A Future Arrived

Passing Bells #3

by Phillip Rock

Before Downton Abbey , there was Abingdon Pryory... The third installment in Phillip Rock's trilogy that came alive with The Passing Bells and continued with Circles of Time, begins with the fading of the Jazz Age in England, and ends with German bombers on the horizon. A Future Arrived , the conclusion to the epic Grevilles of Abingdon saga, contains a P.S. section with additional insights from the author, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, Historical, 20th Century, Novels, Adult Fiction

450 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 1985

About the author

Phillip George Rock was born in Los Angeles on 30 July 1927. He grew up in Beverly Hills and England, returned to America in 1940, and served in the U.S. Navy towards the end of World War II.

His first on-screen credit was for Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), directed by John Sturges and starring William Holden and Eleanor Parker. Rock then concentrated on writing novels and, in 1967, published his first: The Extraordinary Seaman.

MGM adapted The Extraordinary Seaman to the big screen in 1969. The film was poorly received and Rock is said to have vowed never to have another of his books made into a movie. Instead, Rock reversed the process and wrote a number of film novelizations for Popular Library and Bantam before turning again to writing novels.

Rock wrote a trilogy of novels — The Passing Bells, Circles of Time, and A Future Arrived — which followed the lives of the Stanmores of Abbingdo, an English family whose history Rock charted from the days of World War I to the Jazz era. The first novel was a Book of the Month Club alternate selection.

Rock died in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, on 3 April 2004, aged 76, of complications from cancer. He was survived by his son, Kevin, and two grandchildren.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the final book of the trilogy The Passing Bells.

Even if the first part of this book is quite boring, making the reader to lose the interest of the plot, in the following parts the author managed to regain the proper narrative.

Location 2905:
I trust my heart. I know there must be millions of people in Germany who are as dismayed by Hitler's excesses as we are. The nation of Goethe, after all, as well as Nietzsche. Those people must be encouraged to add their voices to the cry for peace.

Location 3232:
Our General Dyer massacred Hindus at Amritsar in nineteen and now we let the Mahatma march past out armed cars and place flowers on the machine guns.

Location 4379:
There is apathy in France. A shrug of the shoulder. A gesture with the hands. Hitler will take what he wants. There is no point in treaties. The Maginot line stands sullen and powerful from the Ardennes to the Swiss border. There is no danger to the west. Hitler would never bloody his legions against French cannon.

4* The Passing Bells
4* Circles of Time
3* A Future Arrived

[Misfit]

I yield. As much as I enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, I have lost interest and can't pick the book up again. I'll wait for the reviews to come on the new edition and may change my mind.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved The Passing Bells (first book of the Trilogy) but Phillip Rock just phoned this last one in.

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those who have been following along know that I really enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, and had every expectation of finding the final book a four star read like the prior two. Sadly, A Future Arrived, while still good, did not quite rise to the level of The Passing Bells and Circles of Time. To be fair, I really wasn't in the mood for a historical fiction novel when I read it, but, still, I stick to my evaluation.

In A Future Arrived, Rock tackles both the year 1930 and the early period of WWII, from 1938 to 1940. Herein lies one of the major weaknesses of the book. These are both historically significant time periods, and the former at least could really benefit from more fiction. However, by combining them into just one volume, even a fairly massive one like this, Rock does both a disservice. Better to have had two more novels in the series or to solely cover the entry into World War II, since that predominates his interest.

The section set in 1930 does include some historical background about the impact of the Great Depression, but comes across largely as a means to introduce a whole swath of new characters. These new figures are predominantly the third generations, grandchildren to Lord and Lady Stanmore, children of the main characters of the previous two novels. The elder Standmores, now in their late 60s to early 70s hardly figure in the plot at all at this juncture.

The new characters are delightful. I really do like every single one of them, but the sheer mass of them was a bit overwhelming. No, it wasn't difficult keeping them all straight, but, since Rock didn't drop the prior main characters entirely, I found the narrative overwhelmed with perspectives. A Future Arrived focuses on far too many characters, especially since I found the sections about the adults boring, as, now that they're all married off, they can apparently only appear for the purposes of boring exposition. The novel feels much more fragmented and distracted than the previous two.

Part of that feeling stems from a change in his writing style. Rock might have made use of ellipses before, but I didn't particularly notice. A Future Arrived is lousy with this particular punctuation. Don't get me wrong; I appreciate the power of the ellipsis, but a little goes a long way. Flip to a page and odds are high that you will find at least one ellipsis, and probably more than one. While sometimes they made sense, they often felt needless, expressing a pause that really added nothing to the flow of the dialogue.

The main themes covered are themselves quite clever, highlighting the real change in morals from the days of the Stanmores to the 1940s. Where a love affair was tawdry and shocking, meriting family disapproval and possibly even expulsion in 1918, by 1938 they're held openly and without shame. The attitudes, like the landscape, has evolved to something more similar to life in 2012 than in 1912. Watching this shift occur through the three novels has been fascinating.

Rock's take on WWII does differ from much of what I've read, focusing almost entirely on the boredom of war. There are a couple of dramatic fight scenes, but mostly he showcases the waiting around, the lack of action. Throughout it feels as though the war has hardly started, even though it really has. While I appreciate that he took a different tack, a focus on the boredom of war turned out to be just as boring as it sounds. I found myself skimming the war passages in an effort to resist falling asleep.

Rock goes a bit crazy pairing everybody off in this installment. It's like he's a yenta or something. He also is really hesitant to kill anybody. As was the case in The Passing Bells, he kills off one major character and that's it. However, it's less dramatic now, since the cast has doubled at this point. Of the three generations of main characters, only ONE dies in the course of 18 years, a couple of which include WWII? Really? To top it all off, the character left single (almost the only person not in a couple by that point) by that death immediately finds a new love on the LAST PAGE OF THE BOOK. I really can't even with that ending.

Despite all of my whining (thanks for letting me get that out), I did enjoy A Future Arrived. Rock's trilogy is a lot of fun, a must for fans of WWI and WWII fiction or of Downton Abbey.

[G.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m finding it difficult to put my finger on just why I managed to read this fairly predictable historical novel in only a few days, but I think it comes down to the level of old-fashioned narrative comfort provided by the author. Helped by a couple of long flights and a few nights in an unfamiliar hotel.

The first third of the novel introduces the characters and provides their back stories for readers who aren't familiar with the earlier two volumes of the series. The second third is about who will fall in love with who; the third about who will die.

If you’ve ever visited southern England, some of Rock’s descriptions of the countryside may arouse nostalgia:

He had first seen Abingdon in the early spring of 1914, a day such as this with great fleecy clouds drifting over the hills and the soft smell of rain on the wind. […] And beyond the town, rows of neat little villas with rose bushes, laburnum, greenhouses, and birdbaths.

The story is set in a period when an Englishwomen might be described as having “changed before dinner into American-style slacks and a blue cotton jersey”—and that brings me to one of the problems with the narration: its hilariously old-fashioned descriptions of women. The American slacks are followed by this:

He watched her as she cleared away the dishes and carried them into the kitchen—slim hips and long legs, breasts moving softly beneath the vivid blue cloth.

Or:

She was sixteen, a tall, full-breasted, wide-hipped girl with a round, pretty face still plump with baby fat.

Cringeworthy, right? Women are invariably described from a male point of view, and as characters they are rarely more than long-suffering witnesses to the “man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” of their men’s ambitions. Plus they pack a mean picnic hamper:

“Chicken in herbs,” she said, unpacking the basket and placing the items on a blanket. “Potted shrimp, deviled eggs, sliced ham, French rolls, cheeses, a bottle of Chablis, a bottle of claret….”

I wasn’t sure how accurate the language used by the mostly upper-class characters was. Did people really toast one another with “Here’s how”? Did pilots of Spitfires really shout “Tally ho!” as they dived down to shoot?

And yet, and yet—the author depicts a world in which conversations such as this take place:

“What’s the White Mouse Club?”
“A private social spot for well-heeled businessmen. A nunnery in the Shakespearean sense of the word.”

Or:

“You can drive if you like,” she told him.”
“No, no. You look too enchanting behind the wheel.”

Sweet, no? If men ever said things like that, they don't anymore!

The author leaves us in October 1940, when—as readers know, though the characters do not—the aerial Battle of Britain had concluded. The war would drag on for almost five more years, but for the characters who remain alive—and the readers who have followed them this far—Rock has provided glimmers of hope with which to end his story.

