Flambards in Summer

Flambards #3

by K.M. Peyton

The third book in the classic Flambards sequence.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Childrens, Classics, Horses

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton MBE, who wrote primarily as K. M. Peyton, was a British author of fiction for children and young adults

Reviews

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the Flambards series was originally the last, though K.M. Peyton added another more than ten years later, turning the trilogy into a quartet. Some readers prefer the original trilogy and greatly dislike Flambards Divided but I loved it, though I'll get into that more in the appropriate review! I mention it here, because Flambards in Summer does have a nice conclusion. I loved it, and found the hopeful note it ends on heartwarming, though perhaps a touch too neat and simple.

Christina has been widowed in the First World War and returns to a very different Flambards. Only two loyal staff members remain, Fowler in the stables (which are mostly empty, all the hunting horses taken for the army) and Mary, trying her best to care for that enormous house, which was a difficult task at the best of times. With Russell dying in the previous book, Will dead at the start of this one and Mark missing, presumed dead, Flambards is Christina's now. At first she hates being back, depressed and overwhelmed. When she realises she is pregnant, her focus renews.
She lay very still, appalled for this child. She saw it forlorn in the great wastes of crumbling Flambards, with a mourning mother and the ancient servants for sole company. The picture was so stark that Christina sat up in bed, pushing back her damp hair.
'Flambards must come to life again. I cannot leave it to fall down. And I cannot sell it, for no one would have it.'

So she sets about using her fortune to restore it, and turn it into a working farm. She buys new horses. She becomes fixated on Mark's child (the one he fathered with Violet in the first book) and basically buys the boy off of Violet. She finds Dick and asks him to return to Flambards and help her run it. Sometimes it feels like she is atoning for ruining his life so thoroughly all those years ago. They settle into this quiet, busy life... and then Mark returns.

I absolutely loved this one, and I can see why many readers want to leave the story here, with Christina and Dick together, and a contentment that feels well earned. But I have to admit, I wondered if Dick and Christina were entirely suited, and whether it was so easy to move on from bereavement and war, especially since Christina hardly gives herself a moment to think or process. I also couldn't help thinking that it's one thing to have a sweet, almost romance with someone as a teenager, but quite another to marry them as an adult. She lets Mark leave with Dorothy, and I wished she hadn't.

These qualms were why I adored the next book so much, but also probably why people who didn't share share my reservations might not care to have the story continued.

Updated after 2022 reread:

I covered my feelings accurately in my earlier review, so I am just adding a mention of my deep admiration for K. M. Peyton's writing. I have been gradually building up my collection of her novels, and she is an author I will be focusing on for a while. I still remember reading "Fly-by-Night" the first time, when I was seven, and been utterly astonished by how beautifully rendered a fairly straight forward story about a girl and a pony could be. "Flambards" and "Stealaway" were read in a similar time period, and I have adored her ever since. Reading and rereading her as an adult, I feel the same way, though perhaps with a greater appreciation of just how wonderful her stories are.

[Aldi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s funny how books land differently on multiple rereads. I used to consider this one my favourite of the series if I had to pick one. And I still completely adore it and its older, sadder, sharper tones – the mid-war themes of loss and courage in the face of despair, the journey of turning the sleepy decay of Flambards into something new and thriving, something with a future; the ways that Christina has had to mature and find new depths of resilience. I love this new life for her, a life that ultimately suits her better than anything she could have had with Will, a life where she won’t have to deny herself, where she gets to share the things she loves with the person she loves. And I love that it’s Dick in the end, that they get to have a real chance in a post-WW1 world where those once unbreakable class barriers have come tumbling down.

But perhaps just because I’m older now, the losses hit hard, and the bittersweetness is strong in this book. The last one ended on that fresh new promise of the future, the world ahead wide open, even with the threat of the war; seeing everything now heaved over into a completely different track, I mourned the lost possibilities harder than I did before. That one scene after the German plane crash, which has always been emotionally devastating, is now just utterly gutting. Christina’s throwaway observation that Will would have had no interest in a baby, while completely true, just had me realising that once Isobel was around, a fully realised model rather than an abstract design, Will would have actually adored her (and probably packed her on a plane before she could walk, lol).

All that said, the book is lovely, and the perfect conclusion to a perfectly crafted trilogy. There’s nothing but content and hope at the end of it, the best place to leave characters you care for deeply.

(PS: For anyone who loves these books, don’t read the fourth one. Seriously, don’t. It’s one of a very small number of books I actually wish I’d never read. I love a good conflict, and I’m all for shaking up expectations, but the author was clearly in a very different place when she wrote it, and if you have to commit complete character assassination on no fewer than four of your main characters and also undo all your carefully crafted messaging about class barriers, social dynamics and societal pressures just to enforce a pairing that you’ve spent three books successfully demonstrating would never work, then maybe the pairing isn’t worth it? Just a thought; honestly, I wish I could ctrl+alt+delete that book out of my brain.)

