What do you think?
Rate this book
Barbours/Bouchards #3
The Final Hour
The Bouchards, by a stroke of the pen or a word in the right ear, could change the destiny of nations--and they did. But all was not well within the family fortress....There was Henri. He was consumed by his lust for power--and his illicit passion for another man's wife. ANd Celeste. She had devoted her life to her husband, Peter. But Peter had failed her as a man. She detested Henri but she could not resist his strength. And Peter. He was an invalid for his courage threatened to expose the treachery of the Bouchards....
607 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
131 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Taylor Caldwell
152 books554 followers Also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner.
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 4, 2010
Although I read DYNASTY OF DEATH in the early 1970s, and THE EAGLES GATHER years later, I apparently never got around to finishing this third volume of Taylor Caldwell's saga about the Barbours and the Bouchards, which brings them up into the Second World War - when I unboxed my copy recently (a first-edition hardcover, by the way) there was a bookmark inserted about 2/3 of the way through, and while I dimly recall making an attempt to read the book somewhere in the late 1980s, I don't remember anything about it. So, on the heels of TESTIMONY OF TWO MEN and NEVER VICTORIOUS, NEVER DEFEATED - here goes!
5/04/10: Finished it last night. This book had an immense cast of characters, almost all of whom were related to each other by blood or marriage or both! Caldwell's notes for this novel must have been almost as voluminous as the manuscript itself. Every known and then the author reminds us (and herself) who's who and how they're related. Two things the reader is never in doubt about are 1) that the Bouchards do not hold the human race in great general esteem, and 2) most of the Bouchards despise each other (except, that is, when they're lusting after each other).
THE FINAL HOUR begins in Germany in the late 1930s, and shortly thereafter shifts to the U.S., where the various factions of the family are each involved in the coming war effort - this is, after all, the "Dynasty of Death," and the materiel of war are their bread-and-butter. The novel ends just after Pearl Harbor, at which times the plans of some family members are strengthened, and others dashed. And standing at the top of the heap is Henri Bouchard, as cold and brutal a man as his great-grandfather, Ernest Barbour.
It's possible Caldwell planned a fourth novel to bring the Bouchards into the post-WWII world, but it's also possible that she was tired of them by that point. But many of her subsequent novels and characters were cut from the same cloth as DYNASTY OF DEATH, THE EAGLES GATHER, and THE FINAL HOUR.
5/04/10: Finished it last night. This book had an immense cast of characters, almost all of whom were related to each other by blood or marriage or both! Caldwell's notes for this novel must have been almost as voluminous as the manuscript itself. Every known and then the author reminds us (and herself) who's who and how they're related. Two things the reader is never in doubt about are 1) that the Bouchards do not hold the human race in great general esteem, and 2) most of the Bouchards despise each other (except, that is, when they're lusting after each other).
THE FINAL HOUR begins in Germany in the late 1930s, and shortly thereafter shifts to the U.S., where the various factions of the family are each involved in the coming war effort - this is, after all, the "Dynasty of Death," and the materiel of war are their bread-and-butter. The novel ends just after Pearl Harbor, at which times the plans of some family members are strengthened, and others dashed. And standing at the top of the heap is Henri Bouchard, as cold and brutal a man as his great-grandfather, Ernest Barbour.
It's possible Caldwell planned a fourth novel to bring the Bouchards into the post-WWII world, but it's also possible that she was tired of them by that point. But many of her subsequent novels and characters were cut from the same cloth as DYNASTY OF DEATH, THE EAGLES GATHER, and THE FINAL HOUR.
August 28, 2016
I really did not like this book! It took me over three weeks to get through all 607 pages. The only likable character, Godfrey, is introduced on page 538!! There are only a few interesting chapters. I kept hoping it would get better, or that the characters would eventually redeem themselves. (They do not.) The book is about the Bouchard family bribing, in their own words, "by lies, by subornation, by corruption of public officials, by the buying of certain radio henchmen, by the maligning of labor, by our subsidy of certain clergymen, by our newspapers, by powerful subversive propaganda, by secret agreements with certain Middle European associates, by the forming of subversive and powerful Committees, by intrigues in South America, by the smearing of Russia, by avalanches of pamphlets and little leaflets, and God know what else, to keep America out of this war. We've had our cartels which supplied Hitler with what he needed to conquer the world." Sounds good, but it's not!
October 13, 2019
This 607 page Bouchard family saga is full of lots of details about a wealthy family and their activities up to and during WW II. It includes lots of info on events leading to the war and the author spends lots of verbiage on philosophical issues pertaining to that topic which may be of interest to those who study that time period. Although some of the descriptions of people and places are well done, the characters are, almost without exception, unpleasant, hard, cold , selfish, treacherous. Even when “in love” they say mean things to each other. (Note: the main romance is an adulterous one.)
February 26, 2012
Even if I haven't read the firs two books of this trilogy, I was able to follow the saga of the Barbour and Bouchard’s family.
The scenario can be described as the period that antecedes World War II when the Bouchards traded arms to the emerging German Nazism.
Love, jealousy and betrayal dominate this family destination where ambition overrides to any and all sense of solidarity among its members.
Taylor Caldwell is a master of storytelling stories with intricate background of the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II.
This book will be released at Biblioteca Mário de Andrade.
The scenario can be described as the period that antecedes World War II when the Bouchards traded arms to the emerging German Nazism.
Love, jealousy and betrayal dominate this family destination where ambition overrides to any and all sense of solidarity among its members.
Taylor Caldwell is a master of storytelling stories with intricate background of the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II.
This book will be released at Biblioteca Mário de Andrade.
October 3, 2019
couldn't finish it, too wordy. Used to love Taylor Caldwell, years ago. Can't stand her now, I don't have hours to devote to plot development. Out of 600+ pages, gave up at about 300 pages. The author truly is possessed believing that BIG BUSINESS is the answer to all of this country's problems and that unions and labor are the devil. I suppose this is because of the time frame of the book, which takes place prior to WW II.
August 19, 2011
This series of three books is quite an undertaking. There are a lot of boring pages but the interesting parts make up for it. The author certainly brings the characters and surroundings to life. She is so talentrd and as you can tell a favorite of mine.
October 13, 2023
When I was young I loved Taylor Caldwell. She was such a rugged individualist. Her book has as much validity today as when it was written. There is such disgust with the stupidity of the masses and those who wish to control them. Today these forces have far more dangerous tools, aka Fox News and the internet. I was once accused of being so full of righteous indignation that I hit everyone around me with a two by four. This is what I recognize in my soul sister writer. For once I feel acutely the validity of this accusation. For six hundred pages we are subjected to some of the most villainous characters that are all about power, money and control. Out of horrid fascination I finished it. I knew that since is historical fiction I need not worry about the ending. Reading this book in the context of the current state of affairs in this country and the world emphasizes my worry and concern. Taylor Caldwell sermonizes with the benefit of having left this earth. We who still exist cannot help but fear the future.
October 4, 2024
In this final volume of the Barbour & Bouchard saga, Peter and Celeste Bouchard return to America, warning of a cataclysmic war into which the US will be drawn. The Bouchards should be eager to join in--they always profit from war as munitions manufacturers--but they pooh-pooh Peter's warnings. They've been funding pacifist and isolationist movements with the hope that, even if Hitler takes over Europe, he will have to make a deal with the US.
However, Henri Bouchard changes his stance when he realizes that the rest of his family (and their associates) will happily surrender the country to Hitler if their demands to stifle the labour movement are met. He also realizes that if Hitler takes over, he will lose control of his conglomerate. That last, more than anything else, forces him to fight this plot.
He's also not got over losing Celeste to Peter, who is slowly dying.
However, Henri Bouchard changes his stance when he realizes that the rest of his family (and their associates) will happily surrender the country to Hitler if their demands to stifle the labour movement are met. He also realizes that if Hitler takes over, he will lose control of his conglomerate. That last, more than anything else, forces him to fight this plot.
He's also not got over losing Celeste to Peter, who is slowly dying.
July 31, 2023
An excellent trilogy
I enjoyed this kindle book despite the many printing errors, which were extremely careless. It is over long in places but overall it is very entertaining.
I enjoyed this kindle book despite the many printing errors, which were extremely careless. It is over long in places but overall it is very entertaining.
January 26, 2008
This is a huge saga that portrays a rags to riches story and puts international economic world plots spin on things.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews