Beguiling, sexy Tina Pringle thinks she has solved her problem. Married a wealthy man. A baby due. But has she created an even bigger dilemma?
Tina is excruciatingly bored. Africa is not the glitz and glamour of 1920s London. Harry Brigandshaw, however, couldn’t be happier on his African farm. But with his young wife pressurising him to return to England, Harry caves into her demands.
The soul of London is what Tina desires. Plunging herself into the hedonistic swirl of social engagements, she rekindles her flirtatious dance with Barnaby St Clair. Heedless, Harry returns to business. Including financing a musical with his old flame in the leading role. Danger swirls and jealousies flare…
And when Harry begins a new and hazardous venture, the warning signs are already there. Love affairs abound. The rich are getting richer. The stock market is rising. And like a pack of cards, everything collapses, along with Harry disappearing, in deepest Africa…
To the Manor Born is the fourth novel in the Brigandshaw Chronicles – a multigenerational saga, of heroic people living through the rise and fall of the Anglo-Saxon Empire.
Peter Rimmer was born in London, England, and grew up in the south of the city where he went to Cranleigh School. After the Second World War and at aged 18, Peter joined the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Pilot Officer before he was 19. Then at the end of his National Service and with the optimism of youth, he sailed for Africa with his older brother to grow tobacco in what was then Rhodesia, and the odyssey of his life began.
The years went by and Peter found himself in Johannesburg founding an insurance brokering company. Over 2% of the companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were clients of Rimmer Associates. He opened companies in the United States of America, Australia and Hong Kong and travelled extensively between the branches.
His passion had always been writing books, which he started at a very early age, though running a business was a driving force too and a common thread throughout his books. By the 1990’s, he had written several novels about Africa and England, and his breakthrough came with Cry of the Fish Eagle published by HarperCollins, Zimbabwe. It was a bestseller, which was followed up with the release of Vultures in the Wind. However, during this time, Zimbabwe was going through its struggles and the books did not get their just international recognition.
Having lived a reclusive life on his beloved smallholding in Knysna, South Africa, for over 25 years, Peter passed away in July 2018. He has left an enormous legacy of unpublished work for his family to release over the coming years, and not only them but also his readers from around the world will sorely miss him. Peter Rimmer was 81 years old.
The family saga dragged on one volume too many. The ending was anticlimactic and inconclusive, it just fizzled. The characters about whom the reader most cared were fazed out in an indefinite, inconclusive manner. I was appalled at the number of grammatical/syntax errors and wondered why proofreaders and editors did not catch them. Characters were either too corrupt, decadent and unrealistic to be believable or were too good to be true. Rimmer was beating a dead horse with this sequel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode of the Brigandshaw Chronicles even though it was mainly set in the UK and its the African descriptions that I really love reading having spent many years there myself. I just feel that I need to read the next book "right now" because in my opinion the story is left unfinished.
I need to know what happens! Please publish the next one quickly!
I have enjoyed this series and look forward to the final volume. The interweaving of the cast of characters is the focus of the sstoryline, and I look forward to the resolution of their stories.
Historical fiction, how one is raised becomes who you will be. No holds barred on how life turns out. Love stories can be made and endure over decades if desire and belief are present!
Another story in the time line of the Harry Brigandshaw saga. The story tells of his friends and how they cross over Harry's life. moving them all towards another World War and the crash of the worlds economy.
I've just realised there are plenty more books in this series. Oh happy day! I simply can't put them down. This one takes place more in England and America, less so in Africa, but I've come to think of the characters almost as my family.
Excellent/ entertaining and intriguing fiction that brings to life a world less known. How little we've learned of historical perspectives set in a new context.
This one is more of a soap opera; and some of the dialog is awful because it is used to provide the backstory of the prior books. Still…I will continue to the 5th book in the series.