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The Forsyte Saga, Complete Nine Novels
This volume contains the three trilogies, nine books in total, of the amazing FORSYTE SAGA, by John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932, mostly for these series of books that we now present in one volume.
They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of a large commercial upper middle-class English family, similar to Galsworthy's own. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the family members are keenly aware of their status as "new money". The main character, Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions—but this does not succeed in bringing him pleasure.
THE NOVELS INCLUDED ARE:
The Forsyte Saga
Book 1- The Man of Property
Book 2 - Indian Summer Of A Forsyte
Book 3 - Awakening
A Modern Comedy [Second Trilogy of the Forsyte Saga]
Book 1 - The White Monkey
Book 2 - The Silver Spoon
Book 3 - Swan Song
End of the Chapter [Third Trilogy of the Forsyte Saga
Book 1 - Maid in Waiting
Book 2 - Flowering Wilderness
Book 3 - Over the River (One More River)
They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of a large commercial upper middle-class English family, similar to Galsworthy's own. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the family members are keenly aware of their status as "new money". The main character, Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions—but this does not succeed in bringing him pleasure.
THE NOVELS INCLUDED ARE:
The Forsyte Saga
Book 1- The Man of Property
Book 2 - Indian Summer Of A Forsyte
Book 3 - Awakening
A Modern Comedy [Second Trilogy of the Forsyte Saga]
Book 1 - The White Monkey
Book 2 - The Silver Spoon
Book 3 - Swan Song
End of the Chapter [Third Trilogy of the Forsyte Saga
Book 1 - Maid in Waiting
Book 2 - Flowering Wilderness
Book 3 - Over the River (One More River)
2518 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2014
113 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
John Galsworthy
2,466 books477 followersLiterary career of English novelist and playwright John Galsworthy, who used John Sinjohn as a pseudonym, spanned the Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian eras.
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 7, 2017
Such a saga! I read these over a period of several months, and I feel as if I've lived with these characters almost as long as the time span of the book. Well, perhaps not that long. It is the story of being English and takes place in the 50 or so years of the late Victorian period, through the Great War, and ends in the depression of the early 1930s.
At the beginning of the first trilogy we are introduced to the Forsyte family. There are ten children of the first monied generation, and we do meet them all. However, it is primarly the stories of the two elder sons, who are already entering the grandparent stage of life. The first book is titled The Man of Property, and it focuses on the meaning of owning property. Property was not always what we think of as property today! The books include marital strife, jealousy between cousins, family tradition. This first trilogy could be classified as soap opera. But don't dismiss it on that account, it is very well-written soap opera.
The second trilogy focuses on one son and family. It includes a character you come to love-to-hate. And it includes a character you come to love, though perhaps you had come to hate him in the first trilogy. Oh, Mr. Galsworthy, you did not create any one-dimensional characters here! Sometimes Galsworthy gave us a small scene told from the viewpoints of two of his characters. That was such an interesting way of telling a story.
The third trilogy departed from the Forsyte family. This was more than a bit disconcerting, for I'd become invested in following that family. Yet in The End of the Chapter, Galsworthy really delves deeply into the meaning of being English. The country has been through the Great War. The times were changing, and the people were facing not only financial difficulties, but the difficulty of a changing society. Galsworthy handles this very well. However, this is the weakest of the trilogies.
Should you decide to read these, be sure to read the first trilogy before the second. The third could stand on its own. I hesitated to give this 5 stars, but it just does make the grade. I suppose it couldn't have kept my attention for several months had it been of lesser quality.
At the beginning of the first trilogy we are introduced to the Forsyte family. There are ten children of the first monied generation, and we do meet them all. However, it is primarly the stories of the two elder sons, who are already entering the grandparent stage of life. The first book is titled The Man of Property, and it focuses on the meaning of owning property. Property was not always what we think of as property today! The books include marital strife, jealousy between cousins, family tradition. This first trilogy could be classified as soap opera. But don't dismiss it on that account, it is very well-written soap opera.
The second trilogy focuses on one son and family. It includes a character you come to love-to-hate. And it includes a character you come to love, though perhaps you had come to hate him in the first trilogy. Oh, Mr. Galsworthy, you did not create any one-dimensional characters here! Sometimes Galsworthy gave us a small scene told from the viewpoints of two of his characters. That was such an interesting way of telling a story.
The third trilogy departed from the Forsyte family. This was more than a bit disconcerting, for I'd become invested in following that family. Yet in The End of the Chapter, Galsworthy really delves deeply into the meaning of being English. The country has been through the Great War. The times were changing, and the people were facing not only financial difficulties, but the difficulty of a changing society. Galsworthy handles this very well. However, this is the weakest of the trilogies.
Should you decide to read these, be sure to read the first trilogy before the second. The third could stand on its own. I hesitated to give this 5 stars, but it just does make the grade. I suppose it couldn't have kept my attention for several months had it been of lesser quality.
July 29, 2021
................................................
................................................
February 2004 - August 28, 2013.
Purchased August 12, 2013.
Kindle Edition, 418 pages
Published December 14th 2011
ASIN:- B006MHXRBO
................................................
................................................
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
The Man of Property:-
The Man Of Property, with its very apt title, begins with Soames Forsyte, the man of property who not only inherited but is very good in acquisition of property and taking care of it. As such he has virtues necessary to society, honesty and prudence and more, but lacks in those that cannot be taught and must be developed by sensitivity - those dealing with heart. He has no comprehension of those, and proceeds to acquire the object of his passion, his first wife Irene, pretty much like he would any other property - with steady and unrelenting pursuit and some crafty methods that make it difficult for her to stay the course of not acquiescing. In this however he is wrong, and the marriage goes sour long before he would acknowledge it, with his total bewilderment and lack of understanding of his beautiful and sensitive, artistic, intelligent wife - he expects her to settle down and do her duty, and be happy with all that he can provide for her in ways of house and clothes and jewellery and stability, but she is made of a different mettle and is not one to see herself or any other woman as an object of male property.
She might have continued the slow death within, forced to do so by her husband reneging on his promise of letting her go free if she were not happy, had it not been for the architect Bosinney, fiance of her niece by marriage June Forsyte the daughter of Young Jolyon, first cousin of Soames. Bossinney has sensitivity to match and recognise and appreciate Irene, and more - he falls in love with her, even as he is contracted to design and construct a house for the couple far away from the city where Irene may find solitude and peace and come to terms with her lot, or so her husband Soames plans mistakenly. The house is beautiful, but the love of the architect for the woman who the house is meant for is not to be bought or killed, and tragedy begins to unravel the lives involved, Irene and June and Bosinney - and Soames.
Young Jolyon, the son of Old Jolyon who disapproves of his son's second marriage and has not till date seen his new grandchildren by the woman who used to be in employ of his first wife before they fell in love, is a presence that comes to fore slowly in this, with art - he is an artist, and Irene appreciates beauty as much as he appreciates her in all her qualities - and the relationship and a recognition mutual to both. She seeks his help in the support and strength that his daughter needs from him now, with June too proud to be friend of Irene any more after the revelation of Bosinney and Irene being in love.
.......................................................................
Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte:-
Indian Summer here refers not to unbearably hot 45-50 degree centrigrade summer but the soft warmth of India of post rains in September - October that here the author uses as a silent metaphor for the beautiful life of Old Jolyon in his old age after he has bought the house Bosinney built for Irene, after Bosinney is dead, where he now lives with his son Jo, Young Jolyon, and his three children from his two marriages, June and Jolyon "Jolly" and Holly. Jo with his second wife is traveling in Europe when Old Jolyon discovers Irene sitting on a log in the coppice on the property where she had been with her love, Bosinney, and invites her to the home that was to be hers and is now his. This begins his tryst with beauty that is Irene, in the beauty that is Robin Hill, his home, and the surrounding countryside of which his home includes a good bit.
Jolyon employs Irene to teach music to Holly and invites her for lunches at Robin Hill, and listens to her playing music; they go to theatre, opera and dinners in town on days when she is not teaching Holly, and meanwhile he worries about her situation of barely above penury that her separation has left her in, her father's bequest to her amounting to bare subsistence. He decides to correct the injustice she is meted due to her husband not providing for her (this being the weapon to make her come back to him) and makes a bequest to her for lifetime, settling a good amount that would take care of her reasonably, and let her independence from her husband supported well.
He comes to depend on her visits, and she realises this, returning his silent affection and appreciation - and he dies when waiting for her one afternoon, in his armchair under the large old oak tree, with beauty coming to him across the lawn.
.......................................................................
In Chancery:-
In Chancery continues with young Jolyon and Irene and Soames, the beautiful new house designed and constructed for Irene being now put up for sale by Soames who is tenacious in his not giving up on her in spite of her leaving him. Irene connects with Jolyon, partly due to Soames bringing an action against him for alienation of his wife's affections and then far more due to their being well matched, and they are together in spite of Soames trying various tactics - threat of divorce (a far more lethal weapon in that era), refusal to give a divorce when they wish for it, and so forth. Finally the divorce goes through and two children are born, Jon to Irene and Joyon and Fleur to Soames and Annette, a French young woman he finds in an inn and marries.
The new house is in chancery as are the people in this interim period and old Jolyon has bought it partly due to James, his brother and father of Soames, telling old Jolyon he owes it to Soames and to the Forsytes, seeing as how young Jolyon is responsible for the quandary Soames is in. Old Jolyon however is as much in love with Irene as most of the clan, and when once he finds her sitting in a corner of the property he assures her of his lack of disapproval of her finding refuge in the home built for her by her lover.
Jolyon helps Irene as his father's wish, and his own, having been appointed executor to the bequest of his father for her, and in the process comes to not only protect her from the husband who wishes her to return (so she can give him a son and heir, after all they are still married twelve years after she left), but also comes to be her friend, her companion and more. He does not admit his love, but she understands it, and their days together are spent in the same beauty that she did with his father until they are thrown together far more due to the persecution of her husband who would divorce her and marry a young woman he has fixed his sights on so he can have a son after all - he is now near fifty and his father James is dying, hankering for a son for Soames. But divorce laws were then difficult and Soames is unwilling to pretend an affair, so his choice is to name Irene and Jolyon, which neither of them oppose irrespective of facts.
It is the news of death of Jolly, son of Jolyon, that throws them together finally when both younger children of Jolyon along with Val Dartie the son of Winifred have gone to Boer war and June has joined Holly as nurse, and Jolyon in his grief for his son that he thinks he did not give enough of the love in his heart for him to has only Irene to console him with her compassion.
.......................................................................
Interlude: Awakening:-
Little Jolyon, Jon, awakens to the beauty that surrounds him, the beauty that is his mother, and the love personified that is his father, even as his days are spent in play about the home Robin Hill that is now his parents' in more than one sense - his grandfather bought it from her ex-husband the first cousin of Jo, Young Jolyon, the father of Jon, after the architect Bosinney who was her first love died and she fled from her husband. Jon knows nothing of the history, and his blissful life is carried on the wings of imagination where he plays out every possible scenario from every book he reads, so his half sister Holly returning with her husband and second cousin Val from South Africa (where they married during Boer war and stayed to raise horses) finds him painted blue head to toe, playing by himself in the garden.
.......................................................................
To Let:-
To Let goes on with lives of the various families, and chiefly of young Jolyon and his now wife Irene and their home at Robin Hill, with his other children and their various cousins and uncles being part of the story. Soame's nephew Val Dartie falls in love with young Jolyon's daughter by his second marriage, Holly, and the two second cousins manage to marry and be happy in spite of an initial lack of acceptance by the clan due to their being not only second cousins but also related to parties feuding majorly about Irene's divorce of one and marriage to other cousin.
This has the unfortunate consequence of encouraging the other pair of second cousins, Jon and Fleur, in thinking they may make it a success as his sister and her first cousin did. This time however things are very different, and Jon's parents are as unlikely to approve of this match as Soames initially is. Soames gives in due to his heart being completely ruled by his daughter, and goes so far as to plead with Irene for his daughter's happiness, offering to never interact in their lives for sake of overall peace. But Irene cannot risk it, and Jon is sensitive to her and his father's point of view when he comes to know of their history.
He would be in a quandary but for the similarity of Fleur with her father in claiming him as her father had claimed his mother, and this repels him. Fleur's lack of comprehension in her loss is matched by her father's when he lost a wife he had a very slim chance to have a life with. And the beautiful home of Irene is now to let even as they leave to go as far away as they can from this place and this history.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
The Man of Property:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
.......................................................................
In Chancery:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Interlude: Awakening:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
.......................................................................
To Let:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
On Forsyte Change:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
.......................................................................
The White Monkey:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Interlude: A Silent Wooing:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
The Silver Spoon:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Interlude: Passers By:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Swan Song:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Monday, August 12, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Maid In Waiting :-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
.......................................................................
Over the River :-
(One More River)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
...........................................................
................................................
February 2004 - August 28, 2013.
Purchased August 12, 2013.
Kindle Edition, 418 pages
Published December 14th 2011
ASIN:- B006MHXRBO
................................................
................................................
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
The Man of Property:-
The Man Of Property, with its very apt title, begins with Soames Forsyte, the man of property who not only inherited but is very good in acquisition of property and taking care of it. As such he has virtues necessary to society, honesty and prudence and more, but lacks in those that cannot be taught and must be developed by sensitivity - those dealing with heart. He has no comprehension of those, and proceeds to acquire the object of his passion, his first wife Irene, pretty much like he would any other property - with steady and unrelenting pursuit and some crafty methods that make it difficult for her to stay the course of not acquiescing. In this however he is wrong, and the marriage goes sour long before he would acknowledge it, with his total bewilderment and lack of understanding of his beautiful and sensitive, artistic, intelligent wife - he expects her to settle down and do her duty, and be happy with all that he can provide for her in ways of house and clothes and jewellery and stability, but she is made of a different mettle and is not one to see herself or any other woman as an object of male property.
She might have continued the slow death within, forced to do so by her husband reneging on his promise of letting her go free if she were not happy, had it not been for the architect Bosinney, fiance of her niece by marriage June Forsyte the daughter of Young Jolyon, first cousin of Soames. Bossinney has sensitivity to match and recognise and appreciate Irene, and more - he falls in love with her, even as he is contracted to design and construct a house for the couple far away from the city where Irene may find solitude and peace and come to terms with her lot, or so her husband Soames plans mistakenly. The house is beautiful, but the love of the architect for the woman who the house is meant for is not to be bought or killed, and tragedy begins to unravel the lives involved, Irene and June and Bosinney - and Soames.
Young Jolyon, the son of Old Jolyon who disapproves of his son's second marriage and has not till date seen his new grandchildren by the woman who used to be in employ of his first wife before they fell in love, is a presence that comes to fore slowly in this, with art - he is an artist, and Irene appreciates beauty as much as he appreciates her in all her qualities - and the relationship and a recognition mutual to both. She seeks his help in the support and strength that his daughter needs from him now, with June too proud to be friend of Irene any more after the revelation of Bosinney and Irene being in love.
.......................................................................
Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte:-
Indian Summer here refers not to unbearably hot 45-50 degree centrigrade summer but the soft warmth of India of post rains in September - October that here the author uses as a silent metaphor for the beautiful life of Old Jolyon in his old age after he has bought the house Bosinney built for Irene, after Bosinney is dead, where he now lives with his son Jo, Young Jolyon, and his three children from his two marriages, June and Jolyon "Jolly" and Holly. Jo with his second wife is traveling in Europe when Old Jolyon discovers Irene sitting on a log in the coppice on the property where she had been with her love, Bosinney, and invites her to the home that was to be hers and is now his. This begins his tryst with beauty that is Irene, in the beauty that is Robin Hill, his home, and the surrounding countryside of which his home includes a good bit.
Jolyon employs Irene to teach music to Holly and invites her for lunches at Robin Hill, and listens to her playing music; they go to theatre, opera and dinners in town on days when she is not teaching Holly, and meanwhile he worries about her situation of barely above penury that her separation has left her in, her father's bequest to her amounting to bare subsistence. He decides to correct the injustice she is meted due to her husband not providing for her (this being the weapon to make her come back to him) and makes a bequest to her for lifetime, settling a good amount that would take care of her reasonably, and let her independence from her husband supported well.
He comes to depend on her visits, and she realises this, returning his silent affection and appreciation - and he dies when waiting for her one afternoon, in his armchair under the large old oak tree, with beauty coming to him across the lawn.
.......................................................................
In Chancery:-
In Chancery continues with young Jolyon and Irene and Soames, the beautiful new house designed and constructed for Irene being now put up for sale by Soames who is tenacious in his not giving up on her in spite of her leaving him. Irene connects with Jolyon, partly due to Soames bringing an action against him for alienation of his wife's affections and then far more due to their being well matched, and they are together in spite of Soames trying various tactics - threat of divorce (a far more lethal weapon in that era), refusal to give a divorce when they wish for it, and so forth. Finally the divorce goes through and two children are born, Jon to Irene and Joyon and Fleur to Soames and Annette, a French young woman he finds in an inn and marries.
The new house is in chancery as are the people in this interim period and old Jolyon has bought it partly due to James, his brother and father of Soames, telling old Jolyon he owes it to Soames and to the Forsytes, seeing as how young Jolyon is responsible for the quandary Soames is in. Old Jolyon however is as much in love with Irene as most of the clan, and when once he finds her sitting in a corner of the property he assures her of his lack of disapproval of her finding refuge in the home built for her by her lover.
Jolyon helps Irene as his father's wish, and his own, having been appointed executor to the bequest of his father for her, and in the process comes to not only protect her from the husband who wishes her to return (so she can give him a son and heir, after all they are still married twelve years after she left), but also comes to be her friend, her companion and more. He does not admit his love, but she understands it, and their days together are spent in the same beauty that she did with his father until they are thrown together far more due to the persecution of her husband who would divorce her and marry a young woman he has fixed his sights on so he can have a son after all - he is now near fifty and his father James is dying, hankering for a son for Soames. But divorce laws were then difficult and Soames is unwilling to pretend an affair, so his choice is to name Irene and Jolyon, which neither of them oppose irrespective of facts.
It is the news of death of Jolly, son of Jolyon, that throws them together finally when both younger children of Jolyon along with Val Dartie the son of Winifred have gone to Boer war and June has joined Holly as nurse, and Jolyon in his grief for his son that he thinks he did not give enough of the love in his heart for him to has only Irene to console him with her compassion.
.......................................................................
Interlude: Awakening:-
Little Jolyon, Jon, awakens to the beauty that surrounds him, the beauty that is his mother, and the love personified that is his father, even as his days are spent in play about the home Robin Hill that is now his parents' in more than one sense - his grandfather bought it from her ex-husband the first cousin of Jo, Young Jolyon, the father of Jon, after the architect Bosinney who was her first love died and she fled from her husband. Jon knows nothing of the history, and his blissful life is carried on the wings of imagination where he plays out every possible scenario from every book he reads, so his half sister Holly returning with her husband and second cousin Val from South Africa (where they married during Boer war and stayed to raise horses) finds him painted blue head to toe, playing by himself in the garden.
.......................................................................
To Let:-
To Let goes on with lives of the various families, and chiefly of young Jolyon and his now wife Irene and their home at Robin Hill, with his other children and their various cousins and uncles being part of the story. Soame's nephew Val Dartie falls in love with young Jolyon's daughter by his second marriage, Holly, and the two second cousins manage to marry and be happy in spite of an initial lack of acceptance by the clan due to their being not only second cousins but also related to parties feuding majorly about Irene's divorce of one and marriage to other cousin.
This has the unfortunate consequence of encouraging the other pair of second cousins, Jon and Fleur, in thinking they may make it a success as his sister and her first cousin did. This time however things are very different, and Jon's parents are as unlikely to approve of this match as Soames initially is. Soames gives in due to his heart being completely ruled by his daughter, and goes so far as to plead with Irene for his daughter's happiness, offering to never interact in their lives for sake of overall peace. But Irene cannot risk it, and Jon is sensitive to her and his father's point of view when he comes to know of their history.
He would be in a quandary but for the similarity of Fleur with her father in claiming him as her father had claimed his mother, and this repels him. Fleur's lack of comprehension in her loss is matched by her father's when he lost a wife he had a very slim chance to have a life with. And the beautiful home of Irene is now to let even as they leave to go as far away as they can from this place and this history.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
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The Man of Property:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
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In Chancery:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Interlude: Awakening:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
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To Let:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
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On Forsyte Change:-
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
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A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
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The White Monkey:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Interlude: A Silent Wooing:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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The Silver Spoon:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Interlude: Passers By:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Swan Song:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Monday, August 12, 2013.
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End of the Chapter:-
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Maid In Waiting :-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Flowering Wilderness:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Over the River :-
(One More River)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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June 18, 2021
Atheist propaganda. The very mouthpiece of it appears in this last book as a Mary Sue. An atheist Mary Sue, nothing worse can be imagined.
Read
January 12, 2017I gave up and watched the TV series! Sorry
December 14, 2020
I LOVE these books! This might be my favorite author. As a whole, this is probably my favorite fictional series. John Galsworthy is such a master of character development and subtle observations. In the same way I used to wish I could play football like Steve Young, I now wish that I could write like John Galsworthy. I can barely express myself, and this guy writes circles around even the other greats of his generation. I can't say that everyone will like this. I definitely favor characters over action. But I love this trilogy of trilogies (plus connecting novellas, etc.)
December 13, 2015
What a marathon. Read first 6 books years ago but never understood why remaining 3 were never televised either in 1960s or more recently and was never able to find hard copies. Reading them answered this - the Forsyte family play only small walk on roles in these. Each are individual stories in themselves exploring contemporary reaction to what was then perceived as important moral dilemmas. Interesting but not exactly gripping.
February 6, 2017
I enjoyed it a lot since I love good and long sagas. The characters become dear to you and you get attached to them.
June 10, 2016
A bit 'Victorian' now but a good read and loved the TV series too !!!
August 14, 2017
A masterpiece of storytelling
A sequence of nine novels, well worth the effort of immersing oneself in this narrative that spans two centuries.
The brilliance of Galsworthy's art is that his portrait of a family is not one of heroes or villains. One becomes familiar with and privy to the inner thoughts of characters with whom one cannot, initially, sympathise. As the stories of the Forsyth family , their relatives and associates unfold one is drawn in to understand, if not condone, their actions.
While the age is dominated by men, their affairs of business the heart, women are also central to the saga. They are sometimes no more likeable than the men, but one feels keen interest in their lives.
This sequence of books was , in its day, a huge bestseller but deserves to be celebrated as an epic of supremely consistent and spare prose.
A sequence of nine novels, well worth the effort of immersing oneself in this narrative that spans two centuries.
The brilliance of Galsworthy's art is that his portrait of a family is not one of heroes or villains. One becomes familiar with and privy to the inner thoughts of characters with whom one cannot, initially, sympathise. As the stories of the Forsyth family , their relatives and associates unfold one is drawn in to understand, if not condone, their actions.
While the age is dominated by men, their affairs of business the heart, women are also central to the saga. They are sometimes no more likeable than the men, but one feels keen interest in their lives.
This sequence of books was , in its day, a huge bestseller but deserves to be celebrated as an epic of supremely consistent and spare prose.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews