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Talvelaps
Claire abiellub väga noorelt oma kodukoha kõige rikkama ja mõjukama perekonna pojaga, kuid mees saab Esimeses maailmasõjas surma. Halastajaõena mandrile läinud Claire naaseb sealt iseseisva ja illusioonideta naisena, kes ei lase end heidutada ei mehe perekonnal ega tema pealtnäha kiretul ja vaoshoitud poolvennal Benedict Swanfieldil. Romaan «Talvelaps» on ühtpidi küll ühe perekonna lugu, kuid teiselt poolt on see lugu muutuvast ühiskonnast ja väärtushinnangutest.
543 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
1 person is currently reading
584 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Jagger
25 books26 followersBrenda Jagger was born on 1936 in Yorkshire, England, UK, which was the setting for many of her books including her famous ‘Barforth’ family saga. The recurring central themes of her work are marriage, womanhood, class, identity, and money in the Victorian Era. Her work has been praised for its compelling plots and moving storylines as well as its exacting emotional descriptions. Her later novel A Song Twice Over won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 1986.
Married, she had three daughters. Worked in Paris and as a probation officer in the north of England. She passed away in 1986.
Married, she had three daughters. Worked in Paris and as a probation officer in the north of England. She passed away in 1986.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 30, 2020
A delightful, thoughtful book about the roaring 20s and everything they entailed: fun, freedom, and a massive hangover from World War I. Mostly we view this world from the eyes of Claire, shy teenage bride turned toughened war widow. Claire lost her young husband to the war within three weeks of marriage, became a battlefield nurse, fell in love with another soldier, and lost him too. Now that the war is over, she has come home to a crowd of stiflingly conventional in-laws who cannot understand that she is suffering her own form of PTSD. Romance weaves its way in as Claire becomes involved against her better judgment with an intense but distant lover, but this book is less a romance than a book about the effects of war: Euan, the flippant but shellshocked survivor; Kit, the butler-turned-soldier who now sees an opportunity to jump from the lower classes to the upper; and even Miriam, Claire's mother-in-law who cannot understand why the war has destroyed the Edwardian world of her youth. And there fascinating portrayal of the roaring 20s as Claire gets a job at a budding hotel and capably runs a jazz club in the basement.
October 26, 2020
When Claire loses her new husband to WWI, she is faced with establishing a new life for herself while coping with her own family and her in-laws.
September 11, 2015
What a wonderful book.
I first read this book many, many years ago and it has always lingered. It is at its most simple a very beautiful story of love and at its most complex, a powerful story of the loss and sorrow of the First World War, a commentary on the fast changing social, family and economic climate that occurred after the war, and the effects this has on Claire, Benedict and the rest of the Swanfield family plus Kit and Euan and other characters within the story. Each character has their own complicated story.
Miriam Swanfield– the matriarch – seemingly shallow and frivolous, but underneath deeply shrewd and calculating, whose socialite way of life has been upended by the war and the loss of her son Jeremy, and the knowledge that the pre-war rigid rules of class and status have changed forever.
Nola Swanfield – an unhappy, lost, unloved woman. Constantly seeking new friends and causes to try and keep the tedium and frustration of her life at bay, only to find herself ever more lost.
Eunice Swanfield – so smotheringly devoted and protective of her husband and her children, that she wrongly perceives enemies everywhere and alienates herself in the process.
Polly Swanfield – spoilt, silly and self obsessed. Desperate for adventure and fun, who feels that the war has ruined her chances of attaining a wealthy husband so rushes head first into the post war freedom for young women of the flapper age of night clubs, cocktails and dancing.
Toby Swanfield – lazy and enjoys rather too much the finer things in life, good-natured but cowardly, stunted by his over bearing wife Eunice.
Benedict Swanfield – the head of the family. A cold, enigmatic and cynical man, trapped as much by his responsibilities within the family and his position as head of Swanfield Mills, as his own cynical indifference.
Euan Ash – a young gentleman Officer, broken by his experiences during the war, and unable to feel that anything really matters anymore, including himself.
Kit Hardie – likeable, strong, confident and always ambitious. A Butler to the Swanfield’s before the war who has now risen to the rank of Major, and realises that times are changing and that he has opportunities open to him, that he would not have had previously and intends to make the most of them.
Claire Swanfield – a very young bride at the outbreak of the war, now widowed and returned from four years nursing on the battlefields of France. Like Euan, she has her own loss and terrible memories, but has an indefatigable generousity of spirit, and believes that life and love have to be grabbed at and held onto as long as one can.
