An invitation to a friend's house changes an adolescent boy's life. Discovering an old diary, Leo, now in his sixties, is drawn back to the summer of 1900 and his visit to Brandham Hall. The past comes to life as Leo recalls the events and devastating outcome that destroyed his beliefs and future hopes.

This book reminded me a little of Brideshead Revisited, with a young boy getting drawn into a family circle he isn't familiar with.
I enjoyed the read though.

Sent as a RABCK

This book was waiting for me when I got back from work. A very pleasant surprise. Many thanks for sharing.

This book will soon be going out as a bookring. The present order, whereabouts /postage preferances is as below but ring is still open to other readers:

Tubereader :- (Spain or Belgium/EU)
Icila :- (France/anywhere)
Pam99 :- (Scotland/ anywhere)
Tsjara :- (Norway/anywhere)


Final reader to release as they wish.

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

An oft heard and quoted line but one until starting this book I had no idea as to its provenance. My education was sadly missing not unlike young Leo Colston's.

I won't dwell too long on the plot other than to say that a 60+ year old man finds an old diary from the year 1900 which rekindles memories of a summer spent age the of 12 with the family of a schoolfriend and their house guest, the local viscount, at their country estate in Norfolk. When his chum is confined to bed Leo looks for something to fill his time so starts to run messages between his friend's older, and seemingly mature and enigmatic, beautiful sister Marian and her secret lover, a local farmer called Ted Burgess. As the summer temperature rises so do passions between the lover's with life changing effects for both them and Leo.

Both the year and the boy's age are highly relevant to the story because we see not only a boy's dreams for the coming century but he is also about to become a teenager with all the angst that that brings. So too is the perspective of the two Leos, the young innocent boy and the older man. The book could be described as either a sort of coming of age or an end of innocence drama but this would certainy do it a diservice and would be a little simplistic as there are also elements of class, morality, friendship, obligation and love to name but a few within it.

In this day an age where youth are bombarded with sexual images in the media and other outlets it may seem a little unbelievable that Leo could be so gullible but this book was written in 1953 and is about an age before TV and Social Media. The prose is beautiful and always engaging and whilst the ending is pretty obvious a long way out, secrets never remain that way forever, it still feels shocking when it comes.

If you want in your face sensation then don't bother but if you want to lose yourself in another gentler era then this is a gem. A real classic in every sense.

Anyway it will soon be starting out it's travels so you will be able to see for yourself.

This ring is now under way. I hope that all of you that have joined enjoy it but please don't feel that you have to rush through it, it is meant as a pleasure not a chore. Enjoy!

The book has arrived safely! Thanks 4evagreen for organising this! I'll get into it as soon as possible, as today I received two books that I will need to pass along, this one will be either my next one to read or the following one.

I have very much enjoyed this book. Not much more to say about the plot than what 4evagreen has already written.

I have very much enjoyed the writing, I found that the plot flowed effortlessly. Interesting to see how much things have changed since the beginning of the century, how children remained children for longer back then...

I'm PMing Icila for their address and will post the book to them ASAP.

Thanks for sharing 4evagreen!

The book has been posted to the next reader, Icila!

Happy reading!

The book arrived this morning. It was very cold in my mailbox. Much warmer now.
Thanks Tubereader !

I really enjoyed it and I'm thinking of reading some other Hartley's books.

On its way to Scotland.

Book has arrived, had just started another so I'll finish that first.

I loved this book - just a lovely, gentle story about a time when children were allowed to be children for much longer, before the hyper-sexualised, hyper-connected world we live in today. Highly recommend it - beautiful prose!

I have tsjara's address and the book is in my bag, so hopefully I''ll get to the post office asap!

The book arrived here safe and sound. Thanks for sending Pam99!
I have a couple of bookrings in front (they all arrived at the same time - how/why do they always do that? :p), so it will take a bit longer before I can get to it.
Thanks 4evagreen for organizing the bookray!

Oops, looks like I forgot to make a journal entry when I finished reading it (a couple of weeks ago).
I enjoyed this book a lot. Well written and it really drew me into the story. Also it was an interesting look into a period not so very long ago, but quite different from today (like that nice first sentence says "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there"). Not much to add to what the previous journalers have already said..
But I did like the ending with the old Leo and learn a bit of Marian's point of view (on those events and what happened afterwards).


I'm continuing the bookray: http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/493045/

Participants:
- Boekentrol (NL) Europe shipping
- Alexiapapa (Greece) Greece/Europe shipping
- QueenSissi (Portugal) Europe shipping

Now travelling to Boekentrol. Enjoy! :)

*Blushes*
This book has been with me for a while and it looks like I totally missed journalling it... I'm sorry!! Tsjara, thanks for the heads up!

It is sitting in the soon-TBR-pile, I've already added a sticky note as to who's next.

When I started this book and read some pages, I hesitated to go on. I didn't really like what I was reading, found the story quite boring.
So, it took me quite some time to get through the first 100 pages. Starting, putting away, starting over again from the beginning because I didn't remember the story...

Finally, when I got past that 100 pages mark, the story got more interesting. A green city boy, being used (without him realising that) by members of the houshold he stays at during the summer he turns 13.

I liked the book, especially the last part, where it gets even more clear that people have different opinions n what happened in the past or how they see their own and other people's actions.

I've contacted alexiapapa (the next in line) a few times already for her address. So far no response.
I'll wait another week and contact the ray-starter for advice if neccessary.

This book is now on its way to the next reader in line: alexiapapa. I hope you enjoy the read!

Safe travels, little book, I hope you arrive safe and soon!