Ticket to Read Book Challenge 2018 discussion

The Summer Before the War
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6. Set in historical period > The Summer Before the War

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Betsy (betsywuebker) | 27 comments Mod
I really enjoyed Major Pettrigrew's Last Stand by this author. This looks to be as good - a non-traditional romantic relationship in a small English village in the last golden summer before WWI. I'm usually mired in the buildup to and events of WWII, so this will boot me out of that rut somewhat.


Betsy (betsywuebker) | 27 comments Mod
I finished last night. I felt like the story dragged somewhat, but it was still a nicely developed glimpse into the social relationships on the cusp of WWI in Sussex village life. I think we forget how structured everything was, how unusual it was to migrate between social classes, how pegged you were by the circumstances in which you were born. The social strata in this book ranged from landed gentry to Roma. In between were working class folks, merchant class, refugees and social leaders. The war would radically disrupt all these delineations, of course, as we saw in series like Downton Abbey, etc. A good read if you're into this genre, but perhaps not a must.


Bonnie (bonbayel) | 48 comments I read this last year, and don't remember enough to write about it, but it was interesting to read about the class conflicts that still to some extent affect Great Britain. Also refreshing that is was a different war!


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