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Glorious Guinness Girls #1
The Glorious Guinness Girls: A Story of the Scandals and Secrets of the Famous Society Girls
LOVE AFFAIRS, LIES, SCANDALS, SECRETS...
Aileen. Maureen. Oonagh. The private lives of the Glorious Guinness Girls fascinated a nation. But privilege always has its price...
Granddaughters of the first Earl of Iveagh, the three daughters of Ernest Guinness are glamorous society girls, skipping from party to party, the toast of Dublin and London. Darlings of the press, with not a care in the world.
But what beautiful ruins lie behind the glass of their privileged worlds? The love affairs, the scandals, the tragedies, the secrets...
Inspired by fascinating real events and a remarkable true story, from the the brittle glamour of 1920s London to the turmoil of Ireland's War of Independence, this dramatic, richly textured reading group novel takes us into the heart of a beautiful but often painful hidden world.
Aileen. Maureen. Oonagh. The private lives of the Glorious Guinness Girls fascinated a nation. But privilege always has its price...
Granddaughters of the first Earl of Iveagh, the three daughters of Ernest Guinness are glamorous society girls, skipping from party to party, the toast of Dublin and London. Darlings of the press, with not a care in the world.
But what beautiful ruins lie behind the glass of their privileged worlds? The love affairs, the scandals, the tragedies, the secrets...
Inspired by fascinating real events and a remarkable true story, from the the brittle glamour of 1920s London to the turmoil of Ireland's War of Independence, this dramatic, richly textured reading group novel takes us into the heart of a beautiful but often painful hidden world.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2020
628 people are currently reading
8797 people want to read
About the author
Emily Hourican
15 books85 followersEmily Hourican is a journalist and author. She has written features for the Sunday Independent for fifteen years, as well as Image magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and Woman and Home. She was also editor of The Dubliner Magazine.
Emily's first book, a memoir titled How To (Really) Be A Mother was published in 2013. She is also the author of novels The Privileged, White Villa, The Outsider and The Blamed, as well as two bestselling novels about the Guinness sisters: The Glorious Guinness Girls and The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal.
She lives in Dublin with her family.
source: Amazon
Emily's first book, a memoir titled How To (Really) Be A Mother was published in 2013. She is also the author of novels The Privileged, White Villa, The Outsider and The Blamed, as well as two bestselling novels about the Guinness sisters: The Glorious Guinness Girls and The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal.
She lives in Dublin with her family.
source: Amazon
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March 5, 2021
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March 1, 2021
As a child Fliss is sent to live with the Guinness family. She is included in many of the activities of the Guinness sisters, Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh. She also spends a lot of time reading to or doing jobs for their mother Cloe, who is not a well woman. Fliss mIsses her brother Hughie though he manages to visit Fliss with his friend Richard. And then he doesn’t come and Fliss is left to wonder what happened to her loved brother. This story is set during the time of the Irish Civil war, something which I did not know a lot about. It also paints a picture of 1920s London society. The story has some fictional characters like Fliss, but it is also based on real historical figures. As well there is the story from 1978 when a Fliss returns to the old family home and is sorting through papers to uncover the truth is events that happened.
This sounded really interesting and for a time engaged me but the longer it went on the more I lost interest and started to skim. None of the characters particularly held my interest and it was difficult to relate to them. Maureen particularly annoyed me. All the time it felt like I was outside what was happening. There was no emotional involvement or compelling need to keep reading..
For me this was just an average read and did not live up to the potential of the blurb. I was glad when I finally reached the end. However while it wasn’t for me, I have no doubt there will