[Katherine Gypson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite sad to finish this book but not for the reasons I expected. I loved "The Passing Bells," the first book in the series and very much enjoyed its sequel "Circles of Time." By the time I was able to get my hands on the third and final book in the series I thought it would be quite hard to say goodbye to the characters.

I mistakenly assumed that Rock would at least honor readers' commitment to the characters they'd been following through World War One and the 1920s. Instead, he introduces an entire new set of characters - the children of the Grevilles, Wood-Lacys and others from the first two books - and proceeds to rush through not only their introductions but ten years of their lives in about four hundred and fifty pages.

Rock's weaknesses are even more noticeable without the bulwark of his fine characterizations to hold up the book. Couples meet and fall in love almost instantly. It's impossible to tell the couples apart because they all talk to each other in the same overheated, melodramatic ways. The battle scenes lack the heart-breaking intensity of the WWI battle scenes - possibly because the war starts so quickly in the book and doesn't seem to terribly concern any of the characters since they're so busy sorting out their own personal problems.

Meanwhile, we barely see the older generation - Anthony and Hanna Greville, the old guard who have seen so much change. What an extraordinary opportunity to show just how much the world changed for these two people who were born in the 1860s but (presumably) lived long enough to see the dawn of the Atomic Age. Or Martin Rilke, whose career as a journalist the reader has seen develop over the course of three books. He's reduced to giving radio broadcasts that function as information dumps to let the reader know where they are in the timeline. The books ends with a death that echos back to a loss in the first book but Rock doesn't even allow the reader time to understand the implications of that loss. The book ends almost immediately afterward.

I'd be interested to know if Rock had some sort of deadline or was in failing health because "Future" is of a noticeably different quality than the other books. I came to "The Passing Bells" trilogy concerned that it was a reprint of a cheesy '70s series trying to make money off the Downton Abbey craze. The first two books were fine works of fiction but the final entry in the trilogy left a sour taste, affirming all my worst suspicions.

Unfortunately, readers who have read the first two books will probably want to finish the trilogy - I would suggest finding a way to buy it used or borrow it from a library.
Comment

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not live up to the promise of the first two books. Most of the third generation characters never felt like more than reduxes of their WWI gen counterparts. With the longer time arc here (c. 1929 through 1940), there wasn't adequate narrative space to develop the various plots with the appealing details of previous books or to show (rather than tell) the larger surrounding historical shifts. The brave chronological choice of the conclusion salvages 3 stars, though.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A decade has past since "the war to end all wars," and those impacted by that conflict's stunning, tragic losses fervently pray never again. But as time passes one adage seems determined to prove true -- the more things change, the more things stay the same -- and the Greville family and friends so tested by the conflict that spilled a generation's blood in the trenches stands in danger of seeing the lives of their children imperiled by a new, graver threat. Yet if there are always examples of the worst humankind has to offer willing to test the mettle of the world's resolve, so to are there those whose lives and faith in the potential goodness of humanity who resolve to shine all the more brightly against the threat of overwhelming darkness. In many respects, this final volume in Phillip Rock's Greville trilogy is not only about the final twilight of the Edwardian era, an examination of a world and class system shattered by the first world war, but how one generation's trials and choices shape the lives of those who follow in their footsteps.

A Future Arrived opens with a symbolic passing of the guard, as long-time Greville family butler Coatsworth passes away, his death a stark, shocking reminder to the earl of his own mortality and the fragility of the legacy he desires to leave his children. But the war and the ensuing tumult of the 1920s, with its dissolution of social barriers once held sacrosanct and its rapidly changing moral values calls into question the very nature of a legacy and the inheritance, intentional or not, that is imparted to subsequent generations. One of my favorite story arcs in this installment involves Charles, the heir and one-time severely shell-shocked victim of the Great War. Charles has found passion and purpose in working with a school that caters to students who, for various reasons (i.e. bullying, as in the case of young Derek), are ill-suited to the rigors of a traditional British boarding school system. Seeing someone once so broken by conflict, shepherding lives "the system" failed is incredibly heartening -- but also poignant, as the generation that comes of age during Charles's early tenure as headmaster are destined to be tested by the fires of an equally consuming conflict. Charles's accompanying love story is so perfectly realized, so well-meted out on the page as it speaks to not only the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream, but also the fruition of and fulfillment found within a new norm that recognizes that Charles is not -- nor should he be -- an heir fashioned from his father's mold.

Reporter Martin Rilke has been a favorite of mine throughout this series, with his warmth, humanity, and prescient ability to see world events unfold with a clarity and understanding most of his peers lack through either blindness or willful ignorance. Here, Martin becomes the mentor of his wife's brother Albert, the latter determined to follow his brother-in-law's career trajectory to journalistic renown. It's not only a pleasure to watch Martin mentor the next generation, but Albert is a fascinating, compelling character in his own right, who shares his mentor's ability to see world events with startling lucidity -- a gift and a determination to speak the truth regarding Hitler and the rising menace of Nazism to a world determined to maintain the status quo at all cost. I loved his burgeoning romance with the unlikely Wood-Lacy sister, Jennifer, a pacifist reluctant to wed her future to a man whose job requires his all -- much like her own father's undying passion to remake the British army into a viable 20th century fighting force, a viewpoint that, in decades obsessed with disarmament, would exact a stressful toll on her parents' marriage.

And therein lies the genius of this novel, marking it simultaneously as an incredibly moving coming-of-age portrait of the legacy of the post-1919 generationand a tribute to the courage and fortitude of the parents and Great War survivors that saw their world shattered and determined to make it anew. Rock's characters are incredibly flawed and real, genuine, passionate human beings whose hard-fought triumphs and tragic failings alike brought tears to my eyes in turn. While, with the benefit of hindsight, it always seems easy for the present to judge the past for short-sighted failures, if there's one thing Rock proves by transitioning to the younger generation in his conclusion to the Greville saga, it's the constancy of change and the resiliency of the human spirit. Change is hard, life can be overwhelmingly tragic -- but there is always, always hope in the ability of men and women to love, to remake themselves, to adapt, to survive.

As always Rock's ability to craft memorable characters and bring the past to vibrant, colorful life on the page is unparalleled in its power and accuracy. His scholarship is incredible, as is his ability to incorporate history within the novel while never bogging down the narrative with clunky or unnecessary detail. With incredibly fluid, powerful prose and characters so life-like I feel as though they've become dear friends, Rock brings his Greville trilogy to a powerful close with A Future Arrived. While those prone to cynicism might focus on the tragic reality of humankind's propensity for conflict, starkly illustrated just one hundred years ago by two world wars in the span of twenty years, what speaks most powerfully to me is the trilogy's poignant sense of hope in the face of incredible odds, of mankind's resiliency in the face of evil. Circumstances may shape us, but our choices -- how we respond to those circumstances -- that, in the end, is what defines a person and is what makes Rock's characters and his recreation of some of the twentieth century's most turbulent decades so unforgettable.

Putting a period to this trilogy by posting this review is an incredibly bittersweet experience for me. It is a rare treat to discover such a writer and to lose myself so wholly in his world. The Grevilles and their friends and family are characters I'll not soon forget -- quite frankly I'm loathe to leave their world -- and this is a reading experience that, quite honestly, will leave me hard-pressed to equal. Like its predecessors, I will never, ever get over my love for A Future Arrived. Breath-taking in its scope and heart-rending in its emotional power, this is historical fiction at its finest, positively breath-taking in its scope, vision, and raw honesty. Each page in this novel and its predecessors is worth savoring, richly replete with historical detail and achingly authentic characters capable of having you cheering for them at one moment and weeping the next. A Future Arrived is a beautifully-realized conclusion to a heart-pounding, emotionally-charged journey through the tumultuous early decades of the twentieth century. This, my friends, is a reading experience I'll not soon forget and one I'm extraordinarily thankful to have discovered. I will never get over this trilogy -- they've proven to be an exceptional gift, an experience worth savoring long after the final page has been turned.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love it but by the end I couldn't take the sexist roles he sets aside for women in this trilogy. Their only function is to be beautiful and supportive. War has no impact on their lives other than making them worried for their man. Having read so many other books set during this time period, written by both men and women, I know this was a time when women had unprecedented chances to step out of their conscripted roles and experience different lives outside of marriage and family. That is not reflected in these books. I think I wanted a little more life and a lot less historical recap and troop movements. So stereotypically female of me.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series! Well written, addictive..and I love that the characters were believably flawed, yet I still cared about them.
Two things--this book ended very abruptly. I understand that the decade was over, but the war wasn't! I guess his interest was in telling the story of the decade, rather than telling a complete story.
I also found it interesting that he chose to only write about each world war BEFORE the Americans came in. It was really a story about England, with a few American characters thrown in.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here in the last book of the trilogy, we leave the Jazz Age and enter the 1930's., as the family and their relatives and friends see the rise of Nazi Germany and another war become the fate of the next generation.
A good finish to a series that took you through the change of an age and society of the British landed gentry.

[Tracey Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute fabulous trilogy.

Highly recommend.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Future Arrived deals mostly with the next generation- Ivy's brother Albert, who follows in his brother-in-law Martin's footsteps as a foreign and war correspondent, Colin, Alex's son who leaves America to become a pilot for Britain, and Colin's friend Derek, who attended Charles' private school and joins Colin as a pilot in the war.

The women are represented by Fenton and Winnie's girls- twins Jennifer and Victoria and youngest daughter Kate, some of whom become romantically entangled with the above mentioned fellows, and involved with the war and anti-war efforts.

I liked seeing how these children grew into adults, but I did miss my old friends- Alex and Charles in particular. They do not play much of a role here, but the book would have been easily 1000 pages if Rock were to give all of his previous characters a bigger role.

The girls learned well from their mother Winnie who, although she wished her husband hadn't devoted his career to the military, understood that she fell in love with a soldier, and if she wanted to remain married to him she would have to accept all that comes with that.

Colin and Derek's war experiences are much different from Charles and Fenton's during WWI. WWI was fought in the trenches, up close and personal. As pilots, Colin and Derek saw war from farther away, although Rock writes a few harrowing scenes as the men come into combat contact with the Germans in the air that had me white-knuckled as I read them.

The British were more reluctant to go to war again after their WWI experiences; we see how Chamberlain and Parliament appeased Hitler, willing to ignore Germany's movements into other sovereign nations. It wasn't until Hitler began bombing England that Britain faced facts and fought back.

One thing I liked in particular about this book was the fact that it brought me back to history class; there were so many references to things I had learned- the problems between China and Japan, Mussolini's rise, Haile Selassie, Francisco Franco- it sent me to Google to refresh my memories.

I also liked that Rock showed us how Martin's live radio reports changed how people thought. Once they could hear the sounds of war for themselves, what was happening could no longer be ignored. A similar thing happened when TV reporters showed us the Vietnam War as it was happening; people could see for themselves and no longer believed only what the government told them was going on.

Just like Downton Abbey, we have a large estate, many characters from different classes, romance and sprawling storylines. It also reminded me of John Jakes' North & South books, using war as a backdrop to tell an epic story with fascinating characters. If you miss Downton, Abingdon Pryory is the next best place to be.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we last left the Grevilles and Abingdon behind in CIRCLES OF TIME, it was Christmas of 1923. Now, as A FUTURE ARRIVED begins, it's 1930. Anthony and Hanna Greville are now in their seventies and the Earl of Stanmore is sadly reminded that his youth is far behind him. Charles is now headmaster of Burgate House School. Martin's young brother in law Albert is just about ready to begin university, but reveals that he'd much rather follow Martin's lead and become a journalist himself. Meanwhile, the Wood-Lacy girls are all growing up as is Alexandra's son Colin. The story soon launches into WWII and the next generation become the focus of this final installment in the trilogy.

This has been something of a roller coaster of a read. I've become so invested in these characters and am very sorry to have to finally say goodbye to them all. I was concerned upon learning that the characters I'd come to know and love in the first two books took a bit of a back seat in this third release but actually the transition worked very well. Many of them are still readily present throughout the story (Martin for the most part, though Charles, William, the elder Grevilles, and even Fenton do make occasional appearances).

I rather enjoyed getting to know the younger characters better! And it made sense considering that by the time WWII rolls around these are the characters now experiencing the terrors and tragedies that Charles, Fenton, and Martin experienced in THE PASSING BELLS. Colin - Alexandra's son - has dreams of becoming a military pilot as does Derek Ramsey, one of Charles's students. Jennifer Wood-Lacy falls hard for Albert - Martin's brother in law. And We follow them all through their formative years and into the new war.

As with the first two, Rock's style is gripping and his pacing is phenomenal. It took me just one afternoon to get through this final installment. Granted I'd planned my weekend that way, saving up this last visit with Abingdon Pryory for a day when I could devote all my time and attention to it.

Any fan of historical fiction and epic family dramas will love this trilogy. I really cannot recommend it highly enough! Rock sadly passed away in 2004. The rest of his work is out of print. It does make me wonder what other gems are hiding in the depths of publishing past, not deemed to be literary enough to last through the generations. Again I am so glad that this particular trilogy has been rereleased today.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Future Arrived is the final book in the trilogy The Passing Bells by Phillip Rock.

In the first and second books (which I also reviewed), we are introduced to the Stanmore family, the main characters suffer through WWI and the changes the Britain faces during the 20s including prohibition, feminism, the introduction of the radio into the common household and PTSD.

Each of the family members are in turn exposed to new ideas and changes. Alex falls in love with the former family chauffeur. The earl flies in an airplane. Charles becomes a school master. Each characters takes on a role as the years bring them closer to the inevitable start of WWII.

The third novel tends to focus more on the brother of a deceased character, his exposure to the world as a reporter, and the state of Germany's economy.

As far as closure goes, the novel was a solid ending and each character was left with strings neatly tied up in a bow...perhaps TOO neatly. To me, the first book brought so much suffering and sadness to the Greville family, but somehow the series ended with everyone being okay and thing all round looking good.

It was a bit too good to be true, in my opinion. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for something absolutely devastating to happen to the Greville family, but no. Everything somehow works out.

I said this in my review of this first book...even though on the cover there is a claim that the series is similar to Downton Abbey, it really isn't at all. Not even close. The books focus far more on the life of people in the 20s and 30s than in the class differences.

If you are looking to read a historical fiction set in this time period that is educational as well as interesting, I would suggest Fall of Giants by Ken Follett over this series. Fall of Giants is similar in bringing in several characters and showing their growth and experiences throughout different areas of Europe during the onset of the nineteenth century, but it is historically accurate and the dialogue is MUCH better.

All over I give this entire series a 3.5/5. It was a good read, but it lacked true character development and the dialogue was stilted much of the time.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final volume of the Greville family saga and I must admit I was sorry to see it end. I found myself quite involved with the lives and loves of the Grevilles and their circle of relatives and friends and I felt a loss when I turned the last page. I had, after all been with them for quite a few years.

This chapter takes from where Circles of Time left off - as Hitler was just starting to come on the scene in Germany. Many fear this new voice in Germany but England and France are tired from WWI and don't want to think of another war. We all know the history; this book takes the Grevilles and the next generation through that history.

The reader gets to know the younger generation; Colin - Alexandra's son and his friend, Derek. The three daughters of Fenton Wood-Lacy and young Albert Thaxton - Ivy's brother. Martin Wilke has taken him under his wing and Albert is determined to become a journalist.

Times change but the Pryory goes on, solid into the future. Will it remain?

I will admit that as much as I enjoyed this last book I did find it to be my least favorite of the three. I suspect that it was because it focused on the younger generation. After two books of the older members I was invested and I wanted more of them and less of the characters of which I was less involved. That did not make for a poor read - the history and the writing was as wonderful as the first two books. In fact, I felt such a let down when I turned the last page I wished there were additional books. I truly did not want the saga to end.

Mr. Rock wrote these characters in a way that they got under my skin and I felt they were real - even when I knew darn well they weren't. Even when I didn't like aspects of personalities I still wanted them to succeed. And I suppose that was the lack I felt in this book - too many stories were left unfinished. Particularly with the older characters. Although as I sit and type this and consider the time in which it was written and realize that not all books had tight endings.

So I say goodbye to the Grevilles and move on to other reading. I shall miss them. I really shall.

[Kevin Symmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the first two novels in the "Passing Bells" Trilogy I could not wait to get my hands on "A Future Arrived". As he did with the second book, "Circles of Time", in this the third and final edition the author moves ahead in time and introduces us to a whole new generation of Grevilles and Rilkes. Albert, Colin, Derek Ramsay and their respective love interests. We see an occasional cameo from the elder (Hanna) and middle-aged (Charles,Martin,Winnifred,and many others) characters introduced earlier. But make no mistake this volume belongs to the young. Jennifer Wood-Lacy and her younger sister Catherine are also featured and deeply vivid and empathetic characters. And as with the earlier two novels, Mr. Rock has certainly done his homework. Having never been to many of the locales portrayed in "A Future Arrived" it's difficult to critique the accuracy of the authors descriptions. As he has done throughout Rock seamlessly integrates dialog, narrative and vivid imagery to weave a telling, often bittersweet tapestry across the British Isles. One great definition of good writing is asking the reader how much he cares for the characters. Another is asking the reader if he was sad the novel ended. I can say a heartfelt yes to both. I cared deeply for the characters, and I was severely disappointed when "The End" appeared on the final page. I highly recommend this novel to students of 20th Century history, strong romantic elements, and man's ability to deal with his fellow man. I wonderful read!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final novel of Rock's trilogy begins in 1938 and ends in October 1940, and while the novel has most of the pluses of the previous two it left me dissatisfied. One odd little quirk is that Jacob Golden married Amelia Leventhal at the end of Circles of Time, and Rock who has previously been meticulous about keeping the reader up-to date with the lives of main characters even if they aren't currently his focus, never mentions again the marriage or the wife even though Golden makes frequent appearances in this novel. Halfway through the novel the focus shifts almost exclusively to the younger generation--Albert Thaxton, Jennifer and Kate Wood-Lacey, Derek Ramsey and Colin McKendrick Ross--but it is a bumpy transition. The relationship between Kate and Colin was very awkward, and only partially because it was supposed to be. Many of the characters' stories get short-shrift and are left hanging. Rock does his usual excellent job of giving us a vivid and human sense of the terrible events leading up to and during the first months of WWII in Europe.

My chief objection is that the novel/trilogy ended in 1940. I have spent a thousand pages growing to care for characters who are left in danger and crisis with five more years of war to go. The title seems a cheat. This novel was published in 1985 and Rock died in 2004, so it doesn't seem likely that he meant to write additional novels about these characters. For such a wonderful series, it is disappointing that Rock didn't finish as strongly as he began.

[Alicia Prevost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished!! No fault of the book, I've just been busy.

Anyway, I wanted to give this 3.5 stars and decided to bump it up to 5.

I liked it. I did. It was well written and it was an interesting perspective on WWII, especially compared to the first book's handling of WWI. The characters were great, the stories were great and I enjoyed it.

To a point.

I just felt like...it was a little too suddenly about their children. And I get it. WWII would have affected them a lot more than it did the parents so I appreciated that, I just felt like a lot of the time, I wasn't sure what book series I was reading. The kids were fun to read about but by all but dropping the main characters from the first book (really, some were hardly mentioned) I just wasn't sure what I was reading about and all the connections I had made, were gone. I had no idea what was going on in the characters I did care about lives and I found that strange.

I think it would have worked better had he tied in the two generations, show the younger one at war and dealing with it and then show the older one and how they were holding up. This was too sudden.

But yeah, well written, great characters and great history like the first two books. It was a good story and I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't the one I expected.

[Katie Mech · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, can I say how sad I am that I'm finished with this trilogy? It's been so incredibly good and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed it. But alas, all good things must come to an end. And sadly, this wasn't the ending I was hoping for.

The third book in the trilogy was...disjointed. I think that's the only word I can think of. I still enjoyed it and I liked the characters, but it just didn't have that same pull as the first two in the series. The characters we had fallen in love with (Charles, Fenton, Martin, Jacob, etc.) were kind of pushed to the side and while it seems they all got their happy endings, their stories felt so incredibly unfinished to me.

The new generation was fun, I suppose, but I feel the author didn't really develop them as much. Or finish their stories, as should be done in a trilogy. Even a main character's death was tossed to the side, and barely mourned. I would have liked to have been introduced more to the characters and to see them grow, as we did with the first generations.

I'm still giving it four stars because I couldn't put it down. Even when I was working, I was desperate to read. I may have to reread the whole series again...completely amazing and well-written.

[Gilda Felt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think, as was done with Downton Abbey, the author should have stopped before WWII started. He would have done himself, and the readers, a great favor. Because, unlike WWI, WWII completely dominates the book, to the great detriment of character development. I never do come to be as invested in the new generation of characters as I was their parents. Maybe because things are moving so fast, and battles and aerial fights take precedent over the small, ordinary, yet important events that happen to people.

I can’t say that I totally disliked the book, I just wasn’t as enthralled as I was with the first two. And the abrupt ending, with so much left unsaid, made it seem as if there was supposed to be yet another book. As it was, it left the fate of the characters completely up in the air, the War still going, all still in peril.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final installment of the Abington Pryory trilogy. A new generation of the children and babies from the first two books has come of age. This new group of Grevilles learns to discover life and love admist the tumultuous landscape of pre-WWII Europe. A new reporter emerges, as well as new soldiers eager to fly planes to defeat Germany. New loves are formed, and lost, and the older generations learn to let go of their children. This story is a great wrap-up of this beautiful, captivating series. Each of the characters gets a well-written ending, and loose ends are tied up. I loved being immersed in this wonderful family saga. So well written and insightful about his significant time in our human history.

[Lori Baldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this series. I found the 2nd book of the series at a Barnes & Noble and thought that it sounded very interesting and I had never heard of the author or the series before. The other books of the series were a little harder to capture than normal books. Made for happy hunting. I think the author does better with the male characters than the females. The women were mostly 1 dimensional which is slightly disturbing. So often I will see novels that are more female friendly will have the label of "romance novel". Grrrrrr. I'll step off of the soap box now. The story with the family relationships was very good and showed a side of the early 1900s in England that isn't shown often enough for me.

[Joy O’Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I was interested in reading more about the Grevilles, the Wood-Lacys, and the Rilkes, this book was not as engaging as the first two in the trilogy. The first part of the book, dealing with the approach to World War II was good. I was interested in the characters and started to care about what was happening with them. Unfortunately, the second part of the book jumped too far ahead and did not develop the characters sufficiently for me to enter into their lives and care about what happened to them. The author skimmed over their lives too quickly and left them hanging in the middle of the war so the reader was left with an unfinished story. I am glad I read it so I could finish the trilogy but it was only ok, not nearly as good as the first two.

[Andrea Stoeckel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 80s, this book, the final in a trilogy, was recommended by a British blogger and I'm glad I tracked it down. It is very reminisent of Barbara Taylor Bradford's Woman of Substance, a long ago favorite of mine.
This particular book looks at WW2 and it's continued affects on a family of means in England (I understand the other 2 books deal with other events in earlier history). This book tells some of the same history as Bradford does with the Harte family but through the eyes of the men in the family. It is a very good read

[Tammy O · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Passing Bells trilogy. This third book ended much too soon. It took me by surprise when I turned the page and realized the chapter I'd just finished was the last. I expected several more years with the Greville family and their circle of relatives and friends. I like Phillip Rock's writing style, though, and he ended the story on a hopeful note. These are books I will want to read again.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I LOVED this series! But was my least favorite novel of the three. Rock is a fantastic writer though and I really enjoyed the way so many storylines wove in and out of each other so intricately. I loved the new characters in each book and was absolutely fascinated by the history of the time spanning WWI and WWII. The way Rock can seamlessly present historical perspective from so many different people and places is incredible. He must have been a brilliant person.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh...a disappointing third volume of an otherwise fantastic trilogy. The issue here is that the stories of the principal characters in the first 2 volumes are pretty much dropped. In their place Rock tells the story of their progeny and some other new characters who aren't nearly as interesting and not given as much depth. The incredible times (Europe 1930-1941) are merely a backdrop only sometimes commented upon when they should have played a more important role in the entire story.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first book of the trilogy was the best, this one just seemed rushed. and it ended right after the Battle of Britain and Dunkirk, and before the Blitz really gets going (and before the U.S. enters the war), so it just seems like a random place to stop. but still, very entertaining. oh, british epics.

[Nanci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this - loved the whole series, in fact. You'd think about 1500 (total) pages, I'd be "done" but I'm not - I'd love to know more about where these people ended up, what they did, etc. Alas, they aren't real.

I began reading this as a filler while waiting for Downton Abbey Season 4, but in the end, it was simply the great storytelling that kept me reading.