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In Their Wisdom
Economic storm clouds gather as bad political weather is forecast for the nation. Three elderly peers look on from the sidelines of the House of Lords and wonder if it will mean the end of a certain way of life. Against this background is set a court struggle over a disputed will that escalates into an almighty battle.
- GenresFiction
345 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
185 people want to read
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 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 15, 2020
In Their Wisdom by C P Snow was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1974.
I will confess up front that I didn't give this novel my fair attention, given that I was distracted by other life events, and it took me much longer to read than it should have, often with gaps of several days between picking it up, and then only for short periods.
Nevertheless, I found parts of it were quite dreary, and the staid British upper class lawyers, businessmen, Parliamentarians and lords were barely likable in any sense.
The story involves three elderly peers with seats in the House of Lords musing on changing times and questioning their future roles and relevance.
The more interesting parts of the plot relate to a court case challenging a will, where a daughter has been completely excluded from the will of her father, and irascible boor, in favour of the son of a woman who had curried favour and exerted considerable influence over the old man in his final months.
Both the son and the mother are quite horrid, and the woman who wants to marry the son seems both a bit dumb and quite desperate.
The daughter who missed out on her father's estate is perhaps the most grounded and likable character in the story, and one of the few for whom it is possible to muster up any sympathy.
The writing style is formal, often turgid, and makes for slow reading, even accounting for the interruptions I experienced. That's not to say it isn't intelligent and sound, but it could never be called exciting or compelling.
I will confess up front that I didn't give this novel my fair attention, given that I was distracted by other life events, and it took me much longer to read than it should have, often with gaps of several days between picking it up, and then only for short periods.
Nevertheless, I found parts of it were quite dreary, and the staid British upper class lawyers, businessmen, Parliamentarians and lords were barely likable in any sense.
The story involves three elderly peers with seats in the House of Lords musing on changing times and questioning their future roles and relevance.
The more interesting parts of the plot relate to a court case challenging a will, where a daughter has been completely excluded from the will of her father, and irascible boor, in favour of the son of a woman who had curried favour and exerted considerable influence over the old man in his final months.
Both the son and the mother are quite horrid, and the woman who wants to marry the son seems both a bit dumb and quite desperate.
The daughter who missed out on her father's estate is perhaps the most grounded and likable character in the story, and one of the few for whom it is possible to muster up any sympathy.
The writing style is formal, often turgid, and makes for slow reading, even accounting for the interruptions I experienced. That's not to say it isn't intelligent and sound, but it could never be called exciting or compelling.
September 10, 2007
I have to admit, I am pretty excited that no one else has rated this book.
I'm also pretty excited that my edition has a quote on the front from the Philadelphia Inquirer. When's the last time you saw the Inquirer's book section referenced?
I'm wondering if, in his focus on the historical perspective, including a direct appeal to future historians on the last page, Snow had any second thoughts about how much attention he gave to sexual relationships. Maybe I'm relying too much on current polarized conceptions of sex that view a focus on it it as either very good or very bad. More generally, I'm often surprised at books that seem to defend an old-guard mentality, whether with reformatory outrage or resigned sympathy, that rely on intimate domestic and psychological details that they couldn't have made use of in most other eras.
Hopefully that's general enough it could mean something to people who haven't read the book since apparently no one has.
I'm also pretty excited that my edition has a quote on the front from the Philadelphia Inquirer. When's the last time you saw the Inquirer's book section referenced?
I'm wondering if, in his focus on the historical perspective, including a direct appeal to future historians on the last page, Snow had any second thoughts about how much attention he gave to sexual relationships. Maybe I'm relying too much on current polarized conceptions of sex that view a focus on it it as either very good or very bad. More generally, I'm often surprised at books that seem to defend an old-guard mentality, whether with reformatory outrage or resigned sympathy, that rely on intimate domestic and psychological details that they couldn't have made use of in most other eras.
Hopefully that's general enough it could mean something to people who haven't read the book since apparently no one has.
July 9, 2016
Quiet a placid little affair this, a gentle study of English political circles based around a legal case. I thought Snow can write, even if the subject matter isn't the most captivating.
July 25, 2021
A Bleak House for the 1970s. Snow namechecks Dickens a couple of times, and I saw parallels not only in the tale's milieu (the mired futility of the courts), but in the richly threaded biographies; the contrasts between haves and have-nots (Jenny as poor philanthropist living in a bedsit especially Dickensian); and the moral rage on the corrupting influence of money. It is also a fascinating document on the 'state of the nation' in 1970s, again with an eye for the contemporary that C.D. would undoubtedly have appreciated.
The passages on the UK's entry into the EU (p. 149) could have focused solely on the massive majority. Snow's long view of history, instead, in hindsight appears prescient, not least for his view that referenda would have probably seen a 'no' vote for Europe. The narrow view of popular nationalism towards anything foreign/other felt to me both accurate and depressing in equal measure.
As the parallels with Bleak House suggest, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for either an easy or an uplifting read. What it does offer is a scientifically forensic take on human motives, with the element of unpredictability injected by the volatility of human emotions. Few characters are likeable (Jenny and Lorimer, perhaps Sedgwick, the only exceptions), but even in the worst I could see myself. Dickens at his (still very good) worst sometimes produced two-dimensional villains (The Old Curiosity Shop for instance). Snow avoids implausibility, even for all the conniving, schadenfraude at other's illnesses, and hubris in a less-that-lordly craven grasping for respect.
The verbiage in the book is something else. I make a note of unusual words, or at least those I couldn't precisely define. Sometimes I have 1-2, sometimes a handful. This relatively slim volume gave me 44, alongside plenty of food for thought. If Snow may have been rather fond of Roget, he was also unapologetically keen on exploiting the richness of the English language. Examples include: inspissated ~ dromophilic ~ superbity ~ mondial ~ marmoreal ~ tenebrous ~ eupeptic ~ exophthalmic.
I gleaned from another recent novel (Mrs Palfrey... by Elizabeth Taylor) that Snow was once highly regarded. A glance at online biographies reminded me that he was also a name from my old history lectures (Two Cultures on the need for more linkages between the arts and sciences), besides being feted for his literary output ('In Their Wisdom' was nominated for the 1974 Booker. This was my first novel by Snow, and I would say it has been under-appreciated. Certainly it merits more reviewers. It tells us not only about high society machinations, mores, and the House of Lords, but also more philosophically about the wellsprings of happiness beyond money and power, at personal and national levels. While not new themes, Snow deals with them with more finesse than most.
The passages on the UK's entry into the EU (p. 149) could have focused solely on the massive majority. Snow's long view of history, instead, in hindsight appears prescient, not least for his view that referenda would have probably seen a 'no' vote for Europe. The narrow view of popular nationalism towards anything foreign/other felt to me both accurate and depressing in equal measure.
As the parallels with Bleak House suggest, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for either an easy or an uplifting read. What it does offer is a scientifically forensic take on human motives, with the element of unpredictability injected by the volatility of human emotions. Few characters are likeable (Jenny and Lorimer, perhaps Sedgwick, the only exceptions), but even in the worst I could see myself. Dickens at his (still very good) worst sometimes produced two-dimensional villains (The Old Curiosity Shop for instance). Snow avoids implausibility, even for all the conniving, schadenfraude at other's illnesses, and hubris in a less-that-lordly craven grasping for respect.
The verbiage in the book is something else. I make a note of unusual words, or at least those I couldn't precisely define. Sometimes I have 1-2, sometimes a handful. This relatively slim volume gave me 44, alongside plenty of food for thought. If Snow may have been rather fond of Roget, he was also unapologetically keen on exploiting the richness of the English language. Examples include: inspissated ~ dromophilic ~ superbity ~ mondial ~ marmoreal ~ tenebrous ~ eupeptic ~ exophthalmic.
I gleaned from another recent novel (Mrs Palfrey... by Elizabeth Taylor) that Snow was once highly regarded. A glance at online biographies reminded me that he was also a name from my old history lectures (Two Cultures on the need for more linkages between the arts and sciences), besides being feted for his literary output ('In Their Wisdom' was nominated for the 1974 Booker. This was my first novel by Snow, and I would say it has been under-appreciated. Certainly it merits more reviewers. It tells us not only about high society machinations, mores, and the House of Lords, but also more philosophically about the wellsprings of happiness beyond money and power, at personal and national levels. While not new themes, Snow deals with them with more finesse than most.
November 25, 2018
Scientist, politician, polemicist and peer – no other novelist got inside the arcane world of the post-war British Establishment like Charles Percy, Baron Snow.
Life in the House of Lords and its bars, in the courts where a disputed will forms the central narrative, and even in the operating theatre is described with a scientific dispassion.
But the last happy scene, which sees the remarkable recovery of a severely ill Nobel prize winner, is in contrast to a cast of less admirable characters. The politicians are spent, if ever they were forces, whose expectations are over. The new men, motivated by money, are irascible. Nor are the women spared, all of them in hock to men unworthy of them.
The book has the pessimistic feeling of an anachronistic way of life coming to its end, matched by the author’s detached, lofty style. Although written and set in the Edward Heath era of the early 1970s, it’s a world in which the talk is of Charles James Fox, Sheridan and W.G. Grace as if they might pop into the members’ tea room.
The sometimes truncated syntax does not make this an easy read, and Snow often had me reaching for the reference books: exophthalmic, irenicon, inspissated, Trimalchio, Lanquinais – words not just from the author but in the minds of the characters themselves. One felt “like a noisy hairy Nordic barbarian outraging the sensibilities of a fine-nerved Hindu.”
An unlikely way to characterise one’s feelings, I would have thought. And what is one to make of this comment: “Women whom the world thought beautiful often lacked (a temperament to help a man get sexual pleasure), and found themselves miserable beyond their comprehension” a statement that today seems as preposterous as it is unsupported.
This seems now very much a period piece.
Life in the House of Lords and its bars, in the courts where a disputed will forms the central narrative, and even in the operating theatre is described with a scientific dispassion.
But the last happy scene, which sees the remarkable recovery of a severely ill Nobel prize winner, is in contrast to a cast of less admirable characters. The politicians are spent, if ever they were forces, whose expectations are over. The new men, motivated by money, are irascible. Nor are the women spared, all of them in hock to men unworthy of them.
The book has the pessimistic feeling of an anachronistic way of life coming to its end, matched by the author’s detached, lofty style. Although written and set in the Edward Heath era of the early 1970s, it’s a world in which the talk is of Charles James Fox, Sheridan and W.G. Grace as if they might pop into the members’ tea room.
The sometimes truncated syntax does not make this an easy read, and Snow often had me reaching for the reference books: exophthalmic, irenicon, inspissated, Trimalchio, Lanquinais – words not just from the author but in the minds of the characters themselves. One felt “like a noisy hairy Nordic barbarian outraging the sensibilities of a fine-nerved Hindu.”
An unlikely way to characterise one’s feelings, I would have thought. And what is one to make of this comment: “Women whom the world thought beautiful often lacked (a temperament to help a man get sexual pleasure), and found themselves miserable beyond their comprehension” a statement that today seems as preposterous as it is unsupported.
This seems now very much a period piece.
October 2, 2025
4.5 stars. A very good character based novel exploring the manners and morals of a group British Establishment people who are members of the House of Lords, set at the beginning of the 1970s.
The novel begins with the death of Mr Massie. He has left is fortune to Julian Underwood, a directionless individual who is the son of Mr Massie’s secretary / companion, during the last five years of Mr Massie’s life. Mr Massie is estranged from his daughter, Jenny Rastall. Jenny is content to live a poor existence, however her employer, tycoon Reginald Swaffield, intervenes, to encourage Jenny to contest the will. Swaffield is a self made man, who was once snubbed by Mrs Underwood. His offer to pay Jenny’s legal costs is motivated by revenge for this social insult.
Julian Underwood had been having a long term affair with Liz, daughter of Lord Hillmorton. Julian had stymied any thought of marriage as he could not afford it. Becoming a beneficiary meant that Julian need no longer stall in marrying Liz. However the contested will that takes over tow years to resolve, upsets plans and disturbs a number of lives.
Mr Massie, a widower in his eighties, had a penchant for making and revoking wills in his later years. In all of them, however, he left the residue of his estate to his daughter, Jenny. But in his last will, apart from a few bequests, he left the whole of his property to Julian Underwood.
C. P. Snow describes his characters’ behaviour and motives with discerning overview, avoiding theatrics and parody.
A recommended read. This is my first C. P. Snow novel. I will endeavor to read more of his books.
A quote from the book:
‘It had something of the air of a theological argument between people with faith in revealed truth. Calvinists trumping each other with a text, or a Marxist producing six lines from Lenin.’
This book was shortlisted for the 1974 Booker Prize.
The novel begins with the death of Mr Massie. He has left is fortune to Julian Underwood, a directionless individual who is the son of Mr Massie’s secretary / companion, during the last five years of Mr Massie’s life. Mr Massie is estranged from his daughter, Jenny Rastall. Jenny is content to live a poor existence, however her employer, tycoon Reginald Swaffield, intervenes, to encourage Jenny to contest the will. Swaffield is a self made man, who was once snubbed by Mrs Underwood. His offer to pay Jenny’s legal costs is motivated by revenge for this social insult.
Julian Underwood had been having a long term affair with Liz, daughter of Lord Hillmorton. Julian had stymied any thought of marriage as he could not afford it. Becoming a beneficiary meant that Julian need no longer stall in marrying Liz. However the contested will that takes over tow years to resolve, upsets plans and disturbs a number of lives.
Mr Massie, a widower in his eighties, had a penchant for making and revoking wills in his later years. In all of them, however, he left the residue of his estate to his daughter, Jenny. But in his last will, apart from a few bequests, he left the whole of his property to Julian Underwood.
C. P. Snow describes his characters’ behaviour and motives with discerning overview, avoiding theatrics and parody.
A recommended read. This is my first C. P. Snow novel. I will endeavor to read more of his books.
A quote from the book:
‘It had something of the air of a theological argument between people with faith in revealed truth. Calvinists trumping each other with a text, or a Marxist producing six lines from Lenin.’
This book was shortlisted for the 1974 Booker Prize.
February 27, 2024
A könyv remekül indul, lényegében letehetetlen - olyan részletességgel ábrázol emberi sorsokat, hogy olvasóként belemerültem, ki sem akartam jönni belőle. Kár, hogy a felénél átalakult a könyv, és az író átment infóközlő automatába. Megmaradtak az éles szemű megfigyelések, de elmaradtak a jelenetek, helyettük összefoglalókat kaptunk. Így is érdekes az 1972-es év politikai rendszere, a londoni parlament működése stb.
August 18, 2017
As he demonstrated in his great Strangers and Brothers sequence, Snow is a keen psychologist and peerless at probing the dynamics of power (of all sorts), politics, and class. Unadorned prose but great wisdom.
June 19, 2023
A great glimpse into parliamentary, legal and medical business with so much human interest thrown into this work of fiction. Thoroughly enjoyed by this reader even though at times a search through the dictionary was needed for some obscure words. Still, it's always good to improve one's vocabulary even though it's unlikely to come in handy on a day to day basis.
June 12, 2025
A merry yarn, not so much about the action rather the machinations of the rich, powerful and entitled. A sort of good outcome but a feeling that justice wasn’t quite done. Shortlist 1974.
October 11, 2016
Devilishly written. One of the rarities in literature where I was faced with a style that at times overwhelmed my comprehension -- I enjoyed the challenge.
If you're the sort with a penchant for British culture, and human experience this is a book worth seeking out.
If you're the sort with a penchant for British culture, and human experience this is a book worth seeking out.
March 14, 2016
Borrow this book! A gripping read, and even relevant today, although published in 1974. His writing is excellent.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews