April 2011 book club choice- loved it! Story of a prominent English family from 1904 to 1920ish. My favoite story lines revolved around the publishing house.

One thing I absolutely loved was the dialogue between the extremely entertaining characters; it is so realistic. (I hate it when books have ridiculous, sappy dialogue which is beyond unbelieveable...)

I was intrigued by all of the strong women characters. The Lady Celia Lytton character, who leaves something to be desired in the parenting catagory but I liked the way she nudged her way into the publishing business and wouldn't let go, is a handful as is her mother!

Also, the Barty dilemma is fasciniating. Like Celia, I probably wouldn't have realized that Barty was being exiled into a no man's land.

I highly recommend this to historical fiction readers (if you don't mind having to read about love affairs). I so enjoyed this book that I immediately started reading the second book of the trilogy, Something Dangerous, and was shocked right from the start. I didn't like it at all!