Paradise Postponed

Rapstone Chronicles #1

by John Mortimer

British life since World War II is illuminated through the lives and fortunes of Leslie Titmuss and the people of the village of Rapstone Fanner

Genres: Fiction, Humor, British Literature, Classics, Literature, Comedy, Satire

373 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

John Clifford Mortimer was a novelist, playwright and former practising barrister. Among his many publications are several volumes of Rumpole stories and a trilogy of political novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets, featuring Leslie Titmuss - a character as brilliant as Rumpole. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998.

Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1985, this novel is very much a product of the 1980’s, complete with the miners strike, Falklands, Thatcher, CND and other events which I can recall very vividly from the time.

This is the story of the Reverend Simeon Simcox, a socialist rector in a small, English village, full of the usual class snobbery and clear-cut social barriers. Simeon Simcox lives with his wife, Dorothy and sons Henry and Fred. Sir Nicholas and Lady Grace Fanner live in the manor with daughter Charlie. Young Leslie Titmuss, son of working-class parents, did odd jobs at the rectory and brings the rector little gifts. While Henry and Fred go off to boarding school, Leslie wins a place at grammar school.

The book begins with the news that, after his death, the Reverend Simcox has bizarrely left his shares in the Simcox Brewery to Leslie Titmuss, who has, over the years, become a city developer and Conservative cabinet minister. Why, his son Henry cries, has he left his money to someone who represents everything he has fought against his entire life? As the novel continues, we learn of the entwined life of the characters; of Henry and Fred’s relationships with the beautiful Agnes, of Leslie’s rise and marriage to Charlie Fanner, of his deep desire to be a success and his humiliations.

Mortimer cleverly weaves his characters together. He managed to make all of those involved interesting and sympathetic, as, through Fred Simcox, he explores the reasons for the Reverend’s strange decision. Full of family secrets, memorable characters, and a lot of dark humour, this is an excellent novel. Thankfully, it is the first of a trilogy and I look forward to reading on and exploring more of John Mortimer’s work. It is always good to find a ‘new’ author, even if you discover them rather late…

[Fuchsia Groan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un paraíso inalcanzable tiene un punto de partida sin duda intrigante: al morir Simeon Simcox, párroco socialista en Rapstone Fanner, cuyo despacho lo preside un busto de Karl Marx, su familia descubre que ha dejado todas sus pertenencias a Leslie Titmuss, diputado conservador sin demasiados escrúpulos. Henry, el hijo mayor, novelista que perteneció en el pasado al grupo de los angry young men, quiere impugnar el testamento, mientras que el hijo menor, un médico rural, intentará averiguar qué llevó a su padre a tomar tan sorprendente decisión.

John Mortimer, que además de novelista fue guionista y abogado (famoso por llevar numerosos casos en favor de la libertad de expresión), escribió simultáneamente esta historia en forma de novela (1985) y de guión para televisión (1986). Posteriormente se le añadirían otras dos obras, también con el personaje de Titmuss como central.

Esta novela coral (me gustaría que alguien me hubiese avisado: ¡haz un pequeño esquema de los personajes!) nos llevará desde los años de la posguerra hasta el gobierno de Margaret Thatcher, y en una especie de crónica social e histórica de la Inglaterra rural mezclada con novela costumbrista, con un tono tremendamente irónico, con diálogos ingeniosísimos, acompañaremos durante casi cuatro décadas a unos personajes anónimos a los que los “grandes” hechos cambiaron su vida cotidiana.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. I enjoyed the humor embedded in the lines. We chuckle at human behavior. There is a question, a mystery to be solved, and the closer we come to the end, the more the focus shifts to the plot and the resolution of the questions that must be resolved. I enjoyed the problem-solving phase less than the humoristic, thought-provoking exposition of the characters. Plot-wise, the characters’ shenanigans seem too convoluted, too complicated. There are lots of characters to keep track of. The setting is the 1950s through the 1980s in a village two hours west of London. Everything has to make sense, and it does, but “Who cares?!” is what predominated ny sentiments and thoughts by the end.

At the death of the village pastor, all are confused. He left his money not to his family but to one who held conservative views, opposing all that he had stood for and fought for his entire life. One son fights the will and sets out to prove that his father was no longer sane. The other son seeks to discover why their father made the will as he did. That is the mystery to be solved, and it is resolved. It was in the untangling of the knot that I lost interest. The knot is too thick, heavy and tightly drawn!

Why would a person change his life values with the approach of death? I had a hunch at the start—a love relationship most probably lay at the core. And I was right!

I want to read more by the author because his writing skills are good, but I want a less complicated plot. This is what I think I might get in the author’s connected stories presented in Rumpole of the Bailey.

Paul Shelley gives a fantastic narration in the audiobook version. He uses different accents VERY well. There is an American film director. Every time he opens his mouth, I simply had to smile. He sounds so American! It’s just plain funny. The contrast between British and American speech is perfect and amusing. Characters of different ages, sex and classes are all wonderfully performed Shelley sings songs. He does it well—he sings just as the different characters would sing them. Five stars for the narration. It could not have been better. Shelley gives an impressive performance that I loved all the way through.

******************

*Paradise Postponed 3 stars
*Rumpole of the Bailey TBR

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

When someone tells me they like reading novels, this is exactly the sort of book I imagine them reading, sitting in a comfy, worn-out armchair, possibly by the fire. A great meaty novel.
‘Paradise Postponed’ is a satire, but not a satire the way some authors understand it, i.e. you have to be funny in every single sentence, as if the whole book were part of your stand-up routine (inevitably ending up being not funny at all). Another side effect of such ha-ha-ha funny is that all characters end up being cartoonish which makes it impossible to get emotionally involved in the story.

Mortimer doesn’t fall in that trap, he is only funny when there is a really good joke and it’s quite enough. His characters are real, yet the satire on the British class system is still cutting.

It’s essentially a story of what happens to a family when the father, leftist minister (as in a religious one, rather than the one who is in the government), dies and leaves all his money to a sleazy Tory MP. Everyone is a little confused to say the least and tries to deal with it in a different way. Old secrets get uncovered and some hilarity ensues.

Here are some quotes that are way better than this review:

“She felt a tightness in her chest and sent for Dr Simcox.
'What's the trouble?'
'Look out there, that's the trouble! It's so green and quiet and it's always bloody raining.'
'That's England, Mrs Mallard-Greene. I'm afraid there's no known cure for it.”

“The first sight of the Rapstone Valley is of something unexpectedly isolated and uninterruptedly rural; a solitary jogger is the only outward sign of urban pollution.”

“She believed that, in an ideal world, the working class would rule the country, but she had no particular desire to ask any of them to tea.”

“You can't change people. You know that. You can't make them stop hating each other, or longing to blow up the world, not by walking through the rain and singing to a small guitar. Most you can do for them is pull them out of the womb, thump them on the backside and let them get on with it.”

“Oh, you think everyone's interesting. That's because you're a Red. I don't. I believe that quite a lot of people were just manufactured when God was thinking of something else.”

“Take sex, for instance.'
'What do you want me to do with it?'
'Try to be serious for a moment. Take the sex life of our father.'
[...]
Even after a couple of brandies he felt extremely reluctant to discuss sex and his father. 'It's something I'd rather not think about,' he said. 'We all come into existence as a result of a momentary embrace by our parents which find impossible to imagine. [...] We all assume we're the result of our own particular immaculate conception.”

“He's a cabinet minister and his mother was a cook. My father was a doctor and I'm a cook. Perhaps I passed him on the way down, or did he pass me on the way up?”

“Alfie Dawlish. Invented all sorts of imaginary ailments for the family at the Manor so he could rob them and treat the village for nothing. It was his primitive version of the Health Service”

“What on earth was Henry talking about?'
'His soul. I wonder where he keeps it.”

“A hundred pounds! He couldn't remember ever having seen a hundred pounds, all at one time. He found himself envying his father, who had nothing to worry about except the future of mankind.”

“In the middle of the swinging sixties people in England were apparently under some sort of obligation to have a good time and most of them didn't. A Russian and an American walked about in space to no one's particular advantage. The Beatles received their British Empire medals and, so it was said, smoked cannabis in the lavatories at Buckingham Palace. American aeroplanes were bombing Vietnam, but no one seemed to talk about the nuclear holocaust any more.”

[J. Wootton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly successful literary fiction, somewhere between your better-than-average beach read and "the great British novel"; a book of manners for a time and place that (almost) had none.

Mortimer is clever with dialogue and complicated social scenes, deploying scathing understatement and layered language to chuckle-worthy and plot-advancing affect. The conundrum described on the cover drives the whole book, which never loses sight of what story it is telling despite multiple POVs and flashbacks. Easy to follow yet gratifyingly complex. Recommended.

[Mariano Hortal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/un-paraiso-...

Auguro que este año va a ser muy difícil hacer mi habitual selección de libros favoritos; si digo esto, es precisamente por la cantidad y calidad de las obras que están saliendo; teniendo en cuenta que, además, solo llevamos la mitad del año…. Sinceramente la cosa promete, más sabiendo algunas de las novedades que vienen para septiembre y octubre.
Una de las candidatas a este top de mis libros favoritos es sin duda “Un paraíso inalcanzable” del británico John Mortimer, ¿exagero al decir que esta novela de 1983 se ha convertido ya en un clásico instantáneo? Para nada, a continuación daré las razones para el entusiasmo:
-En primer lugar, el punto de partida, la trama que nos propone Mortimer encierra un enigma, un misterio ¿por qué Simeon Simcox deja parte de su herencia, la más importante, a un político conservador (Leslie Titmuss) y con ideas radicalmente distintas en detrimento de su propia familia? Este primer nivel presagia una trama en la más pura tradición policíaca, algo a resolver y que será la base argumental que dará consistencia a toda la novela.
-En segundo lugar, con la base anterior, la estructura que plantea se ordena según esto; tendremos que conocer el pasado de los personajes para poder resolver la cuestión principal. Para ello, se producen continuos saltos de tiempo, vamos adelante y atrás sin un orden establecido, solo el que el autor establece a su criterio (a principio, al final del capítulo, entre medias, varias veces en el capítulo…); la apariencia es la de un puzzle, ya que necesitamos conocer todas las piezas para llegar al final; esta estructura no sirve solo para la trama sino también para pintar los personajes (especialmente las dos familias principales), dando una gran riqueza a la narrativa. Esta falta de linealidad ayuda a que se convierta en algo más retador.
-En tercer lugar, los siguientes párrafos ayudan a comprender un tercer nivel de lectura:
“Inglaterra entró en la década de 1960.
En el gran mundo de la política, sesenta y nueve africanos fueron asesinados en Sharpeville y Simeon Simcox escribió más de sesenta y nueve cartas. “El amante de Lady Chatterley” fue declarada una lectura apta para el pueblo inglés, acontecimiento que no tuvo ningún efecto notable en el romance de Fred y Agnes Salter. En la Asociación Conservadora de Harstcombe, la sensación general era que el señor Macmillan estaba en la gloria y que en el mundo todo iba más o menos bien. En este ambiente confiado, la asistencia a las veladas de las Juventudes Conservadoras empezó a decaer, pero Leslie Titmuss nunca se perdió ni una reunión.”
“A mediados de los febriles años sesenta, parecía que los ingleses tuvieran la obligación de pasárselo bien, pero la mayoría no lo lograba. Un ruso y un americano anduvieron por el espacio sin que eso le sirviera de mucho a nadie. Los Beatles recibieron sus condecoraciones del Imperio Británico y, según se dijo, fumaron cannabis en los aseos del palacio de Buckingham. Aviones estadounidenses bombardeaban Vietnam del Norte, pero ya nadie hablaba del holocausto nuclear. Hasta las cartas de Simeon a The times se volvieron menos frecuentes y más benignas. Fue entonces cuando Fred se convirtió en médico.”
“La huelga de mineros, aquella prolongada guerra por las minas agonizantes y los agonizantes pueblos y aldeas, apenas tuvo eco en Hartscombe. Una pequeña cuadrilla de piquetes se apostó ante la cervecera con pancartas que rezaban: “La cerveza es nuestra”, “Salvemos 300 empleos”, “Exigimos el derecho a trabajar” y hasta “¡Que beban los trabajadores! .“
A lo largo de los capítulos y, sin un orden aparente que puedas esperar, se suceden los frescos de la sociedad inglesa según los saltos temporales que se van produciendo; por lo tanto, vemos la dimensión social de lo que está sucediendo y, además, aprovecha para unirla a las vivencias de sus personajes en dicho momento histórico y cómo les afecta. Esto ofrece otra posibilidad de disfrute más allá de la trama principal.
-En cuarto lugar, los personajes; todo lo anteriormente citado puede haceros una idea de la riqueza de detalles con la que los personajes aparecen cincelados. En efecto es fácil identificarlos y, naturalmente, empatizar con ellos; especialmente fascinante es Leslie Titmuss, figura indispensable y gran protagonista:
“Simeón miró al joven que tenía delante (Leslie) y se preguntó, no por primera vez, cómo sería haber nacido sin capacidad para dudar. ¿Sería una bendición, una maldición o una simple carencia física, como nacer sin sentido del olfato?”
O Charlie Simcox, el joven airado, de él surgen algunos de los momentos más humorísticos del libro (otra de las razones que podrían aparecer para recomendarlo), como podemos ver en esta conversación con su posible editor:
“-¿No le gusta el final? […]
-¡Me parece conmovedor! Me parece muy artístico. Creo que muestra una autenticidad que cala muy hondo, aunque quede como un poco gilipollas. Pero ¿quién diablos va a pagar dos dólares, además de lo que hoy en día cuesta comer fuera, el aparcamiento y la canguro, para ver la historia de un gilipollas? Creo que mi socio pondrá pegas a su final. Algunas personas solo piensan en el dinero.”
-Y dejo para el final lo que, contrariamente, aparece al principio: toda una declaración de principios de lo que Mortimer entiende que debería ser una novela, en boca del joven airado:
“-Qué haces? –Leslie interrumpió su trabajo para preguntar.
-Escribo una novela.
-¿Qué es una novela?
-Es un retrato de nuestra sociedad, de la cabeza a los pies. Una historia humana.”
Esta novela se convierte en un retrato de la sociedad desde lo macro, la sociedad al completo y los acontecimientos que comenté anteriormente hasta lo micro, las particularizaciones individuales de esos hechos y su influencia sobre las personas, a lo largo del tiempo desde la postguerra británica hasta los tiempos de Margaret Thatcher; reflejo del zeitgeist de una sociedad: la inglesa.
Es tal la cantidad y variedad de lecturas que admite este evento literario tan jubiloso que no puede dejar indiferente a casi nadie y puedo casi estar seguro que debería gustar a la mayoría de las personas que la lean, se me antoja imprescindible conocerla. Entre otras cosas porque, por si fuera posible decir algo más, el gran John Mortimer realza en la parte final la importancia de la libertad individual de cada persona, libertad que está por encima de cualquier predestinación y herencia recibida.
“-¡Eso es un poco triste! –Agnes lo miró con burlona desesperación-. Crees que solo somos lo que nuestros padres hacen de nosotros. ¿No tenemos elección?
-Nosotros la tuvimos, una vez. Tú y yo. Y yo me equivoqué.
-Ahora es un poco tarde para pensar en eso.
[…]
-Nunca es demasiado tarde –dijo Fred- para empezar.”
En definitiva, leedla. Una novela de las más grandes que se van a publicar en este año. Sin lugar a dudas.
Textos de la traducción del inglés de Magdalena Palmer para esta edición de “Un paraíso inalcanzable” de John Mortimer por Libros del Asteroide.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll agree with the other reviewers here, at first there are far too many characters, all introduced in quick succession and with such tiny snippets into their lives you don't get to know them well. Also the book jumps backward and forward in time which can be really disconcerting and make it harder to get into the story. However, the pace really picked up halfway through and I found myself growing quite attached to some of the characters.
The book is satirical, with a wry look at how Britain has changed socially since the end of the war, particularly in light of the various governments that have ruled during this time. Mortimer makes some spot-on observations, particularly in terms of how history repeats itself at times.
I felt the twist at the end was rather trite, as was the way the left-wing characters of the book were portrayed, as though being left-wing and fighting a cause was perhaps a way of escaping life or rebelling against privilege. However, this is a satirical book, and I daresay charicatures are par for the course.
I think Leslie Titmuss is a really good example of the "go get 'em" Conservatism that was prevalent during the time of Macmillan and Thatcher. The book is part of a three part series, and I'll be really interested to see how Leslie deals with the Blairite 90's.
This takes a while to get into but once it does, it is a really heart-warming read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it's become a new favourite, and I'm looking forward to devouring the rest of the saga!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to pick, Paradise Postponed is one of my all-time Top 5.

I spent about 85% of the book with a smile on my face. John Mortimer creates brilliant characters--vivid, quirky, and beautifully drawn--then follows them through the distant past, the middle past, and the present day (circa 1986). At the core are Fred and Henry, the polar-opposite sons of Rector Simeon Simcox. Fred has become a country doctor, who relaxes playing drums in a local jazz band. Henry starts out as a flaming liberal author when he's young, quite liberal indeed, wanting to overthrow the "oppressive" entrenched, older conservatives. By the time he's middle-aged, he's swung to the stodgy right, dashing off essays to the Sunday papers, complaining about liberal government and those horrible damned young people.

When Simeon dies, he leaves all of his shares in his family's Simcox Breweries (stock which had added nicely to his meager parson's salary) to seemingly the last person in the valley to need more money. The mystery as to why he does this, leads to all manner of odd and funny revelations.

I've read this book ten times at least, and it always sparkles and delights. You can tell John Mortimer has genuine affection for his characters, and I can't imagine anyone NOT sharing his feelings. I can't recommend this book enough.

[Anna Feakins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly too depressing and slow for me but I enjoyed it nonetheless - rather satirical and entertaining in some spots

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this novel was well thought out and mostly entertaining. At times, it offered insightful comments on social, personal and political issues and Mortimer did wrap it up well, even if some of the twists weren’t that surprising. I also enjoyed many of the character portrayals and interactions, some of which reminded me of those from a Robertson Davies or Iris Murdoch novel. That is a good thing to me.
However, I found the over-abundance of time switches and lightly-explained characters made for an often disconcerting read. I had trouble visualizing certain events and never thought I really had a full grip on all the story’s events.
Also, I did not find this to be, as my back cover blurb says: “a hilarious novel.” While I don’t think Mortimer really intended it to be ‘hilarious’ just lightly humorous and satirical, I presume some of the humor and satire was lost on me as I rarely laughed or chuckled. I do remember smiling at a few passages.
The unsettled feeling caused by the time switches and over-plotting has me rating this as somewhere just above 3 stars. However, it was still a mostly entertaining read and I did find Leslie Titmuss an interesting enough creation to consider reading the other novels in this series. Also as I am a fan of Mortimer’s Rumpole series, I may have entered this read with overly high expectations, resulting in my slight disappointment. Evaluating all these factors, I am rounding up to 4 stars.
Besides reading on in the series, I would also be interested in seeing the TV series where, presumably, the story is presented in a less disconcerting manner.

[George Ellingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents life as something akin to a series of slow moving, low impact car crashes that ends only in death. The end of life is the titular paradise rather than a reference to living on in some sort of divine eternity. The end for me was not welcome however as I thoroughly enjoyed the novel.

‘You can’t change people, they’ve been going on too long.’ one character says early on in the book. This isn’t quite true as the characters do change in the book, knowingly turning their younger selves into hypocrites until they forget that is what they’ve done, leaving behind a sense of regret and ennui that they use to help the next generation make the same mistake.

Nothing much happens in the book but what does happen unfolds very enjoyably. I loved the gentle cynicism that was very different from the more vicious and relentless mockery of some of the satires I read at school.

A great read with some brilliant quotes that I’ll remember fondly. ‘I was never all that concerned with the New Jerusalem. I suppose I’ve always had far too much to do in the garden.’.

[CQM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read any Rumpole books but if they are anything like as good as this first book in the Rapstone trilogy then I should.
This is a book that jumps back and forth in time frequently but it's never confusing. There's a huge cast of characters but you never lose track of who is who or who said or did anything in particular.
Mortimer keeps total control over everything and leads us through the lives of the characters from shortly after WWII up until the middle of the eighties.
The story concerns a socialist rector in a small town not very far from London who at the outset dies only for it to be discovered he has left the shares for the family brewery to an odious Conservative Minister Leslie Titmuss. The rectors youngest son Fred sets out to discover the reason while his older brother, celebrated author Henry decides to go to court to prove their fathers insanity. During the course of the investigations, such as they are, we travel back and forward through time learning about their lives and the changing state on the nation. It's excellent stuff and easily stands up to a second reading. Highly recommended.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A socialist father cuts his family out of his will and leaves all his money to a Tory MP, causing his son to investigate the strange decision. The setting is a small leafy village suffused with a stuffy English conservatism. There are well-heeled landowners who have owned estates in the area as far back as the civil war. There is a poacher with a cabin in the woods which is shrouded in mystery. There are old secrets galore which are guarded closely. Basically, an episode of Midsomer Murders without the murder.

As a satire, it succeeds in being vaguely amusing but I thought its biggest strength was the structure and pace of the story. It moves forwards and backwards in time slowly to add more pieces to the puzzle. Although I don't think it is a book that I will remember for long, it was an enjoyable read at the time.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simeon Simcox, the Rector of the villqge of Rapstone, has died and his will causes something of a shock. In a series of flashbacks we see episodes from the lives of people close to him, his two sons Henry and Fred among others, and we learn (eventually) why he made the will he did. Over the course of the story we see changes in Rapstone and in the world at large from the 1950s to the 1980s.
The story is fairly interesting but I didn’t particularly warm to any of the characters. Leslie Titmus in particular, a contemporary of the Rector’s sons but from a more humble background, I thought a strange character. Are we meant to disapprove of his desire to better himself? There are little jibes at his lack of taste etc which seem odd coming from a socialist author. There is nobody in this book who made me feel I would like to revisit Rapstone one day.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was was an ok read for me, but one where I could leave it at any time. There are a lot of characters involved, and the story continually jumps between time frames. This is primarily about the middle-class, and a boy wanting to up his status from working class, also the inter marriage/relationships within a small community. It was a bit of a disappointment to me, as I really enjoyed the Rumpole TV series and was maybe expecting too much from this.

[Tom Croskery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quintessentially English, kept me guessing until the end. This one’s a true gem 💎

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"At the outset of John Mortimer's marvelous new novel, Simeon Simcox, right-thinking, left-leaning rector of the village of Rapstone Fanner outside London, is lying on his deathbed. Gathered at the funeral later are his younger son, Fred, a doctor and part-time jazz drummer; his more volatile son, Henry, an angry young man turned crusty old blimp (blimp = A pompous, elderly stick-in-the-mud); their various wives and lovers; Simeon's patient wife; and the local villagers and gentry. Soon they are all thrown into a tizzy upon learning that the Reverend Simcox has left all of his resources in the hands of Leslie Titmuss -- social climber, politician, and arriviste. What on earth induced the always liberal pastor to favor a man whose single-minded lust for profit and personal advancement had come to symbolize all that's wrong with Mrs. Thatcher's Britain? That is the mystery at the core of a novel that is wickedly funny, totally absorbing, and marvelously observant of social ways and means.

"John Mortimer has written a big book in the grand tradition of Dickens and Trollope, a work of consequence as well as a superb entertainment, in which all of British life since 1945 is vividly illuminated through the lives and fortunes of these villagers. Yet the comedy should not disguise what is a penetrating and not always gentle inquiry into the British Paradise Postponed, an elusive Eden that Americans will find disturbingly familiar."
~~front flap

Well, doesn't that sound like the quintessential English read? So I rolled up my sleeves, and jumped right in. At first it was delightful, with comments such as:

"the twelve-year-old Leslie Titmuss stood in the Rectory garden, wearing long shorts and grey socks which fell like a couple of woollen concertinas over his dusty shoes."

"The dormitory was a long, dark, bare, barrack-like room with iron bedsteads and icy draughts which blew in through the compulsorily opened windows direct from Siberia with no intervening mountain range."

"That night's victim, a boy called Arthur Nubble, had bben satisfactorily reduced to a sobbing, blanket-covered lump in the corner."

" ... a Victorian Fanner put on the ostentatious portico which gives the house the disconsolate air of a small city railway station set down in the middle of the countryside, with no trains."

Well, you get the idea.

But as I continued reading, the story got more and more strange, eventually veering towards there having been (and possibly still being) something nasty in the woodshed. The characters become more and more stereotypical, the language settles down from such lovely descriptions and becomes much more pedestrian, and I was left with a general sense of disconnectedness as a result of several lacunae. So why was I reading this book again?

I'm reading it because I've got Paradise Postponed & Titmuss Regained (the sequel) in my Netflix queue, and the DVD will probably be arriving sometime next week. I've just looked up the description of the BBC miniseries:

"After Reverend Simcox (Michael Hordern) leaves his millions to social-climbing Tory cabinet minister Leslie Titmuss, Simcox's sons, writer Henry (Peter Egan) and doctor and jazz drummer Fred (Paul Shelley), set out to discover the truth behind Titmuss's relationship with their father. Based on a novel by John Mortimer, this acclaimed epic British miniseries follows the intertwined fortunes between the two families over four decades."

So where did I get the idea that these books were about developing land over the protests of the locals, and staving off said project? Beats me. But I liked it anyway. It's just that at the beginning I thought it would be a keeper, and it didn't prove to be, at least not for me.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy recomendable, con ese sentido del humor inglés, cáustico y mordaz que emplean los hijos de la pérfida Albión para criticar todo lo que se les pone por delante, empezando por ellos mismos. En esta obra se narra/critica la evolución de la Inglaterra actual, desde la posguerra hasta mediados de los años 80, en pleno thatcherismo. El escenario elegido para hacerlo es un pequeño y típico pueblecito inglés en el que su párroco, Simeon Simcox, un clásico reverendo anglicano ultraprogre, socialista y "salvad-las-ballenas", famoso en todo el país por su activismo y opiniones controvertidas y progresistas (trad: izquierdistas), fallece y deja toda su fortuna (sí, era socialista con fortuna, en este caso era accionista de una fábrica de cervezas) a Leslie Titmuss, un ministro del Gobierno Thatcher. El individuo en cuestión no puede estar más lejos de lo que ha defendido el reverendo toda su vida, por lo que sus dos hijos se quedan perplejos.

Uno de ellos, Fred, médico rural, se lo toma con filosofía y, si piensa en el tema, es para recordar lo que ha sido su vida desde que él y su hermano eran niños y compartían juegos ocasionalmente con el desagradable Titmuss. Sin embargo, su hermano mayor, Henry, lo encaja bastante peor. En su juventud tan progre o más que su padre, es actualmente un escritor y guionista de éxito, rico, famoso y terriblemente aburguesado. Trata por todos los medios de invalidar el testamento, demostrando que su padre estaba loco, si es preciso.

En el libro se combinan, así, la narración de los hechos presentes con frecuentes flashbacks (sobre todo a partir de los recuerdos de Fred) que desentrañarán el misterio de la herencia Simcox, nos mostrarán cómo y por qué han cambiado los protagonistas de nuestra historia, sus flaquezas, errores y triunfos y, a la vez, se nos desvelan los tremendos cambios experimentados por la propia sociedad británica en 30 años.

Un libro para leer con una sonrisa y alguna carcajada ocasional, estupendamente escrito y que deja con ganas de que se editen en español los dos siguientes volúmenes de la saga de Rapstone: "Titmuss Regained" y "The Sound of Trumpets", que nos llevarán hasta los años de Blair y el New Laborism.

Por cierto, he leído alguna reseña en la que se dice que este libro es una ácida crítica contra el thatcherismo; no es cierto: es una ácida crítica contra absolutamente todo: thatcherismo, socialismo, ateísmo, anglicanismo, curas progres, gauche divine, escritores aburguesados, famosos, aristócratas mohosos, convencionalismos sociales, médicos timoratos, trepas varios... En fin, un libro altamente recomendable.

[Graham Monkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Mortimer offers a riveting procession of complex characters and dramatic events in this wonderful novel – and many of those events are based firmly on fact. The story is set against a backdrop of English history between the late 50’s and early eighties – embracing the ban the bomb demonstrations, Harold Macmillan’s government and the Profumo scandal in 1963, Lord Home’s brief period as Prime Minister, Edward Heath’s confrontation with the coal miners in 1974, the rise of Margaret Thatcher, and the Falkland’s war in 1982.

The story unfolds within the rural environment of the Thames Valley near London. It begins with the death of the local vicar in the village of Rapstone Fanner and the revelation that none of his family are included in his will - the entire estate going to Leslie Titmuss.

Titmuss is a determined social climber who despises his background, ridicules his parents, and ruthlessly pursues money, status and power. As a boy, he had been befriended by Simeon Simcox and his family, but that in no way explains his choice as sole beneficiary.

The Rev Simeon Simcox is a passionate socialist, constantly agitating for a fairer society, peaceful coexistence, tolerance, justice and personal liberty. A regular supporter of CND, he takes part in the Aldermaston marches and other ‘ban the bomb’ demonstrations. His active and highly visible involvement in frequently controversial causes attracts strong criticism – plenty of it emanating from his two sons.

His oldest boy, Henry, is a writer with a successful novel under his belt and the possibility of a film adaptation. As with many older siblings he patronises and denigrates his younger brother, Fred, who is at medical school.

Henry’s decision to contest the vicar’s will is a key ingredient in the remainder of the story. He is determined to prove that his father was of unsound mind when the will was made - a claim that Fred refutes and begins investigations into his family’s past, which reveal plenty of skeletons in the cupboard.

Fred is the more restrained and thoughtful of the two. In his spare time he plays drums with a traditional jazz group. His girl friend, Agnes, is the daughter of the local GP, Dr Salter – a feisty, bibulous and unlikely doctor whose first love is hunting. He claims he only became a doctor because he couldn’t pass the exams to be a vet! As Fred has chosen medicine as a career, Doctor Salter becomes his friend and mentor. Fred is in love with Agnes but runs into trouble when she becomes pregnant.

His efforts to borrow 100 pounds in cash for an abortion come to nothing. Henry, with money in the bank from his writing, entices Agnes away from Fred, provides the money and whisks her away to California – where his book ‘The Greasy Pole’ is in line for a Hollywood movie.

Fred has done classics at school, two years national service, and now wants to be a doctor – without even possessing the basic educational requirements in science. Agnes realises any future with Fred is a long way off – hence her preference for Henry – who takes a delight in gloating over his conquest.

Fred and Henry are just two of the many unusual and complicated characters which John Mortimer creates so effectively in ‘Paradise Postponed’. To fast forward his career and acquire a home from her wealthy upper class parents, Leslie Titmus marries Charlotte, daughter of Sir Nicholas and Lady Fanner.

But it is not a good marriage. When Leslie becomes an MP and a member of Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet, he reminds Charlotte of his achievements. She respects none of them, as the following extract amply demonstrates:

'What are you now?' 'Nothing'.

'Nothing?' 'Only a member of Her Majesty’s government, only in the cabine'. 'Exactly what I said, Nothing!' The last word rose in volume to just under a scream'.

More friction ensues with the birth of their son, Nicholas. When Leslie decides he must go away to school, Charlotte asks Mrs Titmuss to try to persuade her son to keep Nicky at home:

'Will you tell him not to send Nicky away?'
'He wants him to have all the advantages.'
'The advantages of being buggered and beaten and brought up by a lot of bloody snobs?'
Charlie sometimes reverted, at moments of emotion, to the language of the London School of Economics.

Charlotte hates the trimmings of her privileged upper class life and claims she was attracted to Leslie because he was ‘rough trade’. She is down to earth, outspoken, and proud of her life as a social worker with the poor and needy. If she had lived in Victorian England in the previous century, one suspects she would have volunteered for the coal mines! Maybe ‘complicated characters’ is an understatement!

Fred also puts down Leslie for his political activity. When the latter again boasts about his position in the Cabinet, Fred responds with:

‘where’s that got us all? back to where we were before the war, wasted lives, no jobs , back to the years before Simeon made his well meaning offer of Paradise. Why on earth would our father have left everything to a person like you?’

Leslie is outraged. The ’well meaning offer of paradise’ refers to the Rev Simcox’s reforming zeal and belief that the causes he supports can only lead to a better quality of life for everyone. Before he dies, he concludes that it has all been an impossible dream – Paradise remains postponed.

Agnes displays similar disillusionment with her life, coming to despise Henry because of his monstrous ego and his grovelling cultivation of Hollywood movie moguls in order to secure film adaptations of his novels. She also laments Henry is no longer the ‘angry young man’ he once was.

One can lament all of this character assassination and lack of support which these women give to their husbands. But maybe their husbands cannot cope with what Dr Salter describes as the greatest challenge of them all – being loved. Or perhaps, as Lennon and McCartney wrote in ‘She’s Leaving Home’, it’s a case of ‘love is the one thing that many can’t buy.’ Henry and Agnes ultimately divorce.

Similar discontent is rife amongst the local gentry. Despite her wealth and privilege, Lady Grace Fanner consistently criticises her husband, Sir Nicholas. She looks down on the poor, and harks back to the days of the war which, amazingly, she enjoyed. She is selfish, hyper critical, patronising, and unable to love Charlotte, who despises everything her mother stands for.

She spends her days drinking gallons of champagne and yearning for her younger days while endlessly playing the 30’s Cole Porter hit ‘You’re The Top.’ John Mortimer has also skilfully incorporated the popular music of the 50’s and 60’s into the story - including jazz giant Charlie Parker with ‘Now’s The Time’, avant garde pianist Dave Brubeck with ‘Take Five’, and the Platters singing ‘Twilight Time’,

The women who offer their husbands support and respect include Mrs Titmuss Snr and the vicar’s wife, Dorothy. Dorothy’s commitment is particularly interesting, as towards the end of the story, it is revealed that her husband’s sex life included the same obsessive and frequently inexplicable attractions as the rest of us – yet another unexpected twist, and one which explains why he willed what he believed to be his substantial fortune to Leslie Titmuss. But was it that substantial?

That is yet another unexpected outcome in this human, true to life, beautifully written and highly original story. ‘Paradise Postponed’ is a gem.

[Dillwynia Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember seeing the TV version of this book when it was 1st broadcast 100 years ago and it has taken my all this time to actually read it. Mortimer had a good or bad habit of concurrently writing the script and novel of much of his works and this is born out in that I felt I was reliving the show as I read. (Probably says something about my memory more than anything else).

I have always enjoyed Mortimer's writing style and his arguments on contemporary Britain & this novel is no exception. In hindsight, the 80's ultra greed was an ultimatum of the previous four decades, but for some of us who lived through it, it came as a shock. This book beautifully discusses how people who nobody backgrounds could amass great power and be quite ruthless to all concerned. No noblesse oblige for these people.

As a novel discussing this "greed is good" period, I felt it was fair and biased, but in an honest, recognised way. It is well known that Mortimer was anti-Thatcher, so he is hardly going to write a novel highlighting their qualities. I loved the characters and loved the typical Mortimer bon mots throughout. I hope the sequel is as enjoyable.

[Alistair Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one pulled from my shelves. I must have read it before, but I have no memory of it. I like Rumpole (mainly on the radio), which was probably why I bought this in the first place.

This is a family saga, with a bit of mystery. That I was not completely enthralled by it is mainly my own fault. I have a poor memory for names - in books and in real life - so that I had difficulty remembering who was who. Added to that, the narrative skips about in time without explicit cues. This all lead to me puzzling over who was doing what when.

I was happy to keep going to find out the answer to the mystery. This did come at the end - along with a twist. I found it useful to re-read the first chapter when I got to the end, which added a bit of circularity and allowed me to confirm what I thought was the relevance of the ending.

[Rachel Hirstwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and found it at just the right moment (and I'm pleased to say it's the first of three in a series). This is a funny satirical look at life in rural England, not far from London. There are some great characters - a number of landed gentry, a poor working class man eager to get into politics for the Tories, and Socialist rector and his sons, ariter of fiction and screen plays, and a local GP. The book starts in the later 50s and goes up to the mid 80s. A time of great change in English politics. I think you 'd have to be familiar with England and it's history/politic/rural and urban types, to get full enjoyment from this book. But I heartily recommend it if you need an uplifting book to read.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people know John Mortimer as the author of the celebrated Rumpole Mysteries. As wonderful as those are, Mortimer was a wonderful writer of fiction as well. Being a Barrister as well as a writer, there is always a bit of a mystery in his fiction, but the big pull in this novel is the characters. Simeon Simcox, the left-leaning village rector leaves his estate to Mr. Leslie Titmuss, a very disagreeable fellow indeed. Why? Read this wonderful story to find out—and then read the sequels, “Titmuss Regained” and “Summer’s Lease”! Have fun...

[Paul Allard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It serves me right really as I thought that I'd really enjoy this novel by John Mortimer as the Rumpole stories were quite fun. It is however a product of its times, written in the 1980s, when novels about the foibles of the middle classes were popular and abundant. It is dated and rarely amusing as we discover the lives of Simeon, a left-wing country parson and his family and their story from the 1950s to the 1980s and their impact on the other people in their circle. There's plenty of adultery and plotting, political manipulation and legal wrangles. Disappointing.

[Russell James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1985 when Thatcher's England was top of all out minds, the excellent John Mortimer's sharp satire tells of the rise of Leslie Titmuss, from nobody to Tory cabinet minister, and his unexpected inheritance from a left-wing vicar. Why did he inherit? This forms the mystery at the heart of the tale, but what really makes this a minor classic is the sharply accurate writing - and, of course, the humour.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. a nice old-fashioned read.
phrases I underlined:
"Hollywood. The suburbia of the soul."
"she looked as though she were watching a theatrical performance which she had decided not to enjoy."
"...a mouth like a small wound."
"[where]...a solitary jogger is the only outward sign of urban pollution."
"like all parsons' or policemen's families, set apart from their neighbours."

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok country-village drama, but not especially memorable.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my only previous exposure to Mortimer was the Rumpole stories, “Paradise Postponed”, with its epic sweep across decades of post-war Britain, came as a surprise. To be sure, like the Rumpole stories, it is also based around a mystery. The book opens with the death (from natural causes) of Reverend Simeon Simcox, a well-known left-wing clergyman. When his will is read, it’s discovered that he has left his money not to his family but to Leslie Titmuss MP, the son of a parishioner who is, in the 1985 now of the novel, a minister in Thatcher’s government: not only not a family member, but in theory a representative of everything that the Reverend hated most. The rest of the book is an attempt to figure out why Rev. Simcox made this choice, partly following the efforts of the Reverend’s two sons, who want to to know for different reasons, and partly using a series of flashbacks, presented in chronological order, to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions. The result is an overview of 30 years of British history, as shown through its effects on a fairly idyllic town in southern England. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work. Titmuss is a pretty great character: Mortimer’s Widmerpool, to draw a comparison to “A Dance to the Music of Time”, which must have been part of Mortimer’s inspiration for this novel. But though Powell is never better than when Widmerpool is on-screen, he is a strong enough writer that whole books can go by with Widmerpool barely appearing without sinking the series. Mortimer, by contrast, has nobody to match Titmuss, which is an issue because a book like this doesn’t really have a plot, and relies on the interest of the characters (and the authorial voice, which also doesn’t stand out) to carry you through. Also, Mortimer’s detective-story instincts sit somewhat uneasily next to his larger ambitions for the book. Throughout, he teases the idea of some sort of affinity between Reverend Simcox, rebellious child of the upper classes, and Titmuss, rebellious child of the lower middle classes. You can see the sketch of an attempt to make the relationship of Simcox and Titmuss an analogy to the evolution of English society over the 30 years the book covers. Of course, it’s barely a sketch, and the idea doesn’t really work: the actual solution makes much more sense, but is also much less ambitious, to the point of seeming somewhat incongruous with a novel of this scope. A sense of humor might have helped to bridge that gap, but alas, this novel isn’t nearly as funny as I was hoping a book by the creator of Rumpole would be. There are enough good scenes, and enough Titmuss, that I got through it, but I won't be reading the sequel, or any other non-mysteries by Mortimer.

[Thekirkiepirate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read Paradise Postponed not long after it was published, and I also rather enjoyed the television adaptation around that time.

It was pleasing to find that the novel has stood the test of time very well and it is an interesting tale of Britain (and in particular SE England) from the period after WW2 up to the middle of the Thatcher years. It was illuminating to read of the changes to British society during the period under review and reflect that technological innovation since the novel was published have almost certainly resulted in greater changes, particularly in the ways in which we relate to, and communicate with, one another.

During the intervening years I had forgotten how the novel concludes and John Mortimer makes a very good job of producing an outcome that will please most readers. He should also be commended in pitting two deeply unpleasant characters - Leslie Titmus and Henry Simcox against one another. It would be interesting to find out just who in Thatcher's cabinet Leslie Titmus is based upon.

I will certainly read the other two novels in the series.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if this would still have been five stars if I went into this book with high expectations - but I didn't. I had read the Rumpole stories quite a while ago and I remember liking them - but finding them somewhat of their time -- a little sexist, a little closed conservative , and, importantly -- a little genre-ish. Enjoyable but not reaching very far or very deep. Also, I went in expecting a satire, and, at least in my estimation, this was not a satire. I think of satires as cold and brittle -- far more interested in making a point than in showing the gradations of meaning and truth. This book had heart and depth and told a good, complex story about people who weren't always nice but who had human motivations, who yearned for connections even while doing a great deal to stave them off. It reminded me of a 20th Century Barchester Towers. In short, I really liked it. Hence -- five stars.