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The End of the House of Alard
The End of the House of Alard (1922) documents the choices made by the final generation of the aristocratic Alard family and the ways in which they, both willingly and reluctantly, bring the long line of their ancestral blood to a complete and sudden end. For some of them, the end of the Alard line is as painful to enact as it is for others to witness; for others it is welcomed as a necessary modernization or a true realignment toward religious integity and universal human truth. Some of the family's children yearn for individual liberty; others have it forced upon them. But none of them can find it under the burden of the Alard name and its crumbling estate. The End of the House of Alard is a novel about the human need for purpose, for a truth by which to live and for which to die. It is a novel about faith and idolatry, love and death, freedom and bondage, nature and grace. Put another way, it is about how human beings cannot escape the great challenge of salvation, of breaking free from false, man made gods in order to unite instead with the divine love of Christ. The novel's characters span a breadth of options on this spectrum and their various outlooks on life continue to reflect those available to us today.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
3 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Sheila Kaye-Smith
113 books13 followersThe daughter of a country doctor, Shelia Kaye-Smith was born in St Leonards-on-Sea near Hastings. Her first novel, The Tramping Methodist was published when she was 21. In 1923 her book, The End of the House of Alard became a best-seller and gave her national prominence. She went on to write over 40 books.
Kaye-Smith's early novels were chiefly pre-occupied with rural life in Sussex and Kent. They focused on farming, land inheritance, agricultural mechanisation and changing women's roles in rural life. Joanna Godden, arguably her most famous novel, was adapted into a film in 1947.
Her later books focused on her religious pre-occupations, and her conversion to catholicism. She was also a passionate scholar of Jane Austen and with her friend, G.B. Stern wrote Speaking of Jane Austen and More About Jane Austen.
Kaye-Smith's early novels were chiefly pre-occupied with rural life in Sussex and Kent. They focused on farming, land inheritance, agricultural mechanisation and changing women's roles in rural life. Joanna Godden, arguably her most famous novel, was adapted into a film in 1947.
Her later books focused on her religious pre-occupations, and her conversion to catholicism. She was also a passionate scholar of Jane Austen and with her friend, G.B. Stern wrote Speaking of Jane Austen and More About Jane Austen.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 29, 2025
A sobering, thought-provoking and challenging novel about free will, particularly in the face of idolatry and dysfunction that lies beyond one’s individual control to change. I really fell in love with the Alard family members, even though so many of them were unlikeable and unhealthy. An excellent novel that definitely reminded me of the mirror which literature can serve as—I saw myself in so many of these characters, in their struggles and hardships. Kaye-Smith understands the human condition and the inner turmoil in which we can live so much of our lives.
Set in the time period of the world emerging from the unprecedented horrors of WWI, the situation facing the family of Alard shares many similarities to what we face in our modern world today—the reckoning with sweeping societal changes, the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness to do anything about it, having to face the irretrievable and irrevocable loss of what you hold dearest in life, and how to emerge with your identity and faith intact, without succumbing to bitterness, nihilism, or hedonism in the search for meaning in a world that feels utterly foreign.
Some favourite quotes:
“Unlike her, he had no refuge, no Presence to seek, no unseen world that could become real at a thought… His gods were dead Squires who had laid up wealth to be his poverty. Her God was a God who had beggared Himself, that she through His poverty might become rich.”
“I’m afraid Christianity’s a hard faith, my dear…the closer you get to the Gospel the harder it is. You’ve no idea what a shock the Gospels gave me when I read them again last year, not having looked at them since I was a kid. I was expecting something rather meek-and-mild, with a gentle, womanly Saviour, and all sorts of kind and good-natured sentiments. Instead of which I find that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the violent, while the Lion of Judah roars in the Temple courts….He built His Church upon a Rock, and sometimes we hit that Rock mighty hard.”
“He remembered her words—‘Can’t you understand?—It’s because I don’t feel big enough…afraid.’ He, too, felt afraid of his new life, and for the same reason—because he knew he was not big enough.”
“Don’t go regretting the past, and thinking you would have saved a man by betraying God.”
