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Full Circle
Harriet, the daughter of a country vicar, finds romance, tragedy, and danger as her life becomes entwined with the fate of Harley Hall, a beautiful local estate and home of the Mannering family
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Margaret Yorke
86 books52 followersMargaret Yorke was an English crime fiction writer, real name Margaret Beda Nicholson (née Larminie).
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2020
I began 'Full Circle' by Margaret Yorke expecting a solid 'romantic suspense' story, perhaps with more of the latter characteristic than the former, given the author was quite a prolific crime writer. However, as I discovered in relatively short order, this novel features relatively little romance and offers up only a (very) meagre sliver of suspense.
The novel's heroine is Harriet Tyrrell, widow of a Scottish solicitor and guardian of Philip Mannering - her orphaned nephew, and the heir to English country house, Harley Hall. Beginning with a brief present day prologue, the story moves to Chapter One which opens thirty or so years previously, with Harriet and her spoiled sister, Rosemary, being invited to Harley Hall to take tea with a young Nicholas Mannering (Philip's father).
What follows over the next 150+ pages of the novel, is a sort of abbreviated family saga, which takes the reader through WW2 Britain, onto post-war austerity and lastly into the reactionary 1960's, featuring themes of unrequited love, infidelity, tragedy (including the almost requisite 'car smash') and atonement.
Regretfully, despite it's 'busy' plot-line, I can't say I found 'Full Circle' a riveting read. On the whole, the book tells a pretty bland tale, but on the plus side, it's not objectionable. However, given that the author won various accolades for her crime writing, I'm assuming she penned far more interesting novels than this one, which I'm rating a largely uninspiring two-and-a-half star vintage romance read.
The novel's heroine is Harriet Tyrrell, widow of a Scottish solicitor and guardian of Philip Mannering - her orphaned nephew, and the heir to English country house, Harley Hall. Beginning with a brief present day prologue, the story moves to Chapter One which opens thirty or so years previously, with Harriet and her spoiled sister, Rosemary, being invited to Harley Hall to take tea with a young Nicholas Mannering (Philip's father).
What follows over the next 150+ pages of the novel, is a sort of abbreviated family saga, which takes the reader through WW2 Britain, onto post-war austerity and lastly into the reactionary 1960's, featuring themes of unrequited love, infidelity, tragedy (including the almost requisite 'car smash') and atonement.
Regretfully, despite it's 'busy' plot-line, I can't say I found 'Full Circle' a riveting read. On the whole, the book tells a pretty bland tale, but on the plus side, it's not objectionable. However, given that the author won various accolades for her crime writing, I'm assuming she penned far more interesting novels than this one, which I'm rating a largely uninspiring two-and-a-half star vintage romance read.
June 1, 2012
nice little English story....
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews