The Anniversary

by Ann Swinfen

It is June 11th 1994 in the depths of Herefordshire and Natasha Devereux’s family and two hundred guests gather together to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of St Martins. From the vision of one woman who fled Bolshevik Russia and opened her doors to artists, musicians, writers, and refugees from war-torn Europe, it has become a sanctuary for generations of her family. Over the course of one day they face marital crisis, impending birth, teenage trauma, a father’s roving eye, momentous news from the past, communal financial crisis, and a lost love from the summer of 1957.

334 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2014

About the author

Ann Swinfen spent her childhood partly in England and partly on the east coast of America. She read Classics and Mathematics at Oxford, where she married a fellow undergraduate, the historian David Swinfen. While bringing up their five children and studying for an MSc in Mathematics and a BA and PhD in English Literature, she had a variety of jobs, including university lecturer, translator, freelance journalist and software designer.

She served for nine years on the governing council of the Open University and for five years worked as a manager and editor in the technical author division of an international computer company, but gave up her full-time job to concentrate on her writing, while continuing part-time university teaching. In 1995 she founded Dundee Book Events, a voluntary organisation promoting books and authors to the general public.

Her first three novels, The Anniversary, The Travellers, and A Running Tide, all with a contemporary setting but also an historical resonance, were published by Random House, with translations into Dutch and German. Her fourth novel, The Testament of Mariam, marked something of a departure. Set in the first century, it recounts, from an unusual perspective, one of the most famous and yet ambiguous stories in human history. At the same time it explores life under a foreign occupying force, in lands still torn by conflict to this day. Her latest novel, Flood, is set in the fenlands of East Anglia during the seventeenth century, where the local people fought desperately to save their land from greedy and unscrupulous speculators.

She now lives on the northeast coast of Scotland, with her husband (formerly vice-principal of the University of Dundee), a cocker spaniel and two Maine Coon cats.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having loved all of Swinfen's other books, this one was a disappointment, a slow pan of a book across several generations, layered with various people and their various subplots, none of which made me sit up and pay attention.

[Raymond Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a very hard read at first and nearly put it down, my love of reading other Ann Swinfen books spurred me to continue on. At the end I was very pleased that I did continue and finish this book because like all the books of Ann’s I’ve read they are high in moral fibre and there are always great characters. I just found it hard to keep track of the many characters in this book which is not helped by my slow reading speed. This book needs to be read quickly, a skill that my eye-brain capabilities will probably never allow me ti achieve.

[Terry Keely McClain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing

Her characters are each at once frail and strong, settled and searching, full of regret but undetermined by the improbability of joy. Guided so subtly by Natasha they find their own ability to find a place where life is good. Bridges the world of 20th and early 21st century Europe in its story of a family some of whose members are related by blood, others by need and interests and all by heart.
Looking forward to this author's other works.

[Cheryll · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book and thought of giving it 3 stars but it took me so long to figure out who all the characters were and who they all belonged to that it detracted from the storyline. It moved along at a snail's pace and never really reached a climax. It would have been easier to read if the movement between past and present was separated by chapters. An enjoyable ending - I think!

[Diane Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!!!!

As with all her works, the author’s characters live in the readers imagination as real feeling beings whose lives go on in the mind way after the last chapter. An excellent read for anyone, hard to put down. I’m systematically reading every book she’s written.

[Jane Gibbens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good story, well written, interesting development of different characters and an unusual premise, plus a bit of history for interest.

[Prue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Formally a Random House title, The Anniversary by Ann Swinfen is now available in Kindle format. A beautifully layered novel, it depicts the celebrations of an artistic community in the English countryside. It loops back and forth between the present day and WW2 when the artists first came together as youths. Swinfen has a sensitive eye and renders the plot, characterisation and settings with sophistication and polish.
The narrative unfolds in seamless fashion without a ripple in the quality of the wordage. A literary fiction with the subtlest undertone of Rosamund Pilcher; I say that because of the effortless way Swinfen created the manor house setting with its collection of idiosyncratic characters and its simple plot. Highly recommended.

[Bluejay44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent and well deserves its 5 stars. It is one I will come back and read again in the same way as I would look through an album of family photos.
It is Natasha Devereux's (nee Greshlov) 95th birthday and all her family are doing there best to be there for at least part of the day. So are many of those who have spent part of their lives at St Martins, also neighbours.
While events of the day unfold, we are given glimpses into the lives of all.
I shed tears of laughter, compassion and delight almost equally as this family became mine for this day.

The Anniversary has left me longing to read more of the author's work and hoping it will become available for the kindle.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually have a difficult time with books that move back and forth in time, but this was constructed logically, patchworking related thoughts and life events organically impacting future/present time. The family and interconnected people that made up the community featured in this novel were interesting as well as believable. They come together for the 50th anniversary of St. Martins, a home base for artists and family opened by Natasha, a survivor of Bolshevik Russia. In viewing the tapestry in this patched installment method, often the way we humans reflect over past victories and mistakes, we can also believe in the message and embrace the possibility of new beginnings.

[Debra Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In fact, I let the world slide away until the story, in its complexity, came full circle. Historically accurate, the story flowed from the present to applicable points in the past of each of the main characters. A huge, devastatingly tragic loss in the past was the basis for the novel. Flashbacks to that event and diverse parts of each character's life enhanced the depth of the story. Not long into reading, I was there, in the story watched it all unfold. I highly recommend this book

[Karen Lowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little like wadding through marshmallows - not entirely sure if it was supposed to be a comedy or a farce, but it is peopled by charicatures. If you are looking for gritty realism, be assured it is neither. That said, I did finish the story in the hope that Something would happen. It didn't.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle, beautifully written story.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice story, nicely written but I found it somewhat slow, particularly towards the end where I simply started skipping whole passages to get it finished. Just nice, not exceptional.