This was the first time I read the Oxford University edition paperbacks instead of my worn-out, ratty old 70s editions, and wow, these covers are stunning! Each one so perfectly suited to its mood, absolutely gorgeous.

In conclusion, it's been another wonderful reread. These books are like old friends, and the emotional engagement stays strong even while you can still find fresh perspectives. I’ll be back in another few years, I’m sure.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omläsning. Serien om Flambards blir bättre ju längre man kommer. Sommar på Flambards är den tredje delen och den jag tycker bäst om. Det här hade jag inte alls väntat mig när jag började min omläsning av de här tre böckerna.
Christina är nybliven änka och återvänder till det Flambards som är förfallet och mer eller mindre övergivet. Jag tycker mycket om att läsa om hennes försök att få gården på fötter igen, det praktiska arbetet, hur hon söker upp människor och djur som tidigare hörde ihop med gården och börjar samla en familj omkring sig igen.
jag var så förtjust i att läsa om Christina i denna tredje bok att jag egentligen skulle vilja läsa mer. Men jag har förstått att den fjärde delen, Flambards Divided, skrevs mycket senare än de tre första delarna och inte alls är lika bra. Kanske är det bäst att avsluta läsningen när serien är på topp.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fine piece of writing ! Set in England in 1916 in the midst of the Great War, a newly widowed girl returns to her husband's farm to try to make decisions about her future. She finds the property run down and empty. Through intense work , some crops are scratched up , horse teams are bought and lives are restarted. Then , people from before the war show up as well.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Edge of the Cloud, which focused too much on Will and aeroplanes, Flambards in Summer is back to form. In this pacey story, Christina returns to Flambards as a 21-year-old widower. The place is deserted, with only one horse left, and Christina is isolated and despondent. But events draw Christina out of herself, including the appearance of children, and of an unruly stallion named Pheasant, as well as the return of handsome groom Dick. It's a well-imagined, entertaining narrative, that is strangely believable despite the unexpected events. It's an easy read with unexpected depth, and excellent escapism.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book series this is. It's so well-written that I have a hard time defining these as children's books. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys early 20th century historical fiction. Off to watch the TV series now which I found on YouTube.

[Estelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christina starts to do things for herself (at last) but soon needs to be in love and have a man to deal with things. Overly romantic claptrap.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flambards In Summer by K.M. Peyton is the third book in the marvellous YA historical Flambards series. The books need to be read in order as they each follow on from the last.
The year is now 1916. The First World War is at its height using many young men as cannon fodder. “In 1916 a young woman dressed in mourning did not evoke a second glance.”
Not only were the young able bodied men at the Front, the domestic and work horses had also been commandeered. It took some clever thinking to be able to restore and run Flambards. Christina needs to harness whatever work force and animals she can.
Christina has grown into a fine young woman, still with a good heart and a compassionate nature. She seeks to right the wrongs of the past.
There is survivor’s guilt. “Sorrow doesn’t last forever, [she] thought, and was almost guilty.” It is not wrong to begin to live and laugh and love again.
The class system is starting to break down. “The war… made no such distinction, killing them in equal proportion.”
As Flambards is being restored and brought back to life, the reader witnesses’ characters mirroring this.
Family is important. Flambards is important. It is a family house and as such takes on its own personality.
I am loving this Flambards series. It is just as thrilling and exciting as it was when I first read it back in the 1970’s.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is Christina at the first flush of adulthood. And her life is sort of falling apart. After years of waiting, her marriage to Will is over almost before it began. She’s a young, pregnant widow, and with Mark missing, Flambards has come to be hers. I can feel and sympathize with Christina’s panicked scramble to find firm footing. And she goes about it as foolishly as anybody might. She finds Mark’s illegitimate child (conceived with Violet in the first book); and she finds Dick who was, and still is, in love with her, and she cobbles together a life for herself.

The ending is quite liberating. Christina’s life has come together as she’s made a family and a home for herself and achieved a degree of stability. She’s also flaunted the establishment and Victorian societal structures. And Flambards is really hers. After Mark is found, he plays the gentleman letting her have her home and leaving his unrequited love to marry the always vivacious Dorothy. All in all it’s like a fairy tale with its implication of happily ever after.

[Tabitha Suzuma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite childhood author who read my first attempt at a book when I was 17, despite having never met me!

[Elisabeth Marksteiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the ending of the original trilogy. Maybe its because I now know that there is a sequel, that I often feel this is a transitory novel.
Acually today, I’d prefer all four published in one volume!

For me, despite the loss and midst of war, this often is a little too naive. Again, that’s possibly my current response to it. I think also for me development of the protagonist Christina seems to be less full than either in the previous or subsequent novel.

However, as a stepping stone, a tale of hope.

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original Flambards trilogy really reads like one book
This seems rather adult for YA novel with its descriptions of grief
My main quibble is that she falls in love again rather too quickly although I suppose she was really a little in love with both of them from the first book

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christina returns to Flambards after Will's death in WWI to find it in sad condition. She decides that she will work through her grief by restoring it to a working farm.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 STARS

[ropa · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wasn’t expecting anything in this book.

[Sasha Pinto · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/4 The Dick and Christina you thought you were going to get from the beginning. Which, as with most romances, turns out to be a bit wetter than you’d hoped.

[Eleanor Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A happy ending! Though I had to wait for it

[Charmaine Saliba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is getting better with each book, I quite enjoyed this one too. I like the author style and was pleased that the novel took place in Flambards again. The author has managed to put in life this place and I could smell the country while I was reading and wishing that I could pack and live there. It is a fast-paced historical fiction set during the great war and I couldn't help myself to care for the main characters.

[Seadaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one, I didn't realise I had missed one of the series, so goes to show can ge read as a stand alone book (helps to have read the first one).

She returns to Flambards, Will has been killed at war, Mark is missing presumed dead. Only the Fowlers seem to have stayed at Flambards, which is in terrible repair now. The dogs and horses have gone.

She returns with her healthy inheritance from her dad, that she got when she turned 21 - no more being poor and needy for her. She sets about turning her hand and Flambards to a profitable farm, she gets the pack of dogs built up, well one dog Geraldine or Gertrude who has pups, she gets hold of some horses including one that is slightly nuts, so she gets him cheap, she loves him and he is a good horse for her, but bonkers for anyone elso.

She has a baby, adopts Marks's child from Dick's sister. Dick returns to work for her at Flambards - he too went to work, and was injured and got ill. Dick helps her work the farm, speaks German to ger German worker (POW?).

Mark returns briefly, still badly behaved, but now he's almost broke. He and Dick are still at war until a dreadful fire.

Imdid enjoy it, but not as much as the first one, I have the last one to read, but hesitant as a lot of reciews say it is not very good, and I just don't want to finish the series with a fizzer.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things cheer up a bit in the last of the original Flambards trilogy, although this isn't immediately obvious. But Christina is forced to wake up and actually do stuff, to build her own life and make a success of it. This is by no means easy but it makes for a much more satisfying story than the previous two instalments.

Not that Christina isn't still annoying. She is. But at least now she's not encumbered by the Russells, just by their servants and children (sigh). And even when it turns out she's not entirely free of the Russells after all, it all works out.

If the story had ended here - if Flambards Divided had never been written - I would probably feel far more affection for the Flambards books than I do. Unfortunately ....

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 3rd book, Christina has been widowed and goes back to Flambards which is falling apart. Although she feels lonely, she throws herself in to farming and when someone returns she realises she still has a chance to love.

I had forgotten most of this book and really enjoyed seeing Christina develop into an adult and taking responsibility for Flambards and people. Apart from a couple of nasty incidents this book is fairly upbeat which is what I needed after this week.

K.M Peyton writes beautifully and captures the struggle to find men to help with farm work during the war. A lovely read which can be read by children and adults.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't read this review if you haven't already read the previous books in this series! Otherwise the rest of this will serve as a spoiler.

After two years of marriage, Will is killed in a plane crash, so Christina decides to return to Flambards, where once she was happy. Mark, now the owner of Flambards, is missing in action, so if he never returns it will belong to Christina.

But Flambards is in very run-down condition, and there are few workers availble. Christina does her best to improve it, and to get the farm ready form planting in the spring. And then she receives a surprise, and makes a big decision.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this SO much better than the second in the series. Christina is herself again, although widowed and inexplicably sick to her stomach. Flambards is a ruin, and Mark is missing, presumed dead in the war. And there are horses at Flambards again, and I think Peyton is at her best when writing about them. I'm not a real romance fan, but once I'm hooked, I have to find out what happens next. So on to the last book I go...

[Ajanta Rezwana · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, I have always been completely nuts about the Flambards series. I read it for the first time when I was in my early teenage years, and it made a lasting impression for me. This is actually the third book in a four-book series, but I am going to pretend that the series ended right here, with this book. Everything is perfect here, everyone is with who they should be with.
Book#4 doesn't exist for me, and I am very, very regretful that I read it.

[Eryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is mostly about how Christina had to learn to be independent after she lost him. Glad that she made the decision to move back to Flambards and keep it. (due to a surprise) The story in this book made it seem that everything was going smoothly and they were going to live happily ever after. A really peaceful read compared to the sequel.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This concluded the trilogy until the series was televised and shown on Masterpiece Theater here in the States. Afterwards, she added a 4th book, which destroyed the themes developed in the first three. This is a series I reread several times, and own (even #4).

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, I feel that it is full of worry and loss , as well as happiness and new love. I almost felt like crying at some parts. Although none of the books in the series measure up to the first one, this is still a great book.

[Andrew McDiarmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flambards in Summer

I loved this book because I loved Flambards (the first book in the series) and I am hoping to receive the rest of the series soon.
I loved Tizzy, the brief mention of Dorothy and Dick.

[Flannery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this one being my favorite Flambards book.

[CLM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorrowful and lonely after Will's death as a WWI aviator, Christina returns to Flambards to try to rebuild her life, using the fortune inherited from her father.