The Magic Hour

by Charlotte Bingham

When Alexandra goes to stay with her cousins at Knighton Hall she is made to feel the poor relation; the daughters of the house are both beautiful and wealthy. She will not meet the handsome stable lad, Tom O’Brien, until much later.

When Alexandra returns home, her father remarries and she is forced to become a maid-of-all-work. Alexandra makes a success of her new life and meets the lovely Bob Atkins. Meanwhile, Tom O’Brien has become impassioned with the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950’s London. Sadly, Alexandra’s contentment with Bob is short lived and Tom comes back into her life.

But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the still beautiful Lady Florazel is determined to re-capture her former love and destroy the magic hour of Tom and Alexandra’s meeting.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Historical Romance

439 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

The Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, UK. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright. Charlotte first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, she went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket. She wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by Heinemanns and was a best seller.

In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Jess The Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out quite cute, as a story of a girl, Alexandra, born to a farmer, with a mother who was from a slightly upper class, who dies in childbirth. Alexandra's home life changes when her father remarries, and she is forced to make her own way in the world.

The characters in this story often felt like caricatures of the English upper class to me, sometimes leaning towards ridiculous, but I guess, what would I know?

What really ruins this story, is the very rushed, and unbelievable, love story at the end. It's like the author suddenly realised she had a page limit and quickly squashed the whole point of her story into a few pages.

[Sarah Messenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The story was interesting to me and I love this period of time. The story moves along at a great pace and I loved all the different characters. I never really knew how it would come together or how it would end.

[Debi Lodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Interesting insight into the impoverished British upper class in the 1950s.

[Outlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good read from Charlotte about a girl who has to make her own way in the world. Set between the wars and into WW2. The cast of characters (besides the main heroine and the hero) have a few of not so nice females to contend with along with a few males who are cads ! The characters are well presented (both nice and not so nice) and it's an all round good read, comes with a recommendation to read in one go, maybe over a wet weekend.

[Karen M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a quick and entertaining read. A tad repetitive and stereotypical in its depiction of men and their wives - for example two men both duped by superficially pretty gold diggers who were frighteningly determined to get everything of value. I became unsure of the era when the issue of divorce was a plot mover - seemed pre Edwardian … but then the daughters became escorts to fund themselves.
Predictable ending with little real emotion, rags to riches , more Rumplestilskin than Cinderella .

[GenX · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy/light read. Strong enough plot to keep you turning the pages although a little predictable.

[Franziska Self Fisken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant hot water bottle upstairs and downstairs romance set in the mid-20th century, mostly in Britain after WW2. Some good major and minor character portraits.

[Amanda Mankelow]

Quite enjoyable but the turning point of the story which you know is coming because it's in the synopsis, is very late in the book meaning very little detail is given to it.

[Dawnie1610 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this book.

[Bronwyn Rykiert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexandra Stanford’s mother Laura died in childbirth and she was brought up by her father John and his mother Betty at their farm. Alexandra’s uncle, James Millington had asked John if he and his wife could have Alexandra live with them but John would not allow it. When she did eventually go for a short stay with the Millington’s she found herself treated as the poor relation. She does not meet the stable boy Tom O’Brien until much later.

Shortly after her return from a visit to Knighton Hall she finds out that her father is to remarry and that there is no longer a place for her and her grandmother in their home. Not long after Alexandra is forced to find herself a job as a maid-of-all-work for Mrs Smithers at the seaside town of Deansford. Thanks to her tenacity she becomes a partner in a business that she and Mrs Smithers develop.

Alexandra (as Minty) meets and falls in love with Bob Atkins. In the meantime, Tom O'Brien has fallen in love with the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950's London. Sadly, Alexandra's contentment with Bob is short lived and Tom comes into her life after he has made a successful career in America.

Both of them are to learn something about their past that comes as a surprise to them and we find something out that I they didn’t know by the end of the book.

I wish there had of been more a story of the relationship between Tom and Alexandra.

[Jane Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was quite entertaining and enjoyable to read, but unfortunately the ending, which was fairly predictable but none the worse for that, was rather flat and just seemed to fizzle out, which was a real disappointment.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've given this book 4 stars as it is so much better than another book by Charlotte Bingham that I read, or partially read, some time ago. It was a good story with a predictable ending.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Period novel. Lovely romance. Easy to read. X

[Gaynell Jeffries · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the story had a surprise here and there which kept my interest. It was alight read and good when traveling as I could stop anywhere and easily pick up and start reading again.