The Long Afternoon

by Giles Waterfield

In the 1930s, Henry and Helen Williamson arrive on the French Riviera looking for a house. Barely thirty, Henry has been forced to retire from the Indian civil service through ill-health. They fall in love with the dreamlike Lou Paradou and set about constructing a life of ease, and a ravishing garden. But as the political conflict gathers, so the atmosphere of their new home becomes increasingly unquiet and a tragic fate befalls them. THE LONG AFTERNOON enchants and involves the reader, just as the Williamsons' garden seduces its visitors.

Genres: France, Historical Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Giles Waterfield was an independent curator and writer, Director of Royal Collection Studies and Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was formerly Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery. He was a trustee of the Charleston Trust and a member of the National Trust Arts Panel and the Advisory Panel of the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Giles curated exhibitions including Art Treasures of England and The Artist’s Studio. His publications include Soane and After, Palaces of Art, Art for the People, and Art Treasures of England. He delivered the Paul Mellon Lectures on regional museums in Victorian Britain in 2007 and his book The People's Galleries will be published in 2015. He published four novels.

Reviews

[Isobel Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable, lazy Sunday afternoon read.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

British author and art historian Giles Waterfield's first novel, published in 2001, is a short work called "The Long Afternoon". It is, basically, the story of his grandparents, who had settled in Menton, France before WW1 with their two son. Henry Williamson, as he is referred to in the book, has asthma and his wife, Helen, have left India, where Henry had worked for the Indian Civil Service, to make a life in an easier climate than either England or India. And that better climate is on the French Riviera.

The Williamsons make a life in the 1910's, 20's, and 30's, as relaxed expats in the English community in Menton. Their house is beautiful and they make themselves useful to others during the years. However, living an easy life wears on Henry, who definitely wants more out of his life than he has now. But he is devoted to Helen, a somewhat cranky hypochondriac and their two sons, Charles and Francis. The boys go off to school in England and their parents welcome them home at odd periods. The novel proceeds as slowly as the lives of the Williamsons and their friends, servants, and others in Menton. Not a lot happens in "The Long Afternoon"...until it does.

Giles Waterfield's book is definitely a study of both characters and the times and places in which they lived. It's a beautifully written book for the patient reader. Two of Waterfield's later books, "The Hound in the Left-Hand Corner" and "The Iron Necklace" are more active, vigorous works. But for a quiet, reflective look at two people who love each other til the end, pick up "The Long Afternoon".

[Georgina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title says it all. I should add a shelf here - the Why Did They Bother shelf. I understand that for the author, there is family history to explore, record and imagine, but as a reader, the ennui that pervaded this pseudo-history was contagious. I just don't understand why authors devote considerable time, thought and energy into writing about incredibly passive characters, leading passive lives. I do love a text that can bring ordinariness to life in an engaging and enlightening way - I love ordinariness - but I cannot understand the point of writing about dullness - and in a fairly dull way. The writing here was not egregious. At least when Heller wrote Something Happened, something did happen to slice through the ordinariness and charge the passivity with electricity. This was like reading about a battery draining and although it did say something about a milieu, and a time in which that milieu was temporarily shaken and displaced, (it exists to this day, however disguised) what was there here to learn, to have etched into the reader's consciousness, or to remember?

[Chinook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just spent a pleasantly idle day reading a book about the pleasantly idle lives of a rich English couple living in Southern France between 1912-1942.

"Why do we organise our lives so that the happy days are surrounded by years of dutiful frustration? Why are we so ruled by convention?"

Written by Giles Waterfield and based on some details of his grandparents' lives, it's an interesting book. The writing seemed a bit stilted, but that invoked the livestyle they led. Helen is a huge hypochondriac and Henry rather weak.

"I miss many things about Aberdeen, much as I used to complain about how cold and dark it is. But one cannot cling to one's past and I am sure I was right to come here and gain new experiences, and I shall be back to see you all, I hope very soon."

So true.

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story based on the author's grandparents, Henry and Helen Williamson, but not based on fact. As a young couple they leave England in the 1930s for the French Riviera, living a genteel life with their two young sons and a small household staff. As an over loving mother, Helen creates a claustrophobic cocoon around them all in a bid to protect them from illness. Henry does what he can to keep his fretful wife happy but when war reaches their isolated paradise not even Helen can save them from it's consequences.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time on this one. It's boring, slow moving and more quasi memoirs about the author's grandparents than it is a novel. Since I'm OCD about finishing a book once I've started it, I kept going back to it, but it was painful.

[Lee Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a compelling history of nostalgia and loss. As some readers have said, nothing much happens but this isn't the point. The book is a mood piece. It's like a watercolour with tones that seem to fade and recede as soon as they dry. I found it a narrative that lived with me for some time. Curiously, although the story is a period piece locked in the past of the inter-war years, it is prefaced by a note from even further back, lamenting the loss of mid nineteenth century Mentone, before the quaint fishing village was overcome by 'modern' villas. Beautifully written.

[Cari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based loosely on the story of the author’s British grandparents who spent 30 years in Menton. The book takes place through and between two world wars, always with some uneasiness overshadowing what appears to be a sunny and wonderful life. The darkness stems mainly from the grandmother’s irrational fears rather than the world events taking shape.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Cazzaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

After setting up an excellent promising situation, the author’s great skill lies in completing a disappointingly dull book.

[Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little depressing, but well-written historical “fiction” and I loved the French Riviera setting.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very English novel. Enjoyed it!

[O Babs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evocative of a particular time and place: English expatriates living in Menton as Nazis invade France, leaving them, their identity and their way of life threatened. Effective contrast between their slow, luxurious life and the grubby, frenzied invasion. Wish the title were more available to re-read now during the self-isolation of Covid-19, when the exact invasion is different and the effects quite similar.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the story sounds lovely, I found it way too boring and the writer skipped over so much time in between dates, making it lost for me. It was supposed to be filled with historical pre, during & post wartime, I found nothing of history to learn from. A real disappointing read that I actually didn't finish it. :(

[Bachyboy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the lives of his grandparents , this book deals so sympathetically with the life of Waterfield's characters, Henry and Helen Williamson who arrive in Menton, France, looking for a house. It is told in a variety of styles including diaries and letters and with multiple points of view. I liked it because it seemed so authentic even if I did want to shake Helen at times.

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming and delightful are words that come to mind to describe the style of writing in this short novella. Set on the French Riviera between the 1st & 2nd World Wars, it tells of the lives of upper class Brits who spend their winters recreating their own little patch of England in the sun. Very reminiscent of the Raj in India. It is also an interesting study into family relationships.

[Helen Carolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another great read by Mr Waterfield. this one deals with a family who move to the south of France in the early 19 hundreded's. their move is prompted by the mother's seemingly poor health. through 2 world wars we watch the impact this depression has on the rest of her family.

[Malcolm Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deep and thoughtful book that follows the family throughout their lives, both in England and France. Not my usual type of book but I found it mostly absorbing.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and stylishly written novel/history of an upper class English family living in Menton, France, between the wars.