“You haven’t lost [your faith]—it’s only hidden for a time behind the Altar…you must go and look for it there. If you look for it in me you may never find it.”
A massive thanks to my buddy readers for this series of novels published by CUA, Elizabeth and Melody. I have been greatly edified and encouraged by our dialogue through these two novels so far, and eagerly look forward to the next!
Set in the time period of the world emerging from the unprecedented horrors of WWI, the situation facing the family of Alard shares many similarities to what we face in our modern world today—the reckoning with sweeping societal changes, the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness to do anything about it, having to face the irretrievable and irrevocable loss of what you hold dearest in life, and how to emerge with your identity and faith intact, without succumbing to bitterness, nihilism, or hedonism in the search for meaning in a world that feels utterly foreign.
Some favourite quotes:
“Unlike her, he had no refuge, no Presence to seek, no unseen world that could become real at a thought… His gods were dead Squires who had laid up wealth to be his poverty. Her God was a God who had beggared Himself, that she through His poverty might become rich.”
“I’m afraid Christianity’s a hard faith, my dear…the closer you get to the Gospel the harder it is. You’ve no idea what a shock the Gospels gave me when I read them again last year, not having looked at them since I was a kid. I was expecting something rather meek-and-mild, with a gentle, womanly Saviour, and all sorts of kind and good-natured sentiments. Instead of which I find that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the violent, while the Lion of Judah roars in the Temple courts….He built His Church upon a Rock, and sometimes we hit that Rock mighty hard.”
“He remembered her words—‘Can’t you understand?—It’s because I don’t feel big enough…afraid.’ He, too, felt afraid of his new life, and for the same reason—because he knew he was not big enough.”
“Don’t go regretting the past, and thinking you would have saved a man by betraying God.”
“You haven’t lost [your faith]—it’s only hidden for a time behind the Altar…you must go and look for it there. If you look for it in me you may never find it.”
A massive thanks to my buddy readers for this series of novels published by CUA, Elizabeth and Melody. I have been greatly edified and encouraged by our dialogue through these two novels so far, and eagerly look forward to the next!
November 30, 2025
I really loved reading this beautiful novel in company with Darryl & Elizabeth. We shared so many great quotations and passages! The introduction in the CUA edition was also so helpful, though spoilers beware.
Kaye-Smith is quite a psychological author and has an iron grip on her characters' psyches. There was a really great house that Elizabeth said felt like a Goudge house (Fourhouses). Each section is named after a significant house/location in the novel. Place is hugely important. The End of the House of Alard is a tragedy, and should be more widely known as a novel that questions the place of the landed aristocracy in the wake of WWI. It shares some themes with Brideshead Revisited but the vibes (and time period of writing) are very different.
I loved Gervase and Jenny and Stella, and would have liked to get more in Mary's and Doris's heads. It is kind of a more depressing Downton Abbey though, so beware. It has kind of a holy, austere sense to its tragedy, kind of like watching all the families in the Old Testament decline and fall.
Content warnings: suicide (not detailed) and some antisemitism
Kaye-Smith is quite a psychological author and has an iron grip on her characters' psyches. There was a really great house that Elizabeth said felt like a Goudge house (Fourhouses). Each section is named after a significant house/location in the novel. Place is hugely important. The End of the House of Alard is a tragedy, and should be more widely known as a novel that questions the place of the landed aristocracy in the wake of WWI. It shares some themes with Brideshead Revisited but the vibes (and time period of writing) are very different.
I loved Gervase and Jenny and Stella, and would have liked to get more in Mary's and Doris's heads. It is kind of a more depressing Downton Abbey though, so beware. It has kind of a holy, austere sense to its tragedy, kind of like watching all the families in the Old Testament decline and fall.
Content warnings: suicide (not detailed) and some antisemitism
December 2, 2025
I loved this book. Buddy reading it with Darryl and Melody was a highlight of November. I think my Top 10 list this year is going to be taken over by 20th century (cruelly neglected) British/Irish women writers who are writing about religion, community, and the dynamics of relationships. They don't shy away from the hard stuff but they also don't shy away from the mundane, daily-life stuff. They grasp the universality in the particular brilliantly. This is my first Sheila Kaye-Smith. Indeed, I hadn't even heard of her until I started investigating this series of Catholic women writers. It's so odd because she has been re-published by Virago and fits into my most favorite of all genre niches, which I've already mentioned (and could go on and on about at length). The time for rediscovery is ripe!
If you're used to reading 19th and 20th century British fiction, this book fits right in there. It's just a couple years past WWI. The heir of the House of Alard was killed in the war, but he has three more brothers in the line up. Peter is back from the war and is ready to take up the leadership of the House of Alard from his aging father. Unfortunately, his aging father is a Domestic Dictator and all the ways that the failing fortunes of the House of Alard could be saved have been rejected by Sir John. By no means must the land be altered in any way since the original land-grabbing Alards bought it and thus added to their wealth and prestige. Who is it in the story who can see that the days of houses like Alard are over? Who is blind? These questions play out with tragic and comedic endings both (in the Shakespearan sense).
This novel is so well written. It sustained excellent discussions. It has several characters (Peter, Stella, Jenny, and Gervase) who are now dear to me. I've put this novel on a shelf where it's easy to grab it again (i.e. not on the shelf behind my sadly double stacked shelves!) because I loved it enough to see myself re-reading this soon and picking up nuances that are always there when returning to a beloved book.
If you're used to reading 19th and 20th century British fiction, this book fits right in there. It's just a couple years past WWI. The heir of the House of Alard was killed in the war, but he has three more brothers in the line up. Peter is back from the war and is ready to take up the leadership of the House of Alard from his aging father. Unfortunately, his aging father is a Domestic Dictator and all the ways that the failing fortunes of the House of Alard could be saved have been rejected by Sir John. By no means must the land be altered in any way since the original land-grabbing Alards bought it and thus added to their wealth and prestige. Who is it in the story who can see that the days of houses like Alard are over? Who is blind? These questions play out with tragic and comedic endings both (in the Shakespearan sense).
This novel is so well written. It sustained excellent discussions. It has several characters (Peter, Stella, Jenny, and Gervase) who are now dear to me. I've put this novel on a shelf where it's easy to grab it again (i.e. not on the shelf behind my sadly double stacked shelves!) because I loved it enough to see myself re-reading this soon and picking up nuances that are always there when returning to a beloved book.
October 24, 2013
I’ve been wanting to read more of Sheila Kaye-Smith’s work for ages, but because I had a huge choice, after finding what must have once been somebody’s prized collection in a book sale, I wasted far too much time picking books up and down, not quite able to decide which one to read first.
In the end, a beloved author made my mind up for me.
“Have been reading in the half hour before I go to sleep ‘The End of the House of Alard’. Sheila Kaye-Smith is a favorite of mine. She reminds me of George Eliot. But her work is tinged – I had almost said tainted – with the pessimism of most present day writers of power. They reflect their age. It is hard to be hopeful today when one looks at the weltering world.”
From the journal of Lucy Maud Montgomery, November 22, 1923
I tend to agree. The comparison is a little flattering, of course it is, but it goes some way to balancing out the unfairness of Sheila Kaye-Smith being bracketed with many lesser rural novelists of the same period. She was a countrywoman, and that shows in her books, but she does much, much more than tell tales of country folk.
The Alard family could trace their ancestors back to medieval times, but their fortunes were fading. Lord and Lady Alard lived in their grand house, refusing to recognise that the world had changes, and believing that if only their children would make good marriage fortune would favour them and things would – things must – continue as they always had.
There were three sons and three daughters.
Peter became heir when his brother was killed in the was, and found himself caught between marrying for love and marrying for the money he knew the estate desperately needed; George had followed one of the classic paths for a second son, joining the priesthood and settling into the family living; Gervase, the youngest brother believed that the world was changing, decided that he must break with tradition and follow his own calling, even though he knew his family would disapprove …
Doris, the eldest daughter, had never married, telling herself that her parents needed her at home, and becoming set in her – and their – ways; Mary had married but she was unhappy, wanting to leave her husband but aware of the consequences and the social disgrace would follow; and Jenny was young and headstrong, she wasn’t going to make the same mistakes her sisters made, she was going to follow her heart …
The story moves back and forth between them all, touching on so many themes: family, love, duty, tradition, society, change, faith. There is much about faith – as there is in most if not all of Sheila Kaye-Smiths’s books – thoughtfully woven onto the story, a natural part of many of her characters lives. Details of lives lived on a country estate are woven in as naturally. I never for one moment doubted that the author knew – and believed – everything that she wrote about.
The story touches on Judaism as well as Christianity. Peter’s bride, Vera, is Jewish and it is mentioned often – Sheila Kaye-Smith writes beautifully, and she can be wonderfully subtle, but occasionally she labours a point. It is to her great credit though that Vera takes a great pride in her Jewishness, seeing it as something that makes her special, and that is never questioned. There were a few small details that made me suspect that her character was inspired by the author’s friend and sometime co-writer, G B Stern.
Above all this is a story of characters and relationships. Each and every character is beautifully drawn, complex and fully realised; the multitude of different relationships between them are caught perfectly too. They all lived and breathed, but it was in the dialogues that they were most alive. I remember Jenny, stridently making her case for doing just what she wanted to do; Gervase and George talking about faith; Mary quietly explaining why she couldn’t bear to go on with her husband ….
I was captivated. but I have to acknowledge there was something missing. A little more variation, maybe some outside influence – the story seemed to be set in a very closed world – might have made this a great book instead of a very good one. And it maybe needed to be a bigger book set over a rather longer period to allow the characters their stories to shine as brightly as they might.
The characters in the foreground needed to come forward a little. I loved Stella and how she coped when Peter made her decision, and her father who did his best to support her, even though he didn’t quite undestand. Their was as lovely, and believable, a father-daughter realtionship as I can ever remember reading. And the characters who were a little further back deserved more space. At first George seemed uninteresting, but when he spoke about faith, when he was called on as a priest, he came to life and I wished that I could have known him a little better.
This is one of those maddening books that I loved, but at the same time I wished I could have loved it even more. It was a very good book that might have been a great book. And the great book it might have been would made that comparison with Middlemarch entirely right.
And there’s just one more thing I must take issue with: the title. The fact the this was ‘The End of the House of Alard’ made the outcome of certain events rather predictable, and sorrow rather inevitable. The ending veered dangerously close to melodrama, but it was saved by the reactions of those left to cope and carry on.
In the end, a beloved author made my mind up for me.
“Have been reading in the half hour before I go to sleep ‘The End of the House of Alard’. Sheila Kaye-Smith is a favorite of mine. She reminds me of George Eliot. But her work is tinged – I had almost said tainted – with the pessimism of most present day writers of power. They reflect their age. It is hard to be hopeful today when one looks at the weltering world.”
From the journal of Lucy Maud Montgomery, November 22, 1923
I tend to agree. The comparison is a little flattering, of course it is, but it goes some way to balancing out the unfairness of Sheila Kaye-Smith being bracketed with many lesser rural novelists of the same period. She was a countrywoman, and that shows in her books, but she does much, much more than tell tales of country folk.
The Alard family could trace their ancestors back to medieval times, but their fortunes were fading. Lord and Lady Alard lived in their grand house, refusing to recognise that the world had changes, and believing that if only their children would make good marriage fortune would favour them and things would – things must – continue as they always had.
There were three sons and three daughters.
Peter became heir when his brother was killed in the was, and found himself caught between marrying for love and marrying for the money he knew the estate desperately needed; George had followed one of the classic paths for a second son, joining the priesthood and settling into the family living; Gervase, the youngest brother believed that the world was changing, decided that he must break with tradition and follow his own calling, even though he knew his family would disapprove …
Doris, the eldest daughter, had never married, telling herself that her parents needed her at home, and becoming set in her – and their – ways; Mary had married but she was unhappy, wanting to leave her husband but aware of the consequences and the social disgrace would follow; and Jenny was young and headstrong, she wasn’t going to make the same mistakes her sisters made, she was going to follow her heart …
The story moves back and forth between them all, touching on so many themes: family, love, duty, tradition, society, change, faith. There is much about faith – as there is in most if not all of Sheila Kaye-Smiths’s books – thoughtfully woven onto the story, a natural part of many of her characters lives. Details of lives lived on a country estate are woven in as naturally. I never for one moment doubted that the author knew – and believed – everything that she wrote about.
The story touches on Judaism as well as Christianity. Peter’s bride, Vera, is Jewish and it is mentioned often – Sheila Kaye-Smith writes beautifully, and she can be wonderfully subtle, but occasionally she labours a point. It is to her great credit though that Vera takes a great pride in her Jewishness, seeing it as something that makes her special, and that is never questioned. There were a few small details that made me suspect that her character was inspired by the author’s friend and sometime co-writer, G B Stern.
Above all this is a story of characters and relationships. Each and every character is beautifully drawn, complex and fully realised; the multitude of different relationships between them are caught perfectly too. They all lived and breathed, but it was in the dialogues that they were most alive. I remember Jenny, stridently making her case for doing just what she wanted to do; Gervase and George talking about faith; Mary quietly explaining why she couldn’t bear to go on with her husband ….
I was captivated. but I have to acknowledge there was something missing. A little more variation, maybe some outside influence – the story seemed to be set in a very closed world – might have made this a great book instead of a very good one. And it maybe needed to be a bigger book set over a rather longer period to allow the characters their stories to shine as brightly as they might.
The characters in the foreground needed to come forward a little. I loved Stella and how she coped when Peter made her decision, and her father who did his best to support her, even though he didn’t quite undestand. Their was as lovely, and believable, a father-daughter realtionship as I can ever remember reading. And the characters who were a little further back deserved more space. At first George seemed uninteresting, but when he spoke about faith, when he was called on as a priest, he came to life and I wished that I could have known him a little better.
This is one of those maddening books that I loved, but at the same time I wished I could have loved it even more. It was a very good book that might have been a great book. And the great book it might have been would made that comparison with Middlemarch entirely right.
And there’s just one more thing I must take issue with: the title. The fact the this was ‘The End of the House of Alard’ made the outcome of certain events rather predictable, and sorrow rather inevitable. The ending veered dangerously close to melodrama, but it was saved by the reactions of those left to cope and carry on.
July 19, 2024
Oh my word, reading this felt like coming home. I've found, finally, an author - and hopefully authors, once I read the others on my list - who write books inside the world I know, the world I live in. (Bro James, this is my Father Elijah.) The Catholic paradigm, worldview, way of seeing that this is written within made this novel (which is actually quite dark) a world I was itching to return to. The way it meanders across all the family members, not restricted to any one character, and the plot being episodic, was new and refreshing and a lot like life. The climax of Stella's crisis of faith coinciding with Good Friday and Holy Saturday was frankly gripping and had all the urgency of the eternal drama of salvation. Gervase comforting her with the truth was like a desperately knotted string coming undone, or like shifting sands solidifying into firm ground.
I read this for free via Gutenberg so no excuse not to read this page turner that also happens to plumb the depths of the drama of human salvation. He who loses his life will find it!!
I read this for free via Gutenberg so no excuse not to read this page turner that also happens to plumb the depths of the drama of human salvation. He who loses his life will find it!!
November 16, 2020
At times slightly too didactic, overall Kaye-Smith’s beautiful prose gives a haunting allure to this tale of the line of Allard’s death throes.
February 27, 2016
An intriguing combination of Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey. An aristocratic family faces it's imminent demise and confronts the faith that could save them as individuals. Kaye-Smith is a gifted writer whose prose is sometimes sparse but other times lush, but never shys away from moral ramifications in the lives of her characters. I wish this was still in print!
May 26, 2016
Downton with a hearty dose of Anglo-Catholicism. It ended rather abruptly, but was generally a pleasure to read.
July 24, 2016
Some amazing passages on catholicism.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews