Peculiar Ground

by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

"Unlike anything I’ve read. With its broad scope and its intimacy and exactness, it cuts through the apparatus of life to the vivid moment. Haunting and huge, and funny and sensuous. It’s wonderful."—Tessa Hadley

The Costa Award-winning author of The Pike makes her literary fiction debut with an extraordinary historical novel in the spirit of Wolf Hall and Atonement—a great English country house novel, spanning three centuries, that explores surprisingly timely themes of immigration and exclusion.

It is the seventeenth century and a wall is being raised around Wychwood, transforming the great house and its park into a private realm of ornamental lakes, grandiose gardens, and majestic avenues designed by Mr. Norris, a visionary landscaper. In this enclosed world everyone has something to hide after decades of civil war. Dissenters shelter in the woods, lovers rendezvous in secret enclaves, and outsiders—migrants fleeing the plague—find no mercy.

Three centuries later, far away in Berlin, another wall is raised, while at Wychwood, an erotic entanglement over one sticky, languorous weekend in 1961 is overshadowed by news of historic change. Young Nell, whose father manages the estate, grows up amid dramatic upheavals as the great house is a pop festival by the lake, a television crew in the dining room, a Great Storm brewing. In 1989, as the Cold War peters out, a threat from a different kind of conflict reaches Wychwood’s walls.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett conjures an intricately structured, captivating story that explores the lives of game keepers and witches, agitators and aristocrats; the exuberance of young love and the pathos of aging; and the way those who try to wall others out risk finding themselves walled in. With poignancy and grace, she illuminates a place where past and present are inextricably linked by stories, legends, and history—and by one patch of peculiar ground.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, British Literature, Adult, Literary Fiction, Literature

469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 18, 2017

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning, ambitious, haunting and epic novel that outlines what it is to be human in two different historical eras separated by centuries when the world is in a state of flux and change. It is beautifully structured to give us insights into how change is viewed from numerous perspectives. We begin in the seventeenth century, 1663, in the country house and estate of Wychwood in Oxfordshire, being landscaped by Mr Norris into a veritable paradise. A wall has been built to enclose the entire estate and the people within it offering some protection from outside threats such as the plague. Charles II has been restored to the throne although some fail to grasp that it is not a return to the past they once knew before the Civil War. This is a community living in fear, with secrets, religious and class divisions, rumours of witches, ghosts and rebels.

Three centuries later, we again return to a much changed Wychwood from 1961 to 1989 which bears witness to the building and tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The people staying at Wychwood appear to be isolated from the effects of the world shattering events taking place outside. Eight year old Nell, seemingly invisible to others, observes and listens to conversations amongst the guests, even though she does not always understand, as she grows up through those years. There are spies, secrets, art historians, romantic entanglements, intrigue, and a Salman Rushdie fatwa culminating in a refugee seeking sanctuary at Wychwood. As the cold war thaws, a wall comes down, carrying with it the expectations and dreams of so many.

This is a superb psychological study of humanity rooted in vastly different eras that looks at the physical, political, class, mental and emotional divisions that people build and the effects it has when great change takes place. This challenges existing perspectives even though little seems to affect those residing at Wychwood. It asks the question whether Wychwood's walls and the other barriers serve as a prison of peoples' own making or if they offer safety and protection. The connections between the different times are transparent irrespective of the time periods. The author deploys beautiful prose and descriptions. The novel is atmospheric and vibrant and the narrative reflects the language of each period. Wonderful book that I highly recommend. Thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading 'Peculiar Ground' was like slicing into a beautifully decorated cake, which revealed a multi layered creation, with each layer having its own unique flavour.

The country house estate of Wychwood in Oxfordshire is the location at the heart of this story. Within its walls lies a world distinctly seperate from the rest of the world. The tale begins in 1663, and the landscape designer Mr Norris is called upon to perfect the acres of grounds, with avenues of trees and ornamental ponds and fountains - Arcadia in the making. Peace reigns after decades of civil war, but there are those with secrets to hide, and whisperings of witchcraft and ghosts.

Fast forward three centuries and the current Wychwood plays host to house parties, and rock concerts, and witnesses historical changes such as the erection of the Berlin Wall, and eventually the demolition of the Wall. There is talk of spies amongst the guests and illicit love, and the arrival of a refugee caught up in a fatwa, all of which are observed by one of the younger guests Nell. The grownups never seem to notice Nell hiding under seats and tables, but nothing escapes her attention.

Wychwood is a world that protects and cossets its inhabitants, but is it also a form of imprisonment? where these pampered creatures are completely unable to connect with the reality of the world beyond the walls?

This is a lengthy and digressive narrative, with lots of interesting characters, and certainly requires complete attention, or it would be easy to lose track. However, it's beautifully written with intelligence and great insight, both emotionally and historically. An absorbing read.

* Thank you to Netgalley & HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate for my ARC for which I have given an honest review*

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Woldingham's fancy to enclose his park in a great ring of stone. Other potentates are content to impose their will on nature only in the immediate purlieus of their palace. They make gardens where they may saunter, enjoying the air without fouling their shoes. But once one steps outside the garden fend one is in, on most of England's great estates, in territory where travellers may pass and animals are harassed by huntsmen, certainly, and slain for meat, but where they are free to range where they will.

Not so here at Wychwood. My task is to create an Eden encompassing the house, so that the garden will be only the innermost chamber of an enclosure so spacious that, for one living in it, the outside world, with its shocks and annoyances, will be but a memory .... Lord Woldingham’s creatures will live confined within an impassable barricade. ....

I wonder are we making a second Paradise here, or a prison .... or a fortress.

Lucy Hughes Hallett is better known as a journalist, critic and historic biographer – most famously for The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War which seemed to feature on every book of the year list going and won multiple prizes in 2013.

At 65 this is her first novel, but one at least partially biographically inspired it would seem as she grew up on the Cornbury Park Estate, which includes part of the Wychwood forest and hosts the Wilderness (music) Festival.

The book is set on a fictional version of this estate, called Wychwood and opens in restoration England in 1663 after Lord Woldingham has returned from the continent where his (now dead) father was in exile with the King to inherit his estate. During the exile the estate was managed by his Father's brother (a now dead Parliamentarian), whose wife and daughter (Cecile) live in Wood Manor near the estate.

This first section of the book is dictated in the first person by John Norris, a landscape designer, employed as part of Woldingham's ambitious plans for the estate, and who sets to designing avenues, ornamental lakes, secret gardens and a fountain. He strikes an unlikely friendship with Cecily and through her becomes aware that she and her mother are part of a group of dissenters with a meeting place on the fringes of the estate. Woldingham’s views are a little contradictory – he is determined to draw a line under the divisions of the Civil War, and tries to protect Cecily’s mother, but his plans to enclose Wychwood with a wall, threaten the freedom of her sect. He is also struck by tragedy when his eldest son drowns. Other key characters in this first section include the head forester Goodyear (a storyteller) and an old healer woman Meg regarded as a witch by some of the royalists (and having had some malevolent influence on the drowning).

This section is a strong opening to the book – capturing well the clashes and fissures at the start of the restoration – not just between Royalist and Parliamentarian, but between those respecting ancient hierarchies and the levellers, between tradition and progress and between science and superstition. Although it ends in an odd way with an incident involving a boy connected to Cecile who looks like the drowned son and seems to enact some of this.

The book moves forward to a Summer weekend in 1961 – the manor house and estate is owned by the Rossiters (Chris and Lil) whose only son Fergus drowned, Wood Manor is occupied by Hugo Lane (their land agent) and his family including eight year old Nell. Lil is throwing one of her parties and visitors to the estate include an art dealer (Anthony – who is widely rumoured to be a Russian Spy, and who is immediately attracted to the head keeper’s 17 year old son), a journalist (Nicholas), Benjie Ross a flamboyant enterpreneur (interior design and restaurants) – who despite the presence of his wife Helen flirts openly with Flossie/Flora – the Rossiter niece. Lil and Hugo are clearly attracted and possibly conduct an affair. Some right to roam protestors walk through the estate.

All of these (and more) intrigues being narrated from a multi-person first and third person viewpoint, observed only part comprehendingly by the young Nell and played out against the backdrop of the shock erection of the Berlin Wall. The descendants of some of the workers in the 1660s still work on the estate – including Goodyear (still a storyteller, rather incongruously 300 years later) and there is a Meg character, still some form of folk healer.

I must admit that my interest dragged significantly from the third section onwards – and I emphasised with a character who says

I will lay out the story as coherently as I can, now that enough time has passed for me to arrive at a sense of it. I do not pretend to understand it all.

Although in my case I did not really wish to lay out the various storylines form the third section onwards and will instead set out some of the key ideas.

A third and section is in 1973 – Flora and Benjie are now married and manage the estate with the Rossiters separated and living away – Nell and a group of University friends visit the estate and one of them proposes a music festival, which ends in chaos and near tragedy after some protestors gatecrash the closed party. The Rossiters return to the estate at the time of the party is clearly meant to be a repeat of the post restoration events.

A fourth section is set in 1989, as the Berlin Wall falls and one of Nell’s old University friends Selim (something of a token presence in the third section) takes refuge on the estate after the fall out from the publication of a book (which is clearly Satanic Verses) – the estate is also struck by a huge storm (which the author admits in an afterword was shifted by 2 years from 1987). This part of the book is perhaps the most incongruous – the Selim character feels forced and also bizarrely prescient, so that even as the wall is on the verge of coming down he not just anticipates Fukayama’s End of History (which was to be fair published as an essay in 1989 before its 1991 book form) but also the counterargument to it which really only started to emerge 10 years later

They’re watching the wrong house. The wrong race. For people here it looks as though, all of my lifetime, the world has been cut by a slash that run through Berlin. East/West Communist/Capitalist Soviet/American. Now that the cut is closing and everyone is getting ready to celebrate, as though once all’s right with Europe, then all’s right the world. Have they forgotten what bought me here? These ideological disputes between two sets of White Westerners can perhaps be resolved. Not so the antipathy between those who are harbouring me and those who would have me stoned”

The book then returns to 1665 and the estate is walled up and sealed off as protection against refugees fleeing the plague in London – this part though heavy in narrative is most interesting for its two biblical parts – a large celebration once the plague has ended (which acts as an early foreshadowing of the later music festival and has a similarly disastrous ending) which features a play based around the falls of the Wall of Jericho, and a Goodyear related story/fable which ends the book and is based around the Garden of Eden after Adam and Even have been banished.

The book is clearly a meditation on barriers and walls – an in case there is any doubt about this, various of the characters find every opportunity to make references to this

Like ancient Sparta, a prison is a two-tier community in which one group is vastly better off than the other, but in which no one is free. The relations between the two orders create a complex pattern of mutual dependency and mutual fear. The resulting tensions avoid numerous opportunities for a determined individual to create a special status for himself….

Francesca was reading Nell’s draft report: “People removed from society at large are driven to replicate its structures in minature. They have their own hierarchies and heroes"

Prisons are communities, Pathological communities for the most part. They have hierachies and conventions. They suit some people. Some prisoners – just a few – dread their release. Inside, those ones are dominant

[Helen] talked about gardens in a way that was probably a coded comment on Selim’s predicament. About enclosure and exclusion and confinement. She said “You know the East Germans call the Berlin Wall the “Protection Wall”? Some of the probably believe that’s what it is. We think they’re imprisoned, but they just think they’re safe. Gardens and prison camps, they have a lot in common”

Frontiers are drawn on maps as lines, but in experience they are broad smudges, gradual transitions… Yet here was a nation throwing up a palpable wall along an impalpable division. It was eerie. The materialisation of the imaginary. A haunting.

An enclosed community is toxic,” she says. “It festers. It stagnates. The wrong people thrive there. The sort of people who actually like being walled in.”

My overall views on the book are mixed – the author is clearly extremely talented and the book is deeply intelligent, but I feel that some of what has presumably lead to the success of her biographies has translated less successfully to the fiction form.

It has long been my observation that most historical biographies are too long and detailed for all but the most interested and already expert reader – it is almost a natural consequence of the amount of research that the author has done and the fact that their interest in the subject built often over years, will always outstrip the level of interest of a reader who last week may not have even heard of the subject and next week will move on to a different topic – but well written biographies allow a reader to dip in and out, and skim where needed. However it is much less appropriate in my view when the same applies to a narrative, character driven novel and when one has the impression (which I had strongly for the third and fourth sections of this book) that the characters are far more appealing and interesting to the author than the reader.

Similarly the ability to draw out themes in a historical biography and to draw explicit references to modern day equivalents can add greatly to such a book – trying the same technique in a relatively conventional novel can end up rather heavy handed as well as at times leading to anachronistic views, both of which, as my comments above imply, I felt was the case here.

I think overall this would have been a better book as a shorter, less conventional, part non-fictional novel – something along the lines of Ali Smith’s Winter, Jack Robinson’s An Overcoat: Scenes from the Afterlife of H.B. or Luis Sagasti’s Fireflies.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peculiar Ground is a wonderfully descriptive and enchanting story.

I loved the way it was written and felt it flowed well. I also loved the map at the beginning, and within minutes of reading this, I was there within the beautiful place of Wychwood and didn’t want to leave. I found I became emotionally involved very early on too.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters in the 17th century. It felt magical and mystical, with the mention of fairies and witchcraft. It also reminded me of my medieval themed wedding in 2001. I wish the Bible was written like this, as it would make my current challenge to read the whole book a lot easier and more enjoyable.

While I loved the chapters set in 1663 to 1665, I didn’t find myself falling in love with the chapters set in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. There were parts of that era I enjoyed, but I didn’t connect with the characters as well, and found myself wanting to go back in time to 1663.

If this story had remained in the 17th century, I would have given this book 5 stars. However, the more modern chapters were more of a 3 star read for me, so I’ve gone with any overall rating of 4 stars.

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1663 the owners of Wychwood, an English country house and estate have a garden designed and build a wall to contain it. In 1961 the current owners and their friends watch in disbelief as the wall is built across Berlin. In 1973 Wychwood's wall is breached by a group marking a public right of way. In 1989 Wychwood's current owners and friends celebrate as the Berlin wall is dismantled. And back in 1665 the wall and gates of the estate are made secure while the bubonic plague rages outside.
Peculiar Ground follows many people over many years, and although I sometimes had to take a peak at the list of characters helpfully given in the front of the book, I got completely wrapped up in their lives. There's witchcraft, love, deaths, garden design, drownings, exile, parties, concerts, and politics. This is an epic novel with wonderful writing.
4.5 stars.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars for the chapter written in the 17th century. One to two stars for the remainder of the book.

I LOVED the prose and characters and description of an idyllic estate, Wychwood. A visionary “landskip” now known as a landscaper, is hired by his Lordship to create a high wall in the gardens, which will privatize the manor house from common folk who often cross through the property. I wish the rest of the book was still written for that era. ☹️ if so, I would have rated it at least 4 magical stars.

The descriptions of the people, the home, the estate, the visions of this landskip to turn the grounds into something magnificent, and the discussion of his and his Lordship’s nature plans pulled me in and kept my interest. There were vivid descriptions of trees, water, plants and animals.

On to the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s chapters...Ugh I really did not like any of these characters or what they were up to. I lost that loving feeling I had back from the 17th century. It was such an abrupt change in the writing style (and it had to be, I know, to transport the reader to the next phase of the book, but it was abrupt, and unsatisfying).

I know the author has written and woven the time frames and stories to make several historic points about people, places, things and events. She also is making a point about walls that are put up to keep people out, yet what they do is only keep others in.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

PECULIAR GROUND is a beautifully written novel which begins in 1663 on the Wychwood estate in England. The Earl of Woldingham hires John Norris to design stunning gardens and vistas on the large estate. Woldingham imports certain animals and has a wall built to prevent interlopers. There are many strong characters and occurrences during this period of time. The plague, possible witches, love and death are just a few of the things that are dealt with. I believe this to be the best part of the book.
In more current times, there are new people on the estate, related to the former, with the same names. The Berlin Wall has been built and later taken down. References are made to walls keeping people out but also imprisoning others. The story begins and ends in the 1600's. There is a map at the beginning which I loved. I must admit I was a bit disappointed in PECULIAR GROUND. It becomes a bit rambling so perhaps better editing would have helped. I received this book for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read a NYT review that piqued my interest about this book but am disappointed at how much I did not enjoy this book. The writing is beautiful, but beautiful writing does not make a readable book for me. The story is haphazardly told across time (doesn't bother me) but also across characters (also doesn't bother me) but the characters were too flat and undeveloped that I couldn't remember who was who and how they related to each other. Also, there's a long list of characters at the beginning of the book, which, in my opinion, is a bad omen that there the plot can't tie the characters together well enough for the reader to understand and follow without a list. After reading about 200 pages and still not caring or enjoying it, I didn't think this book was worth my time for another 200 pages.

[Stephen Goldenberg]

I very rarely fail to finish a novel, mainly because, however hard going I’m finding it, as a fellow writer, I understand the effort that has been put into writing it and so I want to give it a chance. However, I had to admit defeat on this one after 200 pages.
I very much enjoyed The Pike, Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s book on the Italian fascist D’Annunzio and I had read some glowing reviews for this, her first novel. Also, the premise of a large country house and its inhabitants in the 17th and 20th centuries sounded interesting. So, what went wrong for me ? Well, the term page-turner is often used for thrillers or crime novels and, while I understand why, I feel it should refer to any work of fiction and should be taken literally and therefore be redundant. Once you lose interest in the story and no longer want to turn the page the novelist has failed.
The problem here is that Hughes-Hallett is more concerned with atmosphere and metaphorical concepts than telling a story. The most important character is the house itself. There are so many other characters that the author needs to provide a glossary for the reader which can be helpful in a sweeping historical novel but here serves as a warning. These characters flitter in and out with such frequency and mostly make so little impact that I was constantly having to turn back to the list. These characters and their inter-connections were not very interesting to me or, I suspect, to the author. She is far more interested in the house as historical metaphor. And there’s no denying that the metaphors are neat. We have walls round the estate coinciding with the building of the Berlin Wall. We have an enclosed upper class world being invaded by plebs asserting their right of way through the estate. All good ideas but it seems to me that the author has written a novel more driven by ideas than by story. For me a novel should be first and foremost about story and the themes should then flow from it.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

This is one of only a hand full of books that I DNF this year.
The story is slow and seems extremely pointless.
Please do not bother with this.

[Vanessa Wild · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully quirky and clever novel. The main character is the house and grounds of Wychwood in Oxfordshire and the central theme is walls. The story begins in 1663 when a wall is built around the house to keep those inside 'safe'. The tale then leaps forward in time to 1961 when the Berlin Wall suddenly appears almost over night, and then time hops again to 1973 and again to 1989 when big changes are occurring in the world and walls are broached.

There are a lot of allegories and parallels in this enchanting, shall we call it, parable. Walls can keep us safe or divide us, even isolate us to a certain extent. We can also build a wall around ourselves. I think it is quite relevant to the present time, too. It has a lot to tell us. There are usually chinks in walls and we should bear in mind there is a whole wide world out there waiting to be explored and bridges to be built!

It is beautifully and vividly written. Some of it is told almost like a fable. The grounds of Wychwood are so easy to imagine. It has a magical and otherworldly feel, a peculiar ground indeed. What a fabulous place to live or visit! I love the map at the front of the book. It really helps with visualising where everything is. There are some brilliant characters and, as in a lot of country estates, the families seem to stay through the generations, the same name recurring.

I found this story so captivating. I absolutely loved it! I was very sorry to turn the last page. Wychwood and its peculiar ground is well worth a visit!

Many thanks to Lovereading.co.uk for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Are we making a second Paradise here, or a prison?'

There are lots of good and politically pertinent ideas and images in this book: walls that divide, keeping people in or out, whether as a physical boundary or an ideological one. And one of the themes is the fissures that co-exist with walls, boundaries which prove to be permeable, sometimes through desperation.

For all the current relevance though (Trump's wall, the rhetoric of taking back control of UK borders) this didn't work over well for me as a piece of fiction. The over-used format of switching times and multiple narrators give this a fragmented feel that lacks unity and, frankly, not all the various stories and people crammed together here are of equal interest. There are attempts to pull things together (a statue of Flora in 1663, a character named Flora 400 years later) but I'm left with a feeling of something interesting that ends up looser and baggier than it could have been: a more incisive edit would have improved the book for me.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.

[BookBec · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a chore. Too little connective plot, too many characters (a few British upper-crust with their many hangers-on and employees). I tried to keep track of the characters in the 1600s, but by the 1900s I gave up and just maintained a vague sense of how the lesser players tied into the story. The story has a definite preoccupation with walls, yet after slogging through the tedious parties, I just wanted to finish and didn't care to thoughtfully reflect on all the meanings of walls.

And if Lady Harriet was Lord Woldingham's sister (per the Dramatis Personae), wouldn't that make her daughter Cecily the niece of Lord Woldingham? When their relationship was explained as cousins early in the book, that was my first sign that things would not go well for me in these pages. Lots of frustration, low return on investment.

[Momma Leighellen’s Book Nook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh.

I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. I loved the concept of following a place vs a people as we revisit a location at various points in time. I loved the concept of borders - why people spend time putting them up and the lengths we go to knocking them down.

But this book - it is just TOO MUCH. The story is told at multiple times throughout history and thus from many perspectives. But it also bounces from first person to third person and I think by the end, all the movement jogged my brain.

The book itself says it best:
"I will lay out the story as coherently as I can, now that enough time has passed for me to arrive at a sense of it. I do not pretend to understand it all."

I think the author had a vision and truly tried to cram it all in but I'm not sure at the end that it made any sense.

[Alfred Nobile · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you enter Wychwood and Wood Manor, you enter an enclosed world of deception, untruths and superstition. A world of religious intolerance and possible witchcraft. A world where half heard conversations take on a life of their own and can have consequences for the future.
Walls are the central to the plot. The wall surrounding Wychwood, the building and subsequent fall of the Berlin wall. Both walls designed to keep some in and some out and protect their ideal world?
This is a rambling tale, with multitude characters but is written so deftly that the reader is swept along and surrounded by the story.
Thanks to Lovereading for the ARC and the chance to read this outstanding book.

[Angie Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once you enter Wychwood and Wood Manor in the delightful haunting new novel Peculiar Ground, you will not want to leave, Once inside you will meet Landscape Gardener's, witches, ghostly apparition's of a dead child, said to have frowned in a lake on the grounds that surround the house, and of course the families, along with the secrets, ,,

[Laura Spira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and some of it lived up to my expectations - the setting of the imaginary country estate in Oxfordshire, Wychwood, is beautifully evoked and I was fascinated by the accounts of the work of Mr Norris, in charge of the "landskip" development. The estate itself is probably the most interesting character and the set-piece scenes, such as the great storm and the turning on of the fountain are suitably dramatic and bring home how swiftly the illusion of control over Nature can be shattered. The impact of the plague is also very well conveyed.

But I am always wary of books which begin with a long dramatis personae: this always, perhaps unfairly, suggests to me that the author is aware that the characters may not stand out sufficiently as individuals and this was very much what I found with this book. Part of the problem was the fragmented structure: although many sections were headed with characters' names, there were sudden shifts of voice which confused me. This may be a book that is better read as a physical book: my electronic ARC from Netgalley did not lend itself to consulting the list or rereading sections.

I didn't find any of the characters very sympathetic. I was intrigued by the witch and would have happily spent more time in the company of Lord Woldingham but the modern day descendants came across as a rather tedious upper middle class bunch lording it over their servants. Their relationships seemed complex but superficial.

I also felt somewhat browbeaten by the metaphoric role of all the walls and enclosures. I liked the seventeenth century sections which open and close the book but found the sections set in more recent times heavy handed in the parallels with the building and demolition of Berlin Wall. Nell's research on prisons and the way in which such enclosed societies develop hierarchies was also presumably intended to parallel the relationship structures within the family and its hangers-on.

This is a long book and I thought that it could have done with a more careful edit, to clarify the structure in places and also to shape the occasional complex sentence - but some of those sentences worked when describing the landscape and the shape and growth of trees and plants.

The author is a well-established historian so I was confident that the story was grounded in fact and I was therefore slightly disappointed when in the 1973 section reference was made to eating walnut cake at Fullers in Oxford. I remember that most vividly (can still taste its deliciousness!) but it closed in 1972 (I looked it up to make sure: http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/cornm...)
This may seem a trifling comment but, for me, such things matter.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the start of this book; it tells the story of a great estate in England starting in the 17th and going through the 20th century. The first part is about the development of the grounds of the estate, and begins the theme of "walls", a great premise. (Throughout there is much discussion about rights and walls; the estate's wall will block access to a public passage, much of the 20th century plot involves the Berlin wall). It first focuses on John Norris, a landscape designer who is tasked with filling in the gardens and landscape within the wall. There is tragedy and an allusion to witchcraft and I found this the strongest section of the book. It then jumps to 1961 with a house party thrown by the current owners. There is strife with local activists who are demanding the wall be opened to allow the public right of way. Another family tragedy is alluded to that continues the themes. The premise of the book is great and the writing is mostly beautiful but the plot is very fragmented and the characters are very shallow and hard to like (not to mention keep straight). On the whole it was a bit of a struggle to finish, the topic of walls (yes how relevant) and how they affect society should have been better woven into the story, and fewer characters with more to care about could have greatly improved this for me.

[April Andruszko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think in all it seemed to me to add up to less than the sum of its parts. However I do think my view may have been coloured by the fact that I didn't get any chances to settle down and read it for a decent length of time. I found the sections relaing to the erection of the Berlin wall particularly engrossing. I think it is one I would like to read again when I have the chance to read it in bigger chunks

[Kirsty ❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very ambitious, a little too ambitious for me to really enjoy

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pecular Ground is an English country house novel with something a little more than the usual. It also travels between two time periods - the 1660s of Restoration England when the master of Wychwood returns from exile and the 1960's when the "times they are a-changing". As the story opens, a wall is being erected around the estate of Wychwood high enough to keep people out and ensure the safety of those whose lives take place inside. A Mr. Norris has been hired to build the gardens of Wychford into a showplace and the story centers around all the various people that live and work on the estate, both the upper and lower classes and those in between. The events that take place are sometimes tragic with death and suspicions of witchcraft and sometimes filled with beauty and love.

The second part takes place amid the turmoil of the hippie era and the building of another wall. This time it's the Berlin Wall, one meant to keep people in. Many of the characters at Wychford are descendants of the same people and they play the same parts. Instead of the stately beauty of building a personal paradise, we now see the fulfillment of Mr. Norris's plans but the estate undergoes many changes necessary to sustain itself in a modern world. This part is full of chaos, drugs, sex and also tragic death.

In both eras, the country house becomes a microsystem of the world around them. The author examines the class structure of English society and the changes that occur, the religious question, sexual relationships and political aspects of both eras through telling their various stories. In addition to the characters whose lives play out on the estate, secondary characters weave in and out of the story and catastrophic natural events provide a climax to each era.

While the storyline is interesting, for me it was difficult to sympathize with any of the characters. I didn't find any of them very interesting except Mr. Norris who was only in the segments from the 1660s. The writing is very good but, overall, the story seemed a little contrived.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fencing people in and out is the central theme of this rich, ambitious novel. Wychwood is an expansive Oxfordshire estate. Toggling between two time periods of wrenching change, 1663–65 and 1961–89, a large cast of characters works and plays on this historic site.

Some visual walls include the Berlin Wall, prisons, and a secluded garden with a privacy wall so high that even the deer cannot wander freely. Some walls are internal and influence relationships. Walls can be built for protection or for selfishness.

With beautiful language, the characters in this sweeping novel grow up, grow old, fall in and out of love, betray friendships and countries, defy tradition and even make a commercial enterprise of it (think Downton Abbey). Who has the right to build walls, where are the borders, and who rightfully owns the land are pertinent questions for current times throughout the world.

[Bookish Ally]

I had to reread so much of this book, as most of my time reading it was spent in a state of perpetual confusion. There are three time periods covered, and a cast of characters that is sprawling. I loved and appreciated the storyline in the 17th century- of how the gardens and land was carefully planned, with the plague having a cameo appearance. I liked the storyline set in 1961, although it didn’t appear to go anywhere but truly appreciated little Nell’s character. 1989 totally lost me - now we have the original characters plus their children. Not rating this - I have a feeling that I missed some important points, even though I went over much of it twice.

[Yaaresse]

DNF @ 21%.

The part set in the 17th century was OK, mostly because I thought it might be setting the foundation for the rest of the book. Then we got bounced into the 20th century, and it simply lost all interest to me. I didn't give a damn what happened to any of the (many) characters, nor did they seem to care either.

The descriptions, especially those of landscapes, were lovely, but it takes more than lovely descriptions to tell a story.

[Onceinabluemoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 perfect timing for this book, we just bought a new home and I am creating a new expansive garden, I loved the 1600s as the landscape designer waxed florifically with his grandiose plans, reminded me of capability brown and of visits to many grand garden estates in Europe. the book covers a multitude of events, but I did prefer the earlier century. beautifully written, easy to get lost in.

[Rob Adey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains strong themes.

[BAM who is Beth Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

March challenge to only read books with green covers

Too many characters. Too slow. Suffered from lack of editing.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.

Switching in time between the seventeenth and nineteenth century, this novel is set on the great estate of Wychwood in England. In 1663, the landscaper Mr. Norris is designing ornamental lakes and elaborate gardens as a wall is raised around the estate. In 1961, Nell, a little girl whose father manages the estate, witnesses adult behavior she cannot understand and talk of the wall being raised in Berlin which confuses her.

Joined across time both thematically and by the great estate, the two storylines focus heavily on the impact and import of walls, both physical and internal. Barriers that guard and shield but that also enclose and trap. Barriers that ultimately cannot hold forever. The question of who has ownership, who should be allowed entry, and how to define trespassing are constantly debated. Throughout the novel, the elaborate grounds and structure of Wychwood loom behind the characters and connect them through the decades.

This novel was well written. Certain lines, such as "the lives of the saints never tell us that the holiest may be irritable or tired as they perform their good works" caused me to pause and read the line a second time (406). My favorite elements of the novel were the many descriptions of the great estate, the budding romance experienced by Mr. Norris, the childlike innocence of Nell as a child, and the beautiful maternal scenes of Nell adeptly caring for her fussy infant.

However, despite many excellent elements, this failed to capture my attention in a way that I had hoped. There were far too many characters, meaning many were never full fleshed out and it was difficult for me to keep up with all the names. Hughes-Hallett rotates between various perspectives of many of the characters, but it felt like just getting a taste rather than the full story. Furthermore, despite the many thematic connections and the linked setting, I found the two time periods too loosely woven together to work well. I didn't care for Mr. Norris as a narrator and while I did like Nell's perspective better, the time jumped so quickly to her as an adult that I felt like I had missed too much in the character's lives to feel closely connected to any of them. In short, despite its highly competent writing style and beautifully imagined setting, this novel seems to attempt to tackle to many years, too many characters, and too many themes.

[Nicholas Kinsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this novel with great expectations. The puff quotes on the book cover were full of admiration for the author. Lucie Hughes-Hallett is obviously a very talented novelist and her writing is hugely imaginative and lively. The only problem with her wonderful flights of fancy is that the book is hard to read and so cut up into multiple points of view that you lose the thread. The present day section in the middle, some 300 pages, is written from some ten character’s points of view and half the time one is reading up the page and not down the page. Who is talking? Whose point of view is being expressed? The characters in this part of the book are superficially drawn so the reader loses interest fast. I lost interest completely in the middle. Who cares about Anthony, Jack, Benjii, Selim and the other hangers on at the big house. There is no action happening. I almost put the book down. It was so tiring trying to figure out what was going on.

I think it is a mistake in this kind of novel to employ multiple points of view, particularly when author is often off with descriptive fantasies and has left the action behind. I had similar comprehension problems with another famous author, Hilary Mantel in her book “Wolfe Hall”. This was a fantastic historical novel, but a very tiresome read however accomplished the author might be. You spend a large amount of time trying to figure out what is happening. Both novels are desperately in need of editing to make the read more pleasurable. It seems that established publishers don’t edit their authors’ books anymore and couldn’t care less about their readers.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out loving this book. The beginning section, set in 1663, was beautifully done; language, characters, setting, historical details, everything. The viewpoint was consistently first person from Mr. Norris, the landscaper's, point of view, which was helpful since there were a lot of characters and jobs to keep straight. I was really excited to keep reading. I have to confess I was sadly disappointed when the plot line switched to 1961, and honestly it prevented me from enjoying the rest of the book. The characters and points of view kept changing and I had trouble keeping the characters and relationships straight, even though there was a heading each time the character switched. Sometimes it was in first person and sometimes it was in third person and I never understood why it had to change up so often and the whole thing became hard to follow. And then there were some sections in italics and I couldn't figure that out either. Even when the story returned to 1665 at the end of the book, the points of view were divided up again and Mr. Norris's voice, which unified the whole story for me, wasn't there to do that. I would love to read the rest of the 1663 story, written in one consistent voice from Mr. Norris's point of view. Maybe I'm being dimwitted about this but it became too fragmented for me.