought is now faced with this broken unresponsive and deeply unhappy person. Even sex is generally denied Lewis because Sheila feels and give so little; she is all take. The conundrum for Lewis then becomes what is he to do with his career for which he had struggled over for nearly two decades to prepare for, develop and is now on the cusp of reputational and monetary success. So, what does Lewis do? Illustrious and rewarding career, with status and money, or an exhausting life being a full-time caretaker, a ‘prisoner’ of this broken woman he had fallen in love with and had been so far unable to shake off with any application of reason or experience?
The story is well and intricately developed, both in that quest for love and in personal aspirations.
Edwin
I like Time and Hope a lot because it is a wonderful depiction of what is, amid Lewis’ actually achieving his goals through superlatively hard work, in essence an unrequited love. Lewis nonetheless remains faithful to that love above all else. It is unrequited because the woman he falls for and remains in love with is psychologically incapable of returning love. Sheila is, as described by Lewis to a would-be lover of hers, ‘pathological and schizoid’, and yet she finds in Lewis someone she can trust. This story resembles Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. The difference though is that in Bondage, the young man Carey is in love with someone who is less crazy than simply evil. Here both Lewis Eliot and Sheila Knight know that she is broken, and yet that is not enough to break the bond they have with one another.
So, this is principally a love story. Sheila Knight is actually an immensely beautiful woman, and has numerous affairs. It seems first an obsession of Lewis’, then something of a competition, and then, a punishment, as there is something of ‘I want a man who knows something about himself. And is appalled. And has to forgive himself to get along’. There is a moment when Lewis loses control and almost rapes Sheila, and it is one of the few moments where we see how ruthlessly ambitious he is. He muses some years later, after a tremendous humiliation, that ambition and vanity are intertwined. Lewis knows that he is ambitious after his mother’s urging, and somewhat ruthless as perhaps he had to be to raise himself from near-poverty in England.
He had known Sheila for seven years, and had fallen in love with her immediately, perhaps simply because of her beauty. This was in England during the roaring twenties and what was something of time of sexual revolution, with Sheila in that milieu on an avid search for her true-love, or any man who could deeply satisfy her and make her feel alive. Even with Lewis, who among her many men she admired and trusted most, she was not satisfied. Much later – and this is a dark moment in the book - when she does seem to find someone, Hugh Smith whom she describes to Lewis as ‘it’s like finding a part of myself’, asking him, trusting him as she has always done, to vet Hugh for her and arrange things so ‘as to not lose him’. Lewis does this, and finds Hugh both wanting and paradoxically a source finally that might well truly bring Sheila the happiness she seeks. But his obsessive jealousy overcomes him and he consciously, almost gleefully, torpedoes the relationship. It is a difficult situation because as readers we know that she has, in her coldness and indifference, over the almost past seven years consistently hurt Lewis, and recognize to some degree that this is Lewis’ revenge. Ultimately though as Lewis hopes, but with something of a faint hope, Sheila finds her way back to him. The truth is, and this is something we and Lewis know, that Sheila will never find happiness. As he had brutally but honestly described to Hugh, that Sheila is loveless, crazy and will end up in a mad-house so, perhaps as in all C P Snow’s stories, it all unfolds as a complex characterization, an innately human one but with that quality I admire in his fiction: these persons are observed, in their goodness and badness, with judgment always withheld.
Lewis and Sheila do marry, and then, Lewis having succeeded in finally possessing the love he had so long sought is now faced with this broken unresponsive and deeply unhappy person. Even sex is generally denied Lewis because Sheila feels and give so little; she is all take. The conundrum for Lewis then becomes what is he to do with his career for which he had struggled over for nearly two decades to prepare for, develop and is now on the cusp of reputational and monetary success. So, what does Lewis do? Illustrious and rewarding career, with status and money, or an exhausting life being a full-time caretaker, a ‘prisoner’ of this broken woman he had fallen in love with and had been so far unable to shake off with any application of reason or experience?
The story is well and intricately developed, both in that quest for love and in personal aspirations.
Edwin
October 14, 2025
The best part of C.P.Snow’s roman-fleuve ‘Strangers and Brothers' is that they lend themselves to being read in any order. There is a chronological order and publication order and, at least in the few I've read so far, it hasn't made any great difference. ‘George Passant’ was published in 1940, and ‘Time of Hope' in 1949, sequentially the first in the saga of Lewis Eliot, the narrator of the series, but I'm glad I read ‘George Passant’ first.
‘Time of Hope' is in many ways a coming-of-age novel, as Lewis’s childhood, his father's bankruptcy and the ensuing crisis in his family starts the series. The humiliations of poverty at school, the scrimping and little denials at home, the despair of his father, the benevolences of relatives, and the driving ambition of Lewis himself and his mother sets the tone, and firms up the character of Lewis as we see its development to the end of the series.
Mr Eliot’s bankruptcy reflects the economic depression in post-war Britain and her Colonies, as Lewis’s ambition reflects the social aspirations of the newly empowered working class, to which his parents belong. In course of time, Eliot finishes law school with a good degree and is articled to a London firm of solicitors – an achievement far beyond anything his family have expected.
“Aunt Milly was violently opposed to my ‘white-collar job’. ‘That’s all it is,’ said Aunt Milly in her loudest voice to my mother. ‘He’s just going off to be a wretched little clerk in a white-collar job. I never did believe all that people told me about your son, but he seems to have more brains than some of them. Now he’s content to go off to the first white-collar job he sees." That is the comment of his Aunt Milly, who has been acting as an occasional support to his family after his father's bankruptcy.
Lewis Eliot’s personality in this novel is quite different in this book than it is in the series. Here he seems to view his colleagues and seniors with a degree of adolescent and critical hostility, from his parents and family to his bosses at work, which is the standard by which we ourselves judge them. Perhaps this is best seen in the trial of George Passant. Lewis is, until the time comes for him to read law in London, a great admirer of the idealistic and radical George. Yet Mr Eden, the senior partner in the firm where George is employed as the clerk, has no great opinion of him. And although Lewis is initially selected as defence counsel at George's trial, Eden later brings a leader, a King’s Counsel, to act in the case.
Partly this is because of the crisis in Lewis's professional career as a result of the personal crisis he faces in his marriage. The general impression we have of Lewis is that of a slightly diffident, if ambitious young man. He acquired self confidence as a result of his own hard work, and the gradually increasing number of briefs sent his way. All that seems to be thrown away in his mutually destructive relationship with Sheila Knight, an unstable young girl. Lewis loves her obsessively, although she warns him that she would not be a good wife to him. In spite of this, Lewis pursues her relentlessly, going so far as to warn off Hugh Smith, a gentle, kindly young man, that she was “schizoid.” He allows that “[Hugh] was lightweight, but somehow his presence made her innocent and free. Her best chance was to marry him.” And in turn, “You’re not as nice as people think,” Sheila observes at one point.
He almost immediately regrets his marriage. Sheila is not a helpmeet, either socially or professionally. She wanders off as she likes, not coming home for days. And finally, when Lewis decides to separate from her, his love for her is intense enough to change his mind at the end. But Sheila continues in the series, a troublesome stone round Lewis’s neck.
This relationship, destructive to both of them, contributes significantly to the character of Lewis. As the narrator, and self-critic, Lewis tries to portray himself as rough, even cruel. To a large extent, he succeeds, though in the rest of the series he is simply the compassionate and non judgemental observer.
Something of the social and political atmosphere of the period permeates through the book, although not so much as the harsh bankruptcy laws, and the general economic difficulties that drive Lewis forward, and the anxiety with which he awaits each brief. However, Snow’s chief achievement here is in the effortless clarity that defines and develops each character.
‘Time of Hope' is in many ways a coming-of-age novel, as Lewis’s childhood, his father's bankruptcy and the ensuing crisis in his family starts the series. The humiliations of poverty at school, the scrimping and little denials at home, the despair of his father, the benevolences of relatives, and the driving ambition of Lewis himself and his mother sets the tone, and firms up the character of Lewis as we see its development to the end of the series.
Mr Eliot’s bankruptcy reflects the economic depression in post-war Britain and her Colonies, as Lewis’s ambition reflects the social aspirations of the newly empowered working class, to which his parents belong. In course of time, Eliot finishes law school with a good degree and is articled to a London firm of solicitors – an achievement far beyond anything his family have expected.
“Aunt Milly was violently opposed to my ‘white-collar job’. ‘That’s all it is,’ said Aunt Milly in her loudest voice to my mother. ‘He’s just going off to be a wretched little clerk in a white-collar job. I never did believe all that people told me about your son, but he seems to have more brains than some of them. Now he’s content to go off to the first white-collar job he sees." That is the comment of his Aunt Milly, who has been acting as an occasional support to his family after his father's bankruptcy.
Lewis Eliot’s personality in this novel is quite different in this book than it is in the series. Here he seems to view his colleagues and seniors with a degree of adolescent and critical hostility, from his parents and family to his bosses at work, which is the standard by which we ourselves judge them. Perhaps this is best seen in the trial of George Passant. Lewis is, until the time comes for him to read law in London, a great admirer of the idealistic and radical George. Yet Mr Eden, the senior partner in the firm where George is employed as the clerk, has no great opinion of him. And although Lewis is initially selected as defence counsel at George's trial, Eden later brings a leader, a King’s Counsel, to act in the case.
Partly this is because of the crisis in Lewis's professional career as a result of the personal crisis he faces in his marriage. The general impression we have of Lewis is that of a slightly diffident, if ambitious young man. He acquired self confidence as a result of his own hard work, and the gradually increasing number of briefs sent his way. All that seems to be thrown away in his mutually destructive relationship with Sheila Knight, an unstable young girl. Lewis loves her obsessively, although she warns him that she would not be a good wife to him. In spite of this, Lewis pursues her relentlessly, going so far as to warn off Hugh Smith, a gentle, kindly young man, that she was “schizoid.” He allows that “[Hugh] was lightweight, but somehow his presence made her innocent and free. Her best chance was to marry him.” And in turn, “You’re not as nice as people think,” Sheila observes at one point.
He almost immediately regrets his marriage. Sheila is not a helpmeet, either socially or professionally. She wanders off as she likes, not coming home for days. And finally, when Lewis decides to separate from her, his love for her is intense enough to change his mind at the end. But Sheila continues in the series, a troublesome stone round Lewis’s neck.
This relationship, destructive to both of them, contributes significantly to the character of Lewis. As the narrator, and self-critic, Lewis tries to portray himself as rough, even cruel. To a large extent, he succeeds, though in the rest of the series he is simply the compassionate and non judgemental observer.
Something of the social and political atmosphere of the period permeates through the book, although not so much as the harsh bankruptcy laws, and the general economic difficulties that drive Lewis forward, and the anxiety with which he awaits each brief. However, Snow’s chief achievement here is in the effortless clarity that defines and develops each character.
December 24, 2022
Читання книги це – завжди найкращий спосіб подолати тривожні думки, та відновити власну внутрішню енергію, тому поділюся враженнями після прочитання роману відомого англійського письменника Чарльза Персі Сноу «Пора сподівань».
"Пора сподівань" - перший (за часом дії) роман з циклу «Чужі і брати». Початок дії – червень 1941р. Оповідь ведеться від особи одного героя – Льюїса Еліота. Він згадує про своє дитинство і юність, які минали у вбогому будинку на околиці одного з промислових міст Англії, розташованому недалеко від Лондона. Еліот виріс у небагатій простій сім’ї. Один його дід працював на механічному заводі, інший - служив лісничим у маєтку аристократа.
Льюїс Еліот починає оповідь про своє життя з того моменту, коли його батьки зазнають катастрофи: батько Льюїса, служив на невеликій взуттєвій фабриці, а потім став власником підприємства, на якому працювало 20 осіб, і в яке було вкладено весь його статок, збанкрутував. Це сталося в той рік, коли почалася Перша світова війна. Льюїс поставив собі мету: досягти успіху в житті і виправдати надії, які покладала на нього мати. Він закінчує школу, займає посаду молодшого клерка у відділі освіти муніципалітету, потім успішно складає іспити в адвокатурі і отримує місце в адвокатській конторі Герберта Геткліфа.
Згодом Льюїс виграє перший судовий процес, що дає йому можливість дальшого просування у сфері юриспруденції. Льюїс не приховує, своїх честолюбних прагнень. Разом з тим він не може і не хоче поступатися своїми моральними принципами, хоча особливості професії іноді змушують його йти на компроміс з власним сумлінням. Отримавши певний життєвий досвід, Еліот усвідомлює, що в умовах сучасного йому суспільства неможливо залишатися чесною людиною і водночас досягти успіху і визнання.
Життя Еліота ускладнене болісно сильним почуттям до нервово хворої жінки, беззахисної у своїй самотності. Кохання до Шейли Найт переростає у рабську прив’язаність, але почуття обов’язку і ніжність не дозволяють Еліотові розлучитися з Шейлою і залишити її.
В цьому романі звучать теми, які автор висвітлює у всьому циклі: проблема моралі, обов’язку і відповідальності особистості перед самим собою та суспільством, тема самотності людини, котра зазнає невдачі в особистому житті.
"Пора сподівань" - перший (за часом дії) роман з циклу «Чужі і брати». Початок дії – червень 1941р. Оповідь ведеться від особи одного героя – Льюїса Еліота. Він згадує про своє дитинство і юність, які минали у вбогому будинку на околиці одного з промислових міст Англії, розташованому недалеко від Лондона. Еліот виріс у небагатій простій сім’ї. Один його дід працював на механічному заводі, інший - служив лісничим у маєтку аристократа.
Льюїс Еліот починає оповідь про своє життя з того моменту, коли його батьки зазнають катастрофи: батько Льюїса, служив на невеликій взуттєвій фабриці, а потім став власником підприємства, на якому працювало 20 осіб, і в яке було вкладено весь його статок, збанкрутував. Це сталося в той рік, коли почалася Перша світова війна. Льюїс поставив собі мету: досягти успіху в житті і виправдати надії, які покладала на нього мати. Він закінчує школу, займає посаду молодшого клерка у відділі освіти муніципалітету, потім успішно складає іспити в адвокатурі і отримує місце в адвокатській конторі Герберта Геткліфа.
Згодом Льюїс виграє перший судовий процес, що дає йому можливість дальшого просування у сфері юриспруденції. Льюїс не приховує, своїх честолюбних прагнень. Разом з тим він не може і не хоче поступатися своїми моральними принципами, хоча особливості професії іноді змушують його йти на компроміс з власним сумлінням. Отримавши певний життєвий досвід, Еліот усвідомлює, що в умовах сучасного йому суспільства неможливо залишатися чесною людиною і водночас досягти успіху і визнання.
Життя Еліота ускладнене болісно сильним почуттям до нервово хворої жінки, беззахисної у своїй самотності. Кохання до Шейли Найт переростає у рабську прив’язаність, але почуття обов’язку і ніжність не дозволяють Еліотові розлучитися з Шейлою і залишити її.
В цьому романі звучать теми, які автор висвітлює у всьому циклі: проблема моралі, обов’язку і відповідальності особистості перед самим собою та суспільством, тема самотності людини, котра зазнає невдачі в особистому житті.
December 18, 2020
Couldn't face tackling anything new: thrillers too shrill, literary stuff too taxing. So I went back to this, the first in Snow's huge series following Lewis Eliot and telling the stories, volume by volume, of those who most influenced, interested and affected him down his years. I've re-read a couple of the most famous ones in the series many times (Corridors of Power and The New Men) but this was my first re-visit to this volume in four decades. Odd to find how much of it I remembered as I read. (This from someone who on several occasions didn't recognise a Jack Reacher or Game of Thrones re-read until p200.)
It tracks Eliot from humble beginnings through his long slog to a promising career as a London barrister, a brilliant start which is then compromised and damaged by his infatuation with a beautiful but unstable young woman.
Not a lot happens in Snow. No worlds are saved, no crazed killers brought to justice. Not a shot fired, nor even a punch thrown. His characters talk, and reflect, and explain, and talk some more. But I find him engrossing. He has such a penetrating eye for exploring and delineating personality. His people are flesh, blood and bone, not marks on the page. Few of them are nice, not through and through, and Eliot's no exception. But they're always interesting.
The obvious comparison is with Antony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, a series of similar length set in more or less the same years. But Powell's brittle Etonians don't attract me in the way Snow's cast does; they have humbler origins, and are drawn from more and different sections of society. Less obviously, I find similarities between Snow and Karl Ove Knaussgard: nothing happens, but it's fascinating to watch while it doesn't.
It tracks Eliot from humble beginnings through his long slog to a promising career as a London barrister, a brilliant start which is then compromised and damaged by his infatuation with a beautiful but unstable young woman.
Not a lot happens in Snow. No worlds are saved, no crazed killers brought to justice. Not a shot fired, nor even a punch thrown. His characters talk, and reflect, and explain, and talk some more. But I find him engrossing. He has such a penetrating eye for exploring and delineating personality. His people are flesh, blood and bone, not marks on the page. Few of them are nice, not through and through, and Eliot's no exception. But they're always interesting.
The obvious comparison is with Antony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, a series of similar length set in more or less the same years. But Powell's brittle Etonians don't attract me in the way Snow's cast does; they have humbler origins, and are drawn from more and different sections of society. Less obviously, I find similarities between Snow and Karl Ove Knaussgard: nothing happens, but it's fascinating to watch while it doesn't.
April 18, 2021
"Most of the action of Time of Hope takes place in the same Midlands town as Strangers and Brothers, which gave its title to C.P. Snow's remarkable sequence of novels. Many of the same characters appear. But this is the story of Lewis Eliot's own early life -- from 1914, when as a boy of nine he learns that his father has gone bankrupt, until 1933, when, though greatly hampered by a neurotic wife in his London career at the Bar, he discovers that separating from her is impossible. This novel, which (like the others in the series) is complete in itself, displays the wise, tolerant, and positive attitude which distinguishes C.P. Snow from many 'realistic' novelists."
~~back cover
I have not read any of the other books in this series.
The book began very stodgily: lots of Lewis Eliot's thoughts and feelings, interior, background. Background for him trying to take control of his life, to make something of himself, and also meeting his future wife. It became more interesting as it went along, given his struggles to pass the Bar and to earn money at chambers, and given his increasing fascination and love for Sheila. Most of the action and interest was in the last third of the book, but I enjoyed it enough to persevere to the end.
~~back cover
I have not read any of the other books in this series.
The book began very stodgily: lots of Lewis Eliot's thoughts and feelings, interior, background. Background for him trying to take control of his life, to make something of himself, and also meeting his future wife. It became more interesting as it went along, given his struggles to pass the Bar and to earn money at chambers, and given his increasing fascination and love for Sheila. Most of the action and interest was in the last third of the book, but I enjoyed it enough to persevere to the end.
June 14, 2023
Although this is this is, chronologically, the first novel novel of the Strangers and Brothers series, fortunately it is not the first novel of the series that I have read. I say it is fortunate, because it is fairly middling and does not draw on C. P. Snow's strengths. This novel is somewhat inferior to but quite reminiscent, in style and perspicacy of some of Someset Maugham's novels -particularly Of Human Bondage (1915) and, to a lesser degree, Cakes and Ale (1930) or The Razor's Edge(1944).
In my opinion the series improves considerably when the novels delves into the world of academia and politics, for example in The Light and the Dark(1947), The Masters(1951) or Corridors of Power(1964).
The novels in the series can be read independently. If you are new to C. P. Snow, I would certainly recommend you put off reading Time of Hope until you have read some of his other novels and are sufficiently interested in the narrator to fill in the gaps of his earlier life.
In my opinion the series improves considerably when the novels delves into the world of academia and politics, for example in The Light and the Dark(1947), The Masters(1951) or Corridors of Power(1964).
The novels in the series can be read independently. If you are new to C. P. Snow, I would certainly recommend you put off reading Time of Hope until you have read some of his other novels and are sufficiently interested in the narrator to fill in the gaps of his earlier life.
February 22, 2025
I’m interested in novels in which the lives of the characters mirror the societies in which they live - Time of Hope follows Lewis Eliot from his early years as a driven, idealistic youngster under the influence of radical Utopian lecturer George Passant, to a tired, second-rate lawyer saving Passant from charges of fraud while being unable to leave his neurotic wife. The allusions between the character’s life and the political situation (childhood serenity destroyed by his father’s bankruptcy/the onset of WW1; Eliot’s rejection of idealism following Passant’s trial and his acceptance of a mediocre life of ‘looking after’ Sheila/the Great Depression and increasing international insecurity) are definitely present and felt, however Snow’s piercing psychological profiles are brought to the fore most often. The style is a bit rigid and prosaic, and the plot crawls along at too slow a pace for my taste, but I still enjoyed it and hope to read more of the Strangers and Brothers series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2022
This book exerted an odd appeal for me. The characters seemed oddly disconnected from each other. Eliot is intelligent enough to figure out how difficult a successful career practicing law would be for him but was good at taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself. I'll probably read the next book in the series because I read multiple books at a time and Time of Hope is the type of book you can pick up after a few days and restart without a sense of missing something important. That's how I read the Aubrey/Maturin series.
November 15, 2019
I listened to the audio book with a terrible reader. The book would probably seem better with a better reader, but a better reader could not overcome Snow's plodding style or the dreary life of his protagonist. I doubt very much I would have finished this book had I read it instead of listening to it. As I write this, BBC radio is replaying an old series adapting Snow's novels. I may sample that. The show has to be better than this book.
April 20, 2023
Quite a good novel, it grows on you. Mournful in a subtle way, as it offers the impressions of an older man looking back on his life: processing his mistakes, his regrets, his what-ifs, his missed opportunities.
Sometimes a book finds you at just the right stage of life where it makes sense for you to read it. This book so... [see the rest on my book review site.]
Sometimes a book finds you at just the right stage of life where it makes sense for you to read it. This book so... [see the rest on my book review site.]
December 5, 2023
A week of my life I’ll never get back
Story of boy from poor background trying to make good as a barrister in the 1920s? Interesting. Story of his tiresome relationship with frigid, self-absorbed, superficial woman utterly devoid of likability? Tedious in the extreme but 70% of the novel. Read this because I thought I’d read the Strangers and Brothers series, but having started here, my enthusiasm for continuing is at a low ebb.
Story of boy from poor background trying to make good as a barrister in the 1920s? Interesting. Story of his tiresome relationship with frigid, self-absorbed, superficial woman utterly devoid of likability? Tedious in the extreme but 70% of the novel. Read this because I thought I’d read the Strangers and Brothers series, but having started here, my enthusiasm for continuing is at a low ebb.
July 8, 2017
The first in the 11-volume C.P. Snow Strangers and Brothers series (my summer reading!). The first novel introduces Lewis Elliot, his education and meeting Sheila, whom he eventually marries, and the beginning of his legal career. Well-written and the details provide an interesting look at life in the U.K. in the 1920s.
November 16, 2021
I read this book as a teenager and loathed it. Lewis seemed whiny and self obsessed, and I didn't understand the obsession with Sheila who just struck me as very silly woman.
Rereading in my forties I have met plenty of the personality types portrayed in the book, and I am really enjoying the rich characterisation and the interactions
Rereading in my forties I have met plenty of the personality types portrayed in the book, and I am really enjoying the rich characterisation and the interactions
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