This book is beautifully, sometimes harrowingly, sometimes joyfully written and I found myself savouring the almost stark but poetic quality of the prose. The book starts at the close of the war and with Claire returning as a widow to the Yorkshire town of Faxby, a very different woman from the young child bride of Jeremy Swanfield, that she was when she left. Now grown up and changed by her terrible experiences, she feels stifled by the expectations of both her own family and her late husband’s family the Swanfield’s and at a loss with what to do with her life. Brenda Jagger weaves the story around all the trials and tribulations of the other characters with Claire at the centre, and her growth through love and sorrow, to a strong, independent woman who helps others to better understand themselves and in so doing finally understands herself. This book does not have a traditional happy ever after, but a more realistic conclusion where Claire is at peace with her decisions. I loved this book – and was completely gripped throughout, and enjoying it so much I almost didn’t want to reach the end. I will definitely be reading more of Brenda Jagger’s books.
I first read this book many, many years ago and it has always lingered. It is at its most simple a very beautiful story of love and at its most complex, a powerful story of the loss and sorrow of the First World War, a commentary on the fast changing social, family and economic climate that occurred after the war, and the effects this has on Claire, Benedict and the rest of the Swanfield family plus Kit and Euan and other characters within the story. Each character has their own complicated story.
Miriam Swanfield– the matriarch – seemingly shallow and frivolous, but underneath deeply shrewd and calculating, whose socialite way of life has been upended by the war and the loss of her son Jeremy, and the knowledge that the pre-war rigid rules of class and status have changed forever.
Nola Swanfield – an unhappy, lost, unloved woman. Constantly seeking new friends and causes to try and keep the tedium and frustration of her life at bay, only to find herself ever more lost.
Eunice Swanfield – so smotheringly devoted and protective of her husband and her children, that she wrongly perceives enemies everywhere and alienates herself in the process.
Polly Swanfield – spoilt, silly and self obsessed. Desperate for adventure and fun, who feels that the war has ruined her chances of attaining a wealthy husband so rushes head first into the post war freedom for young women of the flapper age of night clubs, cocktails and dancing.
Toby Swanfield – lazy and enjoys rather too much the finer things in life, good-natured but cowardly, stunted by his over bearing wife Eunice.
Benedict Swanfield – the head of the family. A cold, enigmatic and cynical man, trapped as much by his responsibilities within the family and his position as head of Swanfield Mills, as his own cynical indifference.
Euan Ash – a young gentleman Officer, broken by his experiences during the war, and unable to feel that anything really matters anymore, including himself.
Kit Hardie – likeable, strong, confident and always ambitious. A Butler to the Swanfield’s before the war who has now risen to the rank of Major, and realises that times are changing and that he has opportunities open to him, that he would not have had previously and intends to make the most of them.
Claire Swanfield – a very young bride at the outbreak of the war, now widowed and returned from four years nursing on the battlefields of France. Like Euan, she has her own loss and terrible memories, but has an indefatigable generousity of spirit, and believes that life and love have to be grabbed at and held onto as long as one can.
This book is beautifully, sometimes harrowingly, sometimes joyfully written and I found myself savouring the almost stark but poetic quality of the prose. The book starts at the close of the war and with Claire returning as a widow to the Yorkshire town of Faxby, a very different woman from the young child bride of Jeremy Swanfield, that she was when she left. Now grown up and changed by her terrible experiences, she feels stifled by the expectations of both her own family and her late husband’s family the Swanfield’s and at a loss with what to do with her life. Brenda Jagger weaves the story around all the trials and tribulations of the other characters with Claire at the centre, and her growth through love and sorrow, to a strong, independent woman who helps others to better understand themselves and in so doing finally understands herself. This book does not have a traditional happy ever after, but a more realistic conclusion where Claire is at peace with her decisions. I loved this book – and was completely gripped throughout, and enjoying it so much I almost didn’t want to reach the end. I will definitely be reading more of Brenda Jagger’s books.
January 15, 2023
Wow! This book! I immensely enjoyed A Winter’s Child! One of the most well written books I have ever read! I felt so emotionally connected to each character in the book and learned so much about World War 1/The Roaring 20s.
September 15, 2017
Когато свърши Даунтън Аби, си търсех книга, която да съживява същото усещане. Тогава не намерих - но A Winter's Child ме върна по неподражаем начин, макар и със съвсем различни герои, в същото време. С повече дълбочина и трагедия и с герои, оплетени в невъзможни отношения. И със същата красота на роклите и този feverish charm на следвоенното време, джаза и "модерните" жени.
Първата глава е невероятен трибют към Джейн Остин - все едно отваряш нейна книга. Описанието на матриарха Мириам Суанфийлд, стратегическата й сватба и преобразяване на далеч по-възрастния й съпруг-либертин в отдаден на хубавата си Мими предан мъж са достойни за перото на Остин.
Стилът на авторката не остава в сянката на Остин обаче. В следващите глави изявява собствения си характер и обрисува герои, които живеят свой собствен живот - с великолепни quips и диалози, сякаш рожба на съюз между Остин и Оскар Уайлд.
Heartbreak-ът на оцелелите от военното поколение, монументалната промяна в нагласите, в усещането, в живота, в тези shell-shocked survivors, които не мислят за утре-то, защото цял живот ще живеят с усещането, че утре не е нещо гарантирано, е предаден великолепно и мотивира всички постъпки на героите.
Странните любовни истории, оплетените отношения и връзки между една жена, трима мъже и съзвездието от хора около тях, трудните и невъзможни решения и липсата на традиционен хепиенд, но усещането за покой и за това, че са намерили своето място, дава чудесен и правдоподобен завършек на книгата.
Не й давам 5 звезди само заради натегнатата тягост на последните 10 %, преди да дойде удовлетворяващият край. Цялото безумие ми дойде в повече и ме измъчи почти до разваляне на очарованието, колкото и да беше реалистично. И освен това изобщо не съм фен на Фройд и описанието на ужасните отношения между родители и деца, както и тоталната липса на майчински и бащински чувства у голяма част от персонажите също ме натовари доста. И... така и не стана ясно какво се случи с Юан нататък и дали и той като останалите герои намери някакъв мир, а той ми беше любимец! Т.е. причините да не дам 5 звезди са чисто емоционални, а не реално свързани с достойнствата на книгата.
Първата глава е невероятен трибют към Джейн Остин - все едно отваряш нейна книга. Описанието на матриарха Мириам Суанфийлд, стратегическата й сватба и преобразяване на далеч по-възрастния й съпруг-либертин в отдаден на хубавата си Мими предан мъж са достойни за перото на Остин.
Стилът на авторката не остава в сянката на Остин обаче. В следващите глави изявява собствения си характер и обрисува герои, които живеят свой собствен живот - с великолепни quips и диалози, сякаш рожба на съюз между Остин и Оскар Уайлд.
Heartbreak-ът на оцелелите от военното поколение, монументалната промяна в нагласите, в усещането, в живота, в тези shell-shocked survivors, които не мислят за утре-то, защото цял живот ще живеят с усещането, че утре не е нещо гарантирано, е предаден великолепно и мотивира всички постъпки на героите.
Странните любовни истории, оплетените отношения и връзки между една жена, трима мъже и съзвездието от хора около тях, трудните и невъзможни решения и липсата на традиционен хепиенд, но усещането за покой и за това, че са намерили своето място, дава чудесен и правдоподобен завършек на книгата.
Не й давам 5 звезди само заради натегнатата тягост на последните 10 %, преди да дойде удовлетворяващият край. Цялото безумие ми дойде в повече и ме измъчи почти до разваляне на очарованието, колкото и да беше реалистично. И освен това изобщо не съм фен на Фройд и описанието на ужасните отношения между родители и деца, както и тоталната липса на майчински и бащински чувства у голяма част от персонажите също ме натовари доста. И... така и не стана ясно какво се случи с Юан нататък и дали и той като останалите герои намери някакъв мир, а той ми беше любимец! Т.е. причините да не дам 5 звезди са чисто емоционални, а не реално свързани с достойнствата на книгата.
April 19, 2023
Such a cynical view of the post world war 1 days..
However, I suspect a very true to the times one.
This book was written in 1936, and most surely the author knew of what she was writing.
So many outdated and seemingly small habits and traditions in the old "best" families were tossed aside or cruelly ignored by the generation that went to war.
It was an interesting book, and kept my attention for the entire 512 pages.
However, I suspect a very true to the times one.
This book was written in 1936, and most surely the author knew of what she was writing.
So many outdated and seemingly small habits and traditions in the old "best" families were tossed aside or cruelly ignored by the generation that went to war.
It was an interesting book, and kept my attention for the entire 512 pages.
October 27, 2020
I like this author's writing style. Historic fiction at its best. Great storyline and development of characters. The copy I had was an old hardcover discarded from a library.
March 8, 2017
excellent
June 25, 2016
The story of Claire Swanfield, wife of Jeremy, who was killed in WWI, in England, after a VERY short marriage. She had no skills, nor did any of the women of the time, except for nursing, which wasn't called for when she got home. She wanders around, SO easily led, through 21 chapters, and through and about the dysfunctional family of the Swanfields, which I got SO tired of hearing about; why didn't somebody stand up & DO something! But I guess they couldn't, it was just not done, at the time. Good characters throughout, however, although somewhat cardboard. FINALLY, she marries a good guy, though not an exciting one, in the last chapter or so. Nice descriptions of England at the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2013
I think I read this years ago. vaguely familiar plot
December 27, 2015
Spiegel van haar dromen
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews