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Lucinda Brayford
Covers four generations of a wealthy English family...upper-class life in England from the 1880s to the early 1940s.
439 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1946
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Martin Boyd
38 books8 followersMartin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 - 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born Lucerne, Switzerland, into the à Beckett-Boyd family—a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia.
Boyd was an expatriate novelist, memoirist, and poet who spent most of his life after World War One in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One.
His siblings included the potter William Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Theodore Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces, and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (b. 1916), painter Arthur Boyd (1920 - 1999), sculptor Guy Boyd (1923 - 1988), painter David Boyd (1924 - 2011), painter Mary Nolan (b.1926) - who was married to painters John Perceval and Sidney Nolan, and architect Robin Boyd (1919 - 1971). His nephew Guy Boyd was his literary executor.
Boyd was an expatriate novelist, memoirist, and poet who spent most of his life after World War One in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One.
His siblings included the potter William Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Theodore Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces, and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (b. 1916), painter Arthur Boyd (1920 - 1999), sculptor Guy Boyd (1923 - 1988), painter David Boyd (1924 - 2011), painter Mary Nolan (b.1926) - who was married to painters John Perceval and Sidney Nolan, and architect Robin Boyd (1919 - 1971). His nephew Guy Boyd was his literary executor.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 28, 2017
This is an absolute stunning story that has blown me away. It took me over a month to finish it because I didn't want it to end. Martin Boyd is such a beautiful and talented writer that I felt I was actually there, I felt like I had been consumed into the book and I fell so in love with these characters and felt the pain of their heartbreak and struggles.
A brief plot summary:
The book starts out in the 1850s. We're introduced to William Vane (lucindas grandfather) who has to move from England to Australia after he develops and unsavory reputation. There he marries a rich woman and has a son named Fred. Fred grows up to marry Julie, the daughter of Williams old English enemy. Upon the return of their honeymoon they find that William has died leaving nothing but debt behind. Fred and Julie start out their marriage terribly poor and unhappy and from there the book follows them as they struggle to build their fortune and Julie climbs her way to the top of the social ladder.
Fast forward to their second child, Lucinda, on the eve of her 18th birthday, experiencing her first romance, and then her marriage to English man Hugo Brayford. We follow the couple to England where the rest of the book takes place and the plot focuses on Hugo's family, lucindas social life which becomes somewhat of a prison, their infidelity, and WWI. The majority of the book focuses on these events.
Fast forward again to lucindas son Stephen being in his early 20s. The events than focus on his relationships with his family, his friends, his marriage to a Vane family member, and WW2.
A brief plot summary:
The book starts out in the 1850s. We're introduced to William Vane (lucindas grandfather) who has to move from England to Australia after he develops and unsavory reputation. There he marries a rich woman and has a son named Fred. Fred grows up to marry Julie, the daughter of Williams old English enemy. Upon the return of their honeymoon they find that William has died leaving nothing but debt behind. Fred and Julie start out their marriage terribly poor and unhappy and from there the book follows them as they struggle to build their fortune and Julie climbs her way to the top of the social ladder.
Fast forward to their second child, Lucinda, on the eve of her 18th birthday, experiencing her first romance, and then her marriage to English man Hugo Brayford. We follow the couple to England where the rest of the book takes place and the plot focuses on Hugo's family, lucindas social life which becomes somewhat of a prison, their infidelity, and WWI. The majority of the book focuses on these events.
Fast forward again to lucindas son Stephen being in his early 20s. The events than focus on his relationships with his family, his friends, his marriage to a Vane family member, and WW2.
January 19, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2015
From BBC Radio 4 Extra - 4 Extra Debut
Story of a beautiful and wealthy Australian girl who marries into the English aristocracy at a time of great change to the traditional order. With Juliet Aubrey, Jonathan Firth and Angela Pleasence.
Story of a beautiful and wealthy Australian girl who marries into the English aristocracy at a time of great change to the traditional order. With Juliet Aubrey, Jonathan Firth and Angela Pleasence.
April 30, 2019
Hard to believe Boyd's Australian classic has so few reviews on here!
July 15, 2020
A world class Australian writer. Evelyn Waugh without the bitter wit. A fabulous, immersive family saga.
Want to read
January 14, 201514 JAN 2015 - recommended by Bettie.
Link here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076pv1
Link here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076pv1
July 25, 2013
Noticing the diversity of ratings here (a couple of 5s, 3s and
2s) caused me to remember why I didn't particularly like this
book myself. Many, many years ago I had listened avidly to this
when it was serialized on the radio - over 30 years later I could
vaguely remember it being about the war and a young conscientious
objector, Lucinda's only son Stephen but of course it was about
much more, being a sweeping epic of the shaky relationship between
Australia and England between the wars.
The book was mainly about Lucinda and she was a less than thrilling
heroine, brought up to believe that what society thought of you
was the most important thing - she was really quite a shallow,
selfish woman to be centre stage in this epic novel. Lucinda is
the daughter of the Vanes, a self made family who have made their
wealth "off the sheep's back" and buy a Toorak mansion so the
mother (a rabid society climber) can live the life she feels is
her and her children's due. Lucinda is propelled into marriage
with Captain Hugo Brayford, presumably the "catch of the season"
but the marriage is doomed from the start. Brayford has married
Lucinda for her wealth and doesn't intend to give up his mistress.
To me, this book is pure soap opera, with a few well chosen
comments on the back cover calling Martin Boyd "an Australian
Galsworthy" and comparing the book to "Of Human Bondage" to make
the reader believe they are in for a high class treat.
With Hugo not stopping his pleasure, Lucinda also takes a lover
- phlegmatic Pat, but because she is too happy with the
aristocracy and good life she has married into she allows things
to drift along until Pat finally marries someone else - younger
and available. Then there is the scandal involving lovely Ann who
would be perfect for Bill, but of course cannot marry him because .....
One of the more interesting characters, Tony, is initially thought
of as a suitable husband for Lucinda but she and her family have
bigger fish to fry and he just sort of peters out of the story.
2s) caused me to remember why I didn't particularly like this
book myself. Many, many years ago I had listened avidly to this
when it was serialized on the radio - over 30 years later I could
vaguely remember it being about the war and a young conscientious
objector, Lucinda's only son Stephen but of course it was about
much more, being a sweeping epic of the shaky relationship between
Australia and England between the wars.
The book was mainly about Lucinda and she was a less than thrilling
heroine, brought up to believe that what society thought of you
was the most important thing - she was really quite a shallow,
selfish woman to be centre stage in this epic novel. Lucinda is
the daughter of the Vanes, a self made family who have made their
wealth "off the sheep's back" and buy a Toorak mansion so the
mother (a rabid society climber) can live the life she feels is
her and her children's due. Lucinda is propelled into marriage
with Captain Hugo Brayford, presumably the "catch of the season"
but the marriage is doomed from the start. Brayford has married
Lucinda for her wealth and doesn't intend to give up his mistress.
To me, this book is pure soap opera, with a few well chosen
comments on the back cover calling Martin Boyd "an Australian
Galsworthy" and comparing the book to "Of Human Bondage" to make
the reader believe they are in for a high class treat.
With Hugo not stopping his pleasure, Lucinda also takes a lover
- phlegmatic Pat, but because she is too happy with the
aristocracy and good life she has married into she allows things
to drift along until Pat finally marries someone else - younger
and available. Then there is the scandal involving lovely Ann who
would be perfect for Bill, but of course cannot marry him because .....
One of the more interesting characters, Tony, is initially thought
of as a suitable husband for Lucinda but she and her family have
bigger fish to fry and he just sort of peters out of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2018
From Wikiwand:
The story of a beautiful woman set mainly in Melbourne, Victoria and England from the early 1900s to the Second World War.
Lucinda Vane is born into a wealthy Melbourne family. Nellie Melba appears in the novel, singing at a garden party thrown by Lucinda's mother, and is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".[2]Lucinda spurns the love of a distinguished family friend, Tony Duff, to ma
The story of a beautiful woman set mainly in Melbourne, Victoria and England from the early 1900s to the Second World War.
Lucinda Vane is born into a wealthy Melbourne family. Nellie Melba appears in the novel, singing at a garden party thrown by Lucinda's mother, and is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".[2]Lucinda spurns the love of a distinguished family friend, Tony Duff, to ma
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2020
I was breaking after finishing this,
I felt like i just recalled the time when i read
Tess or D’durbevilles by Thomas Hardy,
I felt like i just recalled the time when i read
Tess or D’durbevilles by Thomas Hardy,
December 17, 2021
Listened. Dramatisation. BBC Sounds.
September 15, 2024
Although the title bears the name of one individual, the story follows an entire family spanning mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century in both Australia and England, with various characters coming and going. The thrust of the story was the gentry grappling with modernity. Their morals were descriptive rather than prescriptive, adultery thankfully not detailed so much as implied, delving into the emotions of unfaithfulness more than anything else. Very well-written, and I found myself thinking of the characters and story again and again after having finished the novel. I want to read more of his books.
December 28, 2015
A completely charming novel of three generations of Australians, the Vanes and the Brayfords, who struggle to find their place in Australian 'society' around the turn of the century (pre WWI), then again in pre- and post war England (WWII). If you are a fan of the Brontes, Henry James, Edith Wharton, or any late 19th-early 20th C literature dealing with class, relationships, manners or society, you will enjoy this novel. There is a social-climbing mother who is really quite funny in her airs and pretenses. The humor is subtle and very dry.
The poor reviews seem to compare it to either a radio or tv mini-series, but I believe the writing holds up very well and stands on its own. If you are interested in early Australian literature, and observations of cultural differences between Australia and England, you will get a lot out of this book.
The poor reviews seem to compare it to either a radio or tv mini-series, but I believe the writing holds up very well and stands on its own. If you are interested in early Australian literature, and observations of cultural differences between Australia and England, you will get a lot out of this book.
August 30, 2019
A lengthy gripping novel from this author. He writes beautifully about the upper class in both U.K. and Australia that he longed to be a member of, but in more than 500 pages we hardly get a glimpse of anyone else. The only working class characters that even get names are a pretty young ‘footman’, and later his wife and son. Still recommended!
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October 19, 2009Lucinda Brayford by Martin Boyd (1948)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews