'Always a stay-up-all-night read with Cynthia Harrod-Eagles! ***** 'Fabulous series of books, this author never disappoints' ***** 'I love Cynthia Harrold-Eagles' historical novels' *****
1919: The war is over, but peace is yet to come. As men are demobbed, women must give up positions that gave them freedom.
Edward is given an important job at the Peace Conference in Paris, but it means more lonely months away from Beattie and his hoped-for reconciliation. Fred's unit is sent to the Rhine, and Cook feels a guilty relief that her uprooting has been postponed. Laura's friend Ransley volunteers for a further six months, and rather than go home, Laura finds a new conducting guided tours of the battlefields.
In England there are strikes and unrest, hardship and widespread unemployment, and everywhere the sight of the wounded to remind the nation of what it has paid for peace. But as the first, difficult year post-war comes to an end, there are great changes afoot for the Hunter household, wonderful surprises, and the promise of a new start.
Pack Up Your Troubles is the sixth and final book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1919, at home and on the front, this concludes the vivid and rich family drama featuring the Hunter family and their servants.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born on 13 August 1948 in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, where was educated at Burlington School, a girls' charity school founded in 1699, and at the University of Edinburgh and University College London, where she studied English, history and philosophy.
She had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC.
She wrote her first novel while at university and in 1972 won the Young Writers' Award with The Waiting Game. The birth of the MORLAND DYNASTY series enabled Cynthia Harrod-Eagles to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four.
In 1993 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award with Emily, the third volume of her Kirov Saga, a trilogy set in nineteenth century Russia.
A wonderful finish to a great series. I've thoroughly enjoyed following the Hunter family through the years of the first World War. Things get tied up in this one but not too neatly. Real life isn't like that and we're left to contemplate what becomes of some of the characters we've met as they embark on a new phase of their lives. Sadie is my favorite of the Hunter children. Her life after the war is very mixed and I wasn't expecting the outcome. Beattie and Edward have a lot to overcome. Beattie is quite a stiff, dare I say, a selfish character. She has a wonderful husband and family but nothing seems to be enough for her. I felt for Edward in this book. The servants have their own individual tie ups also even the thoroughly unlikable Ethel. What a character. I didn't like her all the way through but softened, slightly, towards her at the end. A great series that I'd highly recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction especially those set in war time.
21/4/2025 I this reread I find I'm thoroughly dissatisfied with the ending!! The horrible people all seem to do well and Sadie, the character I loved all the way through, gets the short straw! I actually nearly cried over her and Nailer, the dog, when I'd finished. Could have been finished off better!
For close to 15 years, I have read at least 30 novels by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, all of which have transported me to a variety of interesting places and times, as well as introducing me to many colorful, endearing, and intriguing people.
"PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES: War at Home, 1919" is the final novel in the War at Home Series, which has been a delight to read. It begins in December 1918, a few weeks after the Armistice. Captain Sir Edward Hunter, the patriarch of the Hunter family, has survived the hazards of war and is anxious for a reconciliation with his wife, Beattie, whose heart had been captured by an old love from her youth who had died from wounds he received from combat about a year earlier, leaving her heartbroken and emotionally distant from her husband. But before the reconciliation could take place, Edward is asked to take on an important role at the upcoming Paris Peace Conference. Thus for most of 1919, Edward is mainly in Paris. Beattie manages to make a visit and both she and Edward begin the tentative process of reconciliation. I won't say much more than that.
The Hunter family and Edward's sister Laura (an adventurous woman who had spent the previous couple of years at the Front as an ambulance driver and the proprietress of a rest home and recreation center for soldiers in Flanders not far from the lines) experience various ups and downs in 1919 --- as do several of the servants who had long been in service to the Hunters at The Elms in Northcote. Now that the war is over, readjusting to peacetime in Britain proves to be easier said than done.
What I loved most about reading "PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES" is that I never wanted to stop reading. Everything about it seemed so tangible, so real. I felt that Sir Edward, Beattie, their children, the family dog Nailer -- and the servants Cook, Ada, and Ethel (along with Munt the cantankerous gardener and Frank Hussey, who had bared his heart to Ethel some years ago and remained determined to woo and marry her) were so vividly alive!!! And now that I've finished the War at Home Series, what I have experienced from it, I know, will stay with me always. Give or take 3 or 5 years, and I wouldn't be averse to re-reading all 6 novels thereof.
I’ve read all of the many books by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles in the family saga called, “The Moreland Dynasty”. Now, I’ve finished what I believe is the last book in the series ( number 6) of War at Home.
I often think that Ms. Harrod-Eagles is an acquired taste that isn’t for everyone. But for those who love her writing, she’s like the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had to drink on a dreary, hard-to-get-going, winter morning. Her Historical Fiction work involves lots of characters even though there may be one in particular that you feel is the most prominent. Yet, none of the many characters are left as one dimensional.
This series, as well as The Moreland Dynasty books that take place during WWI and it’s aftermath, are the very best for me, as an American born many years afterward, in understanding the true devastation that the war brought to Great Britain. Not only the overwhelming numbers of men and older boys lost in the trenches, but those who survived to come home, yet missing limbs. Those who survived returning barely a shadow of their former selves - with lungs diseased by deadly gas, and the disfigured from fire, and the emotionally scarred were huge percentages of the population; sadly an entire generation. Plus how this loss and coping with what remained and what changed was so difficult for those on Britain’s homefront.
My only wish is for Ms. Harrod-Eagles to please put her great talent in Historical Fiction to use in a series before, during and after WWII for Great Britain’s homefront.
I loved this book and want to read more in a new series or a continuation of this one up through 1945!
This is the last book in the series, War at Home, and starts in 1919. WWI is over and the men are slowing come home. It has turned everyone's life upside down with so many men dead or wounded and the woman used to working out of the home. The book did a good job of showing how hard the after war years were. It did get a little long.
This was the final book in the War at Home (WWI England) series and it was a wonderful ending. The series was great and I highly recommend it. I think this was my favorite.
This is the final book in the WW1 series. I have mostly enjoyed this series and the final one has been very interesting as it deals with the aftermath of the war. However, the ending left a lot to be desired! I never liked Beattie as a character, totally self centered, not very maternal except for David. Not very sympathetic at all but wants sympathy for her unfaithfulness. Then to end the whole series with her becoming pregnant at the age of 47/8, what on earth is the author thinking about? Too cheesy by far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was dissapointed in the vague ending. This was supposed to be the last of the series and she left so many threads hanging. . But I was even more disappointed in what happened to Nailer. He almost gave his life to defend Sadie and then she left him behind. I get why she did it but it was still horrible.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
No. 6 in War at Home series, and I am reading it out of order. This is really outside my normal preferred genres, but I became interested after reading one of the earlier ones. The war is over, but unfortunately some suffering and dying still continues in 1919. The cast of thousands in the Hunter family and associates are generally wrapping things up. Romances that may have stumbled along are concluded, troubled people overcome and achieve success, and all that good stuff. There's a lot of emphasis on master / servant relationships, and the servants play some important roles. The author frequently touches on war related issues - grieving over lost family, returned soldiers with grievous physical and psychological injuries, and the social changes where women had to take jobs, and the push-back when the soldiers start coming home. And the horses! That's quite a major theme, what happens to the hundreds of thousands of army horses. It's not something you normally tend to think about, and the way the author handled it was worth a few extra points. OMG, at nearly 400 pages, I wonder how I got through this. Answer - by skipping around, sometimes even reading backwards. The two main protagonists have major difficulties to overcome - do they make it? You can find out for yourself. Characterisation is important to such a story, and at least I can say it was done consistently and believably, even if not always in depth. THe main character of Edward Hunter is a presence, but I didn't feel there was that much to him. He works long hours, but we don't read much about what he actually did to deserve firstly his knighthood and then later .... what? Probably the downside was the way all the loose ends were tied off in the final 50 - 100 pages, which gave me a feeling of unreality. I've classified this under romance, because there are very many of those. There's no overt sex, though, which seems about right for this series. However, there's certainly a lot of life - Spanish flu, babies delivered, marriages, funerals, etc. I'm picking up an earlier one from the library today, so I guess the proof is in the pudding. I've given this a rating of 3.9.
The last in the 'War at Home' series. I have really enjoyed these books and with so many characters in the Hunter household, you want to just keep reading to find out what is going to happen next.
I love how she has done her research and brought out many of the facts of that time into a very enjoyable read. She covers the 1918 flu pandemic and how it spread throughout the country, how the women had to give up many of their jobs when the men came home and how many of those men just couldn't find work. How difficult it must have been for them after feeling such a sense of purpose and closeness with their fellow soldiers to arrive back home to find the work has dried up and they are unable to support their families. For many as well, they had great difficult adjusting mentally and we now recognize they were suffering PTSD as well as survival guilt.
Edward is 'volunteered' to help in Paris with the financial aspect of the war agreement but he bemoans the time he has to spend apart from Beattie. Their marriage has been rocky since Beattie betrayed him.
David is still struggling to find purpose in life and is not entirely happy working in the bank. He wants so badly to be successful and to please his father and bring in an income to support his wife and small child.
Sadie is waiting for John to return and they can announce their engagement but things don't work out as she had hoped. Laura also decides to spend more time in France as her physician boyfriend agrees to extend his agreement.
Then, there is the drama among the servants, the Cook, Ada and Ethel. It's so easy to get involved in their stories and want to keep reading. A great series, will have to look for more books by this author, I know she has written many.
1919....the year after the war but nothing much has changed for the Hunters. Some are still out in France, Belgium and waiting to know what happens next. Sadie wonders if she will still have a job with her beloved horses 🐎 at Highclere. William wonders if after he's demobbed he'll be able to get another flying job. Laura is staying out so to be near Major Ransley. But does she want to go home? .... Cook is scared at the thought of going to Australia to a country so many thousands of miles away. Ethel is scared that the flu will kill little Marcus. The grim reaper does still appear and also what of David? Is he still blue devilled? Does he want to be a teacher? Has he the disposition for it? Beattie and Edward are still strangers learning to be civil and talk to each other again but Edward is in Paris and Beattie stuck in Northcote how can it be resolved??? Through these pages you'll cry, laugh, shout, cry again and laugh again then tears will silently fall as the book ends. Well I cried. Remembrance is a thing that can make us all tearful. Worth the five stars. I'm going to miss the Hunter family.
Such a shame this series has ended. How did the family cope with the the depression? Did Ethel and Frank stay together? Did Sadie get into interior design and get romantically entangled with Ivo? Was Diana's marriage all she hoped for? So many questions.
All the books were brilliantly written with just the right balance between fact and fiction. The underlying threat of the Spanish Flu as the euphoria of the war ending raised hopes of a home fit for heroes and then the despair as the cost of the last four years of turmoil became apparent. All this conveyed with a deft, light touch by the author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It is the last part of the series War at Home. I simply loved it. A perfect closing for the story about the Hunter family over a period of six years 1914-1919. I have read all six volumes and none of them was boring or dull, all characters coming along the way were portrait beautifully and were very lovable. The closing is perfect. The book is the last one, however, everyone gets its own end. For me, it was one of the most wonderful stories portraying the WWI. One of these books which deserve 6*s.
Pack Up Your Troubles is the final book in the historical fiction series, War at Home. The war is finally over, the peace conference is going on, but on the home front unemployment is raging. Women are being displaced from men returning to their jobs and the sheer number of seriously injured men is overwhelming. The Hunter family and staff are in for big changes as more loss happens and the patriarch Edward is asked to join the Peace Conference in Paris and share his expertise in money matters. It will be awhile before Great Britain gets back on its mighty feet.
1919. The Great War is finally over. But life does not immediately go back to "normal." It takes time to demobilize the volunteers, who don't always understand why they can't go home yet. And life has changed over the years of the war. Will women be happy giving up their jobs to those returning men? Very thought-provoking, as the various member of the Hunter family and their staff try to remake their lives in the post-war world. I'm only sorry there isn't a sequel.
Lovely comfortable read. CHE reused her research from the Morland series to excellent effect with her new family. I’ve really enjoyed the six books - would definitely read a seventh but she has left it all well tied up so I don’t think there’ll be another chapter. I hope her publishers authorise one more Morland so that too can end properly.
Very roller coaster and scary! But many changes in the Hunter family- the Spanish flu, birth, demobilization, death and moving to a new London house after Northcote and redemption. Mrs. Harrod-Eagles is an AWESOME historical fiction writer whom we must take very seriously as we writers learn from her.
Grade: A++++
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I can't believe I have finished the last book in this series. The book and indeed, the series itself was wonderful. None of the characters are completely settled. There is no dramatic ending. Perhaps I will pick up that first book and reread them all some time in the future. Anyhow I highly recommend the War at Home series to all.
I wish this wasn’t the last of this series. After enjoying the Canaletto Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard this series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was recommended to me and I’ve enjoyed it just as much. If you like family sagas then don’t miss this series.
This War at home series covers the lives of the Hunter family and their servants from the onset of WWI until the post war years. Superbly drawn characters suffer the pains and losses of war as their lives are forever changed.
I found this last installment in the War at Home series to be rather flat. I so enjoyed the other books but I feel as if the author just wanted to be done. I continued to enjoy the British perspective of World War I. I will miss these characters.
Great Read! I hope there will be more in this series. I would love to read more about Sadie, her family and the rest of the characters! If you have not read Cynthia Harrod Eagles books do so! They are a treat! I savor her books lol.
The ending was fine, everybody made up nice and neatly. Happiness all around. My deepest wish was for Sadie to have her John Courcy, but I guess not everyone can marry the person they love. But still! 😩
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
So sad to have reached the end of this 6 book series, I have absolutely loved them. Beautifully written, the characters were three dimensional and I felt I knew them all. A very satisfying conclusion to the series.