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The Forsyte Chronicles #8
Flowering Wilderness
The nine novels which make up The Forsyte Chronicles - one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th century literature - chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women. The author has drawn a fascinating and accurately detailed picture of the British propertied class Often incorrectly called The Forsyte Saga - the nine novel sequence properly known as The Forstye Chronicles contains three trilogies- of which the first trilogy is The Forsyte Saga (The Man of Property - In Chancery- To Let). The second trilogy- A Modern Comedy (The White Monkey- The Silver Spoon- Swan Song) is followed by the third and concluding trilogy- End of the Chapter (Maid in Waiting- Flowering Wilderness- One More River). John Galsworthy (1867-1933) devoted virtually his entire professional career to creating a fictional but entirely representative family of propertied Victorians- the Forsytes. He made their lives and times- loves and losses- fortunes and deaths so real that readers accused him of including as characters in his drama real individuals whom they knew. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
11 people are currently reading
353 people want to read
About the author
John Galsworthy
2,430 books474 followersLiterary career of English novelist and playwright John Galsworthy, who used John Sinjohn as a pseudonym, spanned the Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian eras.
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 30, 2012
Beautifully written and deeply moving, this is Galsworthy at his absolute best. I do hesitate to read the next one - the final one in the series. It feels as if Galsworthy became more pessimistic about love, and its ability to endure trauma (or testing) over time. I love the family and the characters (except for that selfish Wilfred), and want them to be happy in the end. But will they?
June 14, 2023
With this second installment of the last trilogy of the Forsyte Chronicles, I have become fully ensconced into the affairs of the non-Forsyte Cherrell family, especially with Dinny Cherrell. The novel’s story consists of Dinny’s romance with poet Wilfred Desert and the effect on this romance of Desert’s decision to publish a poem about his experience converting to Islam while under gunpoint in Sudan.
At first, I had trouble accepting the plausibility of the story’s main conflict as I could not accept the significance of Desert’s forced conversion on society’s evaluation of him. However, as the story went on, Galsworthy so convincingly explained the workings of the British psyche on this matter that I came to accept the scope of betrayal felt by much of British society over this religious renunciation. It also helped that while I was observing the theme’s similarity to Conrad’s Lord Jim, a character in the novel made the same observation. It made me feel that Galsworthy was in command of his story and that he now had me aboard for the ride.
This novel also seemed to be much more of a natural progression in the Forsyte family story than was Maid In Waiting. Wilfred Desert was Michael Mont’s best man and a key plot point in a previous volume, The White Monkey, concerned Desert’s attempt of get Fleur to be his mistress. In the beginning of this novel, Desert is returning from his self-imposed exile after that attempt. Also, Michael and Fleur play more active roles in this story and their personalities come through more. All this helped enable me to finally accept that this closing trilogy is appropriately part of The Forsyte Chronicles rather than a separate trilogy merely tagged on to the Forsyte family for sales purposes. I also reflected that other successful family sagas, such as Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series, did not restrict themselves to a limited family core but had novels centering on a variety of extended family members.
After my initial skepticism of the plot’s plausibility, I grew increasingly enthralled by this story and read the last 80 pages in one sitting. Galsworthy’s writing is as clear and skilled as usual. He has crafted an excellent heroine and her sympathetic family. He also effectively portrays the attitudes in British society during these last stages of the empire. I was really into this story and have contemplated giving it either 4 or 5 stars. Upon reflection, 5 stars most accurately reflects how much I both enjoy and respect this novel.
At first, I had trouble accepting the plausibility of the story’s main conflict as I could not accept the significance of Desert’s forced conversion on society’s evaluation of him. However, as the story went on, Galsworthy so convincingly explained the workings of the British psyche on this matter that I came to accept the scope of betrayal felt by much of British society over this religious renunciation. It also helped that while I was observing the theme’s similarity to Conrad’s Lord Jim, a character in the novel made the same observation. It made me feel that Galsworthy was in command of his story and that he now had me aboard for the ride.
This novel also seemed to be much more of a natural progression in the Forsyte family story than was Maid In Waiting. Wilfred Desert was Michael Mont’s best man and a key plot point in a previous volume, The White Monkey, concerned Desert’s attempt of get Fleur to be his mistress. In the beginning of this novel, Desert is returning from his self-imposed exile after that attempt. Also, Michael and Fleur play more active roles in this story and their personalities come through more. All this helped enable me to finally accept that this closing trilogy is appropriately part of The Forsyte Chronicles rather than a separate trilogy merely tagged on to the Forsyte family for sales purposes. I also reflected that other successful family sagas, such as Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series, did not restrict themselves to a limited family core but had novels centering on a variety of extended family members.
After my initial skepticism of the plot’s plausibility, I grew increasingly enthralled by this story and read the last 80 pages in one sitting. Galsworthy’s writing is as clear and skilled as usual. He has crafted an excellent heroine and her sympathetic family. He also effectively portrays the attitudes in British society during these last stages of the empire. I was really into this story and have contemplated giving it either 4 or 5 stars. Upon reflection, 5 stars most accurately reflects how much I both enjoy and respect this novel.
April 5, 2013
This is a book written by a mature man wishing to use the Forsyte popularity to express his view of the British lower aristocracy. Amazingly, the issues he chooses are more than current - The divergence of attitudes towards animals between Westerners and others and the problem of Muslim violence. It is rather enlightening to find that just like current liberals, his tolerance has not boundaries when it comes to Islam. A Sudanese Muslim fanatic offering his hero, a poet, a choice between death and conversion is a subject of pity. What else can be expected of him? The real question is whether a British poet should have said: "Shoot and be Damned." Yes, the love story is as wild as the wind though glimpses and Fleur's marriage that it is possible to survive without it.
December 31, 2015
I liked this book. It moved really fast, and sometimes I thought it moved too fast. The story was a little on the melancholy side, but I feel it worked with the characters. I also liked the humor for the most part.
The statements made about society and its effects on individuals were definitely thought provoking. Such expectations do influence decisions.
Overall, I liked this. It was very English. If you quiver with English pride, you'd probably enjoy this even more. I don't feel I could grasp all the English-ness.
The statements made about society and its effects on individuals were definitely thought provoking. Such expectations do influence decisions.
Overall, I liked this. It was very English. If you quiver with English pride, you'd probably enjoy this even more. I don't feel I could grasp all the English-ness.
June 21, 2021
Me encontré con esta novela por casualidad, en una estantería donde la había visto miles de veces. Todos conocemos el viejo dicho de que no se debe juzgar un libro por su portada (que en mi caso no es la de esta edición, sino otra con una de esas fotos horribles de imagen real en la que aparece una pareja abrazándose acarameladamente), pero en verdad lo ponemos poco en práctica. El título tampoco ayudó a que me fijara en el libro en un primer momento. Sin embargo, esta vez me percaté de que el autor era John Galsworthy, del que sabía que había sido premio Nobel de Literatura, y, sin ni siquiera leer la sinopsis, me decidí a darle una oportunidad.
Me alegro mucho de haberlo hecho. La novela no es sino una muestra de la alta sociedad inglesa de principios de los años 30, en plena crisis financiera y de los antiguos valores victorianos, con el hilo narrativo de una historia de amor imposible. Lo mejor, sin duda, es la caracterización de los personajes, en especial de Dinny, la protagonista.
Una lectura ligera, muy recomendable para un fin de semana en la playa, como ha sido el caso, y que te deja con ganas de leer más de Galsworthy y su famosa Saga de los Forsyte.
Me alegro mucho de haberlo hecho. La novela no es sino una muestra de la alta sociedad inglesa de principios de los años 30, en plena crisis financiera y de los antiguos valores victorianos, con el hilo narrativo de una historia de amor imposible. Lo mejor, sin duda, es la caracterización de los personajes, en especial de Dinny, la protagonista.
Una lectura ligera, muy recomendable para un fin de semana en la playa, como ha sido el caso, y que te deja con ganas de leer más de Galsworthy y su famosa Saga de los Forsyte.
October 11, 2015
The second book of the Cherrell/Charwell's part of The Forsyte Saga is much more interesting and engaging than the previous book, Maid in Waiting. Perhaps it is because the conflict in this part of the novel is much more "scandalous" and what I would expect out of Galsworthy in my readings of his works. This volume's plot mainly concerns Dinny and Wilfrid's developing romance versus the discovery of his rejection of Christianity while serving in the Sudan and journeying with bedouins. His actions seem to be a huge insult to the English as it was done while in service to the national and is therefore a matter of national pride. Sir Lawrence explains, "The individual Englishman in the East is looked up to as a man who isn't to be rattled, who keeps his word, and sticks by his own breed," (Galsworthy 77). In his mission, Wilfrid fails not only his faith, but also his country. Church and state seem to be convoluted at this period, or perhaps it is the idea of a Muslim besting the colonizer that disturbs London when the matter is made public. All Englishmen abroad are threatened by this one moment of weakness. However, just as Sir Lawrence generalizes Middle Easterners, he believes that Middle Easterners think the same of all British in their lands.
No one, save Uncle Hilary, an Anglican minister, seems to be an orthodox Christian in belief. Sir Lawrence explains, "You can't expect Orientals, to whom religion means something, to understand that to some of us it means nothing," (Galsworthy 77). Somehow Wilfrid loses his nationality in a moment of life or death. He ceases to be a true Englishman and becomes a coward. Uncle Adrian explains, "In the East, where religion still means everything, you can't exaggerate the importance attached to a change of faith. Nothing could so damage the Oriental's idea of the Englishman as a recantation at the pistol's point," (Galsworthy 75). There are multiple times that men are questioned in the novel of what they would do if in the same situation. I think this is question of national pride is due to the novel's setting at the end of World War I, and nearly every male character readers meet had been involved someway in the conflict, even Wilfrid himself. Although the English won on an international front, national pride is still fragile. Wilfrid's outstanding military service is used as a defense point when his fellow Englishmen decry his actions.
Sadly the scandal proves too much for the couple, or at least in Wilfrid's point of view. In Maid in Waiting, Dinny proved that she could be relied upon when she believed in a cause, especially when those she love are involved. She absolutely rounds up support for her beloved, but I believe his pride gets in the way of his acknowledgment that she will not leave him; he simply does not give her a chance.
No one, save Uncle Hilary, an Anglican minister, seems to be an orthodox Christian in belief. Sir Lawrence explains, "You can't expect Orientals, to whom religion means something, to understand that to some of us it means nothing," (Galsworthy 77). Somehow Wilfrid loses his nationality in a moment of life or death. He ceases to be a true Englishman and becomes a coward. Uncle Adrian explains, "In the East, where religion still means everything, you can't exaggerate the importance attached to a change of faith. Nothing could so damage the Oriental's idea of the Englishman as a recantation at the pistol's point," (Galsworthy 75). There are multiple times that men are questioned in the novel of what they would do if in the same situation. I think this is question of national pride is due to the novel's setting at the end of World War I, and nearly every male character readers meet had been involved someway in the conflict, even Wilfrid himself. Although the English won on an international front, national pride is still fragile. Wilfrid's outstanding military service is used as a defense point when his fellow Englishmen decry his actions.
Sadly the scandal proves too much for the couple, or at least in Wilfrid's point of view. In Maid in Waiting, Dinny proved that she could be relied upon when she believed in a cause, especially when those she love are involved. She absolutely rounds up support for her beloved, but I believe his pride gets in the way of his acknowledgment that she will not leave him; he simply does not give her a chance.
December 12, 2015
Flowering Wilderness is the second book in the third volume titled The End of Chapter. This novel continues the story of the Cherrell/Charwell family who are related by marriage to Fleur Mont (nee Forsyte, daughter of Galsworthy’s great creation Soames Forsyte). As the novel opens three figures each stand and contemplate a statue – they start out as strangers – yet they are in actual fact loosely connected.
“In 1930, shortly after the appearance of the Budget, the eighth wonder of the world might have been observed in the neighbourhood of Victoria Station — three English people, of wholly different type, engaged in contemplating simultaneously a London statue. They had come separately, and stood a little apart from each other in the south-west corner of the open space clear of the trees, where the drifting late afternoon light of spring was not in their eyes. One of these three was a young woman of about twenty-six, one a youngish man of perhaps thirty-four, and one a man of between fifty and sixty.”
Dinny who we first met in Maid in Waiting, the daughter of General Conway Cherrell meets Wilfred Dessert – who we last encountered in The White Monkey. Then, early into the marriage of Fleur and Michael, Wilfred had developed a rather hopeless passion for his best friend’s wife. Following that Wilfred had taken himself out of England, and for several years has been travelling in the East. Now he is back in England, and he meets Dinny, who remembers him from Fleur’s wedding, despite having been only sixteen at the time. Ten years on the impression Wilfred created then, remains, and Dinny quickly falls in love with Wilfred and Wilfred is equally smitten. Wilfred tells Dinny of a difficult situation he got into while abroad. A tale she must then impart to her family. Wilfred – a man with absolutely no faith himself – he sees organised religion as being rather ridiculous – converted to Islam – while under great threat to his life. Here Galsworthy does what he does best; that is to show how British people of a certain class can make a whole lot of fuss about not very much.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...
October 19, 2015
I enjoyed this - the 8th in the Forsyte Chronicles. It was based on a premise which I couldn’t fully see from the point of view of the characters (I think either because it upheld a value that is very British and being Australian, I’m not quite on the same wavelength, or it was a value more prized around the time the book was written (1930s) and has lost favour now - or a combination of both), but it was still a good read.
It didn’t quite follow the path that I thought it was going to, and then the ending also wasn’t quite what I expected, but it kept me hanging on throughout, wanting to read more to find out what happened next. 3.5 stars.
It didn’t quite follow the path that I thought it was going to, and then the ending also wasn’t quite what I expected, but it kept me hanging on throughout, wanting to read more to find out what happened next. 3.5 stars.
June 6, 2018
3.5 my least favorite so far. Although it does give great insight into the mind set of 1930s G.B.
July 2, 2017
Book 8 of the FORSYTE CHRONICLES (Book 2 of the trilogy END OF THE CHAPTER) mostly concerns the love between Wilfred Desert (the poet infatuated with Fleur Forsyte in THE SILVER SPOON) and Dinny Cherrill.
Lots of wooing, missed opportunities and oppressive societal distress.
Enjoyed it, but not the best. Mostly a lot of angst.
Lots of wooing, missed opportunities and oppressive societal distress.
Enjoyed it, but not the best. Mostly a lot of angst.
December 31, 2024
It's been a good 18 months since I picked up book seven in this series, so it was nice to re-immerse myself in the familiarity of the extended Forsyte family. In this instalment, we see Dinny fall for the very man Fleur trapped a few books back. Having returned from war, Wilfred carries a secret that if revealed, may see him cast out of society. Ever loyal Dinny promises to stand by him no matter what, but will Wilfred step up and be a man, or run and leave Dinny to pine for her only love?
Dinny has a special place in my heart, so of course I wanted the best for her in Flowering Wilderness. I enjoyed seeing her relationship with Wilfred develop; despite his past, I truly felt like he'd turned over a new leaf thanks to Dinny's unwavering love and support. And, of course, I was absolutely here for Foch the spaniel 🥰
.
While the majority of characters in this instalment are familiar to us, I felt there were too many secondary family members involved to really get to know any of them fully. Many seemed very surface-level and therefore forgetful when re-introduced. That said, I'm looking forward to the final book in the series and will be genuinely sad to let the Forsytes go!
Rating breakdown
Plot/narrative - 3.8
Writing style/readability - 3.5
Characters - 3
Diverse themes - 3.8
Ending - 4
Overall - 3.6
Dinny has a special place in my heart, so of course I wanted the best for her in Flowering Wilderness. I enjoyed seeing her relationship with Wilfred develop; despite his past, I truly felt like he'd turned over a new leaf thanks to Dinny's unwavering love and support. And, of course, I was absolutely here for Foch the spaniel 🥰
.
While the majority of characters in this instalment are familiar to us, I felt there were too many secondary family members involved to really get to know any of them fully. Many seemed very surface-level and therefore forgetful when re-introduced. That said, I'm looking forward to the final book in the series and will be genuinely sad to let the Forsytes go!
Rating breakdown
Plot/narrative - 3.8
Writing style/readability - 3.5
Characters - 3
Diverse themes - 3.8
Ending - 4
Overall - 3.6
July 5, 2019
FW is the eighth novel in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, and part of the final trilogy which focuses on the Cherrell family, relations of the original Forsytes.
Dinny Cherrell is delightful, one of my favourite characters in the Forsyte Saga and I like this final trilogy much better than the earlier novels.
FW tells the story of the relationship between Dinny and Wilfrid Desert, a complex poet who has turned from Christian to Muslim to save his life in 'the East' and written a highly controversial poem about his experience.
While I enjoyed the account of Dinny's great romance, I do find some of Galsworthy's lengthy descriptions and philosophising TOO long. The general prose is enjoyable but, of course, not contemporary. This may deter some readers.
I find Galsworthy's portrayal of characters affected by Darwin and WW1 very interesting and very sad. The fatalism and often cynicism and flamboyance of the twenties and thirties seen in Galsworthy and other authors such as Thomas Hardy, are obviously a fruit of a society robbed of all genuine Christian belief. Having fun and a sense of humour and surviving financially are what is left.
But perhaps it was not so different from today as I realise L M Montgomery was writing at the same time as Galsworthy and she has clear Christian values.
FW is a moving book but the story is unsatisfying unless one reads its sequel, Over The River.
Dinny Cherrell is delightful, one of my favourite characters in the Forsyte Saga and I like this final trilogy much better than the earlier novels.
FW tells the story of the relationship between Dinny and Wilfrid Desert, a complex poet who has turned from Christian to Muslim to save his life in 'the East' and written a highly controversial poem about his experience.
While I enjoyed the account of Dinny's great romance, I do find some of Galsworthy's lengthy descriptions and philosophising TOO long. The general prose is enjoyable but, of course, not contemporary. This may deter some readers.
I find Galsworthy's portrayal of characters affected by Darwin and WW1 very interesting and very sad. The fatalism and often cynicism and flamboyance of the twenties and thirties seen in Galsworthy and other authors such as Thomas Hardy, are obviously a fruit of a society robbed of all genuine Christian belief. Having fun and a sense of humour and surviving financially are what is left.
But perhaps it was not so different from today as I realise L M Montgomery was writing at the same time as Galsworthy and she has clear Christian values.
FW is a moving book but the story is unsatisfying unless one reads its sequel, Over The River.
June 8, 2013
More than any relationship since Soames and Irene, the courting of Wilfrid and Dinny challenges allegiances and prejudices. I never knew where the story would go. This is narrative control of the highest order, characterisation you care about and the larger themes painted in both broad, confident, telling strokes and in minute detail. A contender for my favourite of the lot.
October 12, 2017
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Maid In Waiting :-
In Maid in Waiting, Dinny who is the person the title is after, is busy rescuing her brother and an uncle and other related people from various tangles to do with love, empire, standards of behaviour to do with scientific expeditions and treatment of people and animals, love, mental illness and more. She is unable to consider a brighter prospect for herself with either of the two very suitable beaux who fall in love with her, and would not make a match yet.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
.......................................................................
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Maid In Waiting :-
In Maid in Waiting, Dinny who is the person the title is after, is busy rescuing her brother and an uncle and other related people from various tangles to do with love, empire, standards of behaviour to do with scientific expeditions and treatment of people and animals, love, mental illness and more. She is unable to consider a brighter prospect for herself with either of the two very suitable beaux who fall in love with her, and would not make a match yet.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
.......................................................................
May 9, 2025
John Galsworthy's "Flowering Wilderness" is the second book of the last trilogy. I really didn't care for this story, though I really did not feel like spending a long time reading this which was apparent by my speeding through it. Though it was my least favorite so far, I must admit that Galsworthy did write an interesting novel. The whole idea of bravely accepting all torture for the British Empire, and not renouncing his country and religion. This book just cements my thoughts that Galsworthy seems not have any faith which is apparent in all his characters. This was very disturbing to me, in the early 1920-1930, it seemed in England around 10% truly faithful believers, the evolution and other writers seemed to think the Bible, a good story, not a TRUE one! The controversy over a British man at gun point renouncing Christianity and becoming a Muslim. My thought was truly of sadness, to forgo Jesus Christ and turn towards Mohamed. It is unclear if he considered himself a Muslim now and followed the faith? Was he renouncing of an unbelieving Christian, that his religion was only of family loyalty but pagan in his belief in non belief. What I don't understand is being back in England, he can revoke this renouncing and turn towards Christ but this is never mentioned. Why stay a Muslim unless he carries this as his badge of honor in turning against the Empire and civilization. It seems that he suffered but why keep identifying as an outsider. He wanted to publish his poem of this "coward" action, thinking it would help clear his mind but it made it worse because he was too sensitive and did not renounce his renouncing but clung to it all. It consumed him and he thought of his suffering more so than his supposed love.
Story in short- Dinny who had never been in love fell hard for poet, Wilfred Desert, the poet friend of Michael Mont who had wanted Fleur to leave her husband.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Dinny's sister Clare marries and not long before this Dinny sees Desert in a museum, remembering him from the best man at Fleur and Michael's marriage 10 years ago. She was 16 at the time, she knew right away that she loved Desert. He was attracted to her, he seemed to love her but he had this past which he wrote a poem about, which Dinny encouraged him to publish, thinking that this clearing the air will help but this had not been what he thought it would be, he still felt tortured. The publicity of the sales of his book is great and the rage from some, especially a gentleman who is friendly with someone in Dinny's family. The gentleman challenged Desert to a duel without his female protector which enraged Desert. Dinny worried wants to talk to the gentleman but finds that it is too late and she sees the fight, leaving. The pride of the lovers tears them a part but Dinny would run to him but tortured Desert leaves to go out to Siam. Does he truly love her? It seems his love is selfish. She will never forget him and what would have been a rocky marriage if she had married him.
Fleur has a daughter and has changed in the sense of her passion after Jon four years ago had been died down.
Jean and Hubert are going to have a child.
The family is worried for Dinny after Desert left England to never return.
Adrian marries his love after returning to England.
Story in short- Dinny who had never been in love fell hard for poet, Wilfred Desert, the poet friend of Michael Mont who had wanted Fleur to leave her husband.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Dinny's sister Clare marries and not long before this Dinny sees Desert in a museum, remembering him from the best man at Fleur and Michael's marriage 10 years ago. She was 16 at the time, she knew right away that she loved Desert. He was attracted to her, he seemed to love her but he had this past which he wrote a poem about, which Dinny encouraged him to publish, thinking that this clearing the air will help but this had not been what he thought it would be, he still felt tortured. The publicity of the sales of his book is great and the rage from some, especially a gentleman who is friendly with someone in Dinny's family. The gentleman challenged Desert to a duel without his female protector which enraged Desert. Dinny worried wants to talk to the gentleman but finds that it is too late and she sees the fight, leaving. The pride of the lovers tears them a part but Dinny would run to him but tortured Desert leaves to go out to Siam. Does he truly love her? It seems his love is selfish. She will never forget him and what would have been a rocky marriage if she had married him.
Fleur has a daughter and has changed in the sense of her passion after Jon four years ago had been died down.
Jean and Hubert are going to have a child.
The family is worried for Dinny after Desert left England to never return.
Adrian marries his love after returning to England.
December 4, 2022
Flowering Wilderness/One More River
These last two volumes complete the 9-volume “Forsyte Saga”. The first and second trilogies offer an affectionate satire of the British upper-middle class of the Edwardian Age as it comes to grips with the loosening of Imperial ties, growing pressure against the patriarchal society of the time, and the trauma of the Great War. The third trilogy, called “The End of the Chapter” continues the theme of women struggling against the constraints of their assigned roles, but also is almost a love letter to the beauties of rural England, traditional standards of conduct, and the old county estates and families.
In all three volumes of the last trilogy, we see the world through the eyes of Dinny Charwell (pronounced Cherrell, we are carefully instructed), who is a cousin-by-marriage of Fleur Forsyte, who was the center of the second trilogy. In all three volumes the problem of the plot is presented by the return to Britain of a man of good family who has, while serving at an Imperial outpost, behaved in a way unbecoming to his position as a representative of the British Empire. In “Maid in Waiting” (reviewed separately) it was Dinny’s brother, in “Flowering Wilderness” it is her lover, and in “One More River” it is her brother-in-law. But in each case, it is the impact of these acts on the women in the family which is highlighted.
Interspersed with the plot are page-long dithyrambs to the beauties of nature in general and English nature in particular – the rustle of leaves, the cooing of pigeons, the swoop of an owl. Each of the characters finds peace and poetry in moments of solitude in nature. It’s a bit odd to find these paeans to simplicity interspersed with the issues of sex and social norms. If you enjoyed the first two trilogies, you will of course want to complete your feast of Galsworthy – however you may find the last couple of courses a bit on the sweet side compared to what has been served up before.
These last two volumes complete the 9-volume “Forsyte Saga”. The first and second trilogies offer an affectionate satire of the British upper-middle class of the Edwardian Age as it comes to grips with the loosening of Imperial ties, growing pressure against the patriarchal society of the time, and the trauma of the Great War. The third trilogy, called “The End of the Chapter” continues the theme of women struggling against the constraints of their assigned roles, but also is almost a love letter to the beauties of rural England, traditional standards of conduct, and the old county estates and families.
In all three volumes of the last trilogy, we see the world through the eyes of Dinny Charwell (pronounced Cherrell, we are carefully instructed), who is a cousin-by-marriage of Fleur Forsyte, who was the center of the second trilogy. In all three volumes the problem of the plot is presented by the return to Britain of a man of good family who has, while serving at an Imperial outpost, behaved in a way unbecoming to his position as a representative of the British Empire. In “Maid in Waiting” (reviewed separately) it was Dinny’s brother, in “Flowering Wilderness” it is her lover, and in “One More River” it is her brother-in-law. But in each case, it is the impact of these acts on the women in the family which is highlighted.
Interspersed with the plot are page-long dithyrambs to the beauties of nature in general and English nature in particular – the rustle of leaves, the cooing of pigeons, the swoop of an owl. Each of the characters finds peace and poetry in moments of solitude in nature. It’s a bit odd to find these paeans to simplicity interspersed with the issues of sex and social norms. If you enjoyed the first two trilogies, you will of course want to complete your feast of Galsworthy – however you may find the last couple of courses a bit on the sweet side compared to what has been served up before.
October 29, 2018
In this book the "Why it's not good to be an upper class twitt" theme revolves around British racism.
Wilfred Desert went to Darfur and was forces at gunpoint to convert to Islam. This, according to all the characters he chooses to listen to, marks all Britishers as non-ubermench and therefore vulnerable to attack from the people England is trying to continue tyranning over.
What a crime!
Dinny, the sharp and beloved character the story revolves around, falls in love with Wilfred because she has a knack for lame ducks and Wilfred is just the right kind of pouty I'm-so-speshul-take-care-of-me-mommy kind of dashing to sweep ladies with not enough self confidence.
Luckily, Wilfred is man enough to go fistycuffing with one of these racists (this one eugenics-flavores, but a baddie ugenics-flavoured, not a goodie eugenics-flavoured like kind uncle Adrian). He's not man enough, however, to accept the fact that Dinny, by some mean, caused the end of the fistycuffs.
SAVED BY A FEMALE?????!!! That's even worse than converting to woggish worship!
So he huffs away, for the shame of it all, breaking a marriage promise to Dinny.
And so, the stupidity of 1930s English society saved Dinny from being dragged around by a Byron-flavoured manchild. Who might be somewhat based on T.E. Lawrence, maybe.
Good on you, Dinny.
Wilfred Desert went to Darfur and was forces at gunpoint to convert to Islam. This, according to all the characters he chooses to listen to, marks all Britishers as non-ubermench and therefore vulnerable to attack from the people England is trying to continue tyranning over.
What a crime!
Dinny, the sharp and beloved character the story revolves around, falls in love with Wilfred because she has a knack for lame ducks and Wilfred is just the right kind of pouty I'm-so-speshul-take-care-of-me-mommy kind of dashing to sweep ladies with not enough self confidence.
Luckily, Wilfred is man enough to go fistycuffing with one of these racists (this one eugenics-flavores, but a baddie ugenics-flavoured, not a goodie eugenics-flavoured like kind uncle Adrian). He's not man enough, however, to accept the fact that Dinny, by some mean, caused the end of the fistycuffs.
SAVED BY A FEMALE?????!!! That's even worse than converting to woggish worship!
So he huffs away, for the shame of it all, breaking a marriage promise to Dinny.
And so, the stupidity of 1930s English society saved Dinny from being dragged around by a Byron-flavoured manchild. Who might be somewhat based on T.E. Lawrence, maybe.
Good on you, Dinny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2020
This is the penultimate book in Galsworthy’s Forsyth Saga where Donny meets Wilfred Desert last seen pining over Fleur Forsyth Mont in The White Monkey. When Dinny and Wilfred meet, there is an instant connection, and both fall hard. However Wilfred is harboring a great shame which he reveals to Dinny in a poem. While out in the Middle East, he was forced at the point of death to convert to Islam, and instead of choosing death like any upright Englishman would, he chose to convert.
Dinny really doesn't care. She only cares for Wilfred, but her family, who are great colonialists, will care - a lot. There's a lot of strum and drang over this whole issue, especially when Wilfred includes the telltale poem in a book he is publishing. It's the best poem he's ever written, but when the press get hold of the story, it becomes a real scandal.
It's hard to believe that such things would have ever been taken seriously, but at a time when taking up the "White man's burden" was still taken seriously it begins to be understandable. Galsworthy was a Victorian and expressed Victorian values. But viewed from almost 100 years difference, one can see how the whole class of English society that was bred and educated to rule the colonies was doomed
Dinny really doesn't care. She only cares for Wilfred, but her family, who are great colonialists, will care - a lot. There's a lot of strum and drang over this whole issue, especially when Wilfred includes the telltale poem in a book he is publishing. It's the best poem he's ever written, but when the press get hold of the story, it becomes a real scandal.
It's hard to believe that such things would have ever been taken seriously, but at a time when taking up the "White man's burden" was still taken seriously it begins to be understandable. Galsworthy was a Victorian and expressed Victorian values. But viewed from almost 100 years difference, one can see how the whole class of English society that was bred and educated to rule the colonies was doomed
March 16, 2018
This second volume of Galsworthy's The End of the Chapter trilogy continues to demonstrate his prolific and thoughtful proficiency in describing the British aristocracy during the 1920's. In this mesmerizing novel, Galsworthy creates a no-win situation of a young man who recants his Anglican faith, and the young girl who becomes helplessly devoted to him notwithstanding political and moral consequences of the time. The controversial topic, in many ways, is timeless and timely and, how family, friends, and acquaintances react to the young man's renouncement makes for contemplative and lively reading. As always, Galsworthy's character development is superb, as the reader, not only becomes more acquainted with each character, but also begins to understand their thoughts and motives during a difficult time. Finally, the novel teaches the importance of resilience in times of trial by showing that the hope of the morning sun should never be overwhelmed by the tragic night which we each experience.
May 2, 2020
I like Galsworthy's wit, literary style, humour and social observations. Some of the latter are surprisingly up-to-date and worth referring to. He created very vivid characters especially Irene Forsyte, a very enigmatic and controversial figure. Dinny Cherrell is my favourite female charaster in the British literature, the true smile on the country's face. I have read all the books from the Forsyte Chronicles in my 20s in Russian translation, which, as I now see, gives justice to the original. Highly recommended, proven classics.
October 24, 2018
This book is definitely a return to form after "The End of the Chapter." It's interesting that Galsworthy resurrects Wifred Desert, a character from Fleur's life, as the lover of Dinny Cherrell. Also, the discussions of the values of Victorian England -- God and country -- are cleverly examined to determine if they have any relevant to post-WWI life. The answers are complex, and the conflicts are well handled.
July 28, 2021
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013.
...........................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013.
...........................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
June 3, 2017
Galsworthy continues the life if Dinny, the least interesting of his Forsyte family protagonists. She is something of a goody-two-shoes, not the slowly redeemed sinners that defined his better Forsyte protagonists. This is a sad departure.
January 1, 2023
I love this book and the rest of its trilogy. I like dinny better than fleur, which would be no surprise to its author. The last book, one more river, fades but then so did galsworthy. He died before it was published.
June 10, 2020
Хоть и без Форсайтов, все равно Голсуорси!
July 28, 2021
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
A Modern Comedy:-
The second part of Forsyte Chronicles begins - with The White Monkey, first volume of the Modern Comedy - where the Forsyte Saga left off, with a six years gap that includes what was then called the great war and is now known as the first world war. The story here continues with Fleur at the centre and her father, Soames, close to her, with Jon and his mother Irene far away in US.
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013.
...........................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
October 13, 2022
I appreciated the part that said it's important to solve your own problems, thoughts, issues to be able to start a life with someone else.
September 29, 2024
DNF.
Full of pukka sahib, The Englishman's word is his bond, etc.
Pass the sick bucket.
Full of pukka sahib, The Englishman's word is his bond, etc.
Pass the sick bucket.
February 5, 2016
Forsyte Chronicles:-
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
.......................................................................
End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
.......................................................................
Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
.......................................................................
One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
This work developed over a lifetime and began with a simple theme, that of individual's right to life and love, especially those of a woman. The first trilogy, Forsyte Saga, is the most famous of all. There are three trilogies, Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter being the second and the third. The Forsyte 'Change was written as separate stories about the various characters and spans the time from migration of Jolyon Forsyte the original, referred to usually as Superior Dosset, the paterfamilias of the Forsytes, to London from border of Devon and Dorsetshire, onwards well into the time connecting it to the beginning of the second trilogy. The first two trilogies have interconnecting interludes between each of their two parts.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
The Forsyte Saga:-
The Forsyte Saga was not planned as such but developed over years with sequels coming naturally as they did, and human heart and passion and minds within settings of high society of a Victorian and post Victorian England - chiefly London - and its solid base in property.
When it was published it was revolutionary in the theme - a woman is not owned by her husband, and love is not a duty she owes but a bond that is very real however intangible, that cannot be faked.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
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End of the Chapter:-
In the third trilogy of Forsyte chronicles the story centres on cousins of Michael Mont, mainly on his mother's side, the Charwells who are socially somewhere bordering on landed gentry and aristocracy, unlike Forsytes who made their way up from farmer to various money making professions (solicitor, investment manager, builders, stockbrokers and more) to artists and gentry of leisure. Being upper caste in England amounts to being bred and brought up to notions of service to the country and accordingly the Charwells are occupied with work dealing with law, church, and so on, when not with actual landownership including caring for the tenants and other residents of the land. Mostly the three parts focus on Dinny, Elizabeth Charwell, an attractive young woman of Botticelli beauty with a sensitive heart and capable mind who cares for not only her own family and clan but anyone around who might need her, and does the care taking actively with initiatives, meeting people and speaking to them, and more.
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Flowering Wilderness:-
In Flowering Wilderness she meets and falls in love with Wilfrid Desert, a friend of her cousin Michael who had fallen in love with Fleur in the White Monkey and left for east to disentangle himself, and Wilfrid is in love with her just as much, except that unfortunately he has been in a circumstance where forced to choose between life and conversion he had chosen life and thus disgraced all of his countrymen, endangering them to future kidnappings and disdain from those under British rule. This cannot be considered suitable for Dinny by her family and clan, and the story cannot be kept quiet, not the least due to the pride and sense of uncertainty Desert has about his own actions, and it ends up in her heart breaking with him leaving for east once again.
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One of the major beautiful things about Forsyte Chronicles - all three trilogies, but the first and third in particular - is the love of the author for beauty of England in general and countryside, nature in particular. Very lyrical. The other, more subtle, is the depiction of society in general, upper middle class of English society in particular and the times they lived in in the background, empire on distant horizon until the third trilogy where it is still in background but a bit less distant.
The society changes from the first to the third trilogy but not radically, and in this the author is successful in portrayal of how things might seem radically different superficially but are closer to where progress began, and progress being slow in steps that various people pay heftily during their lives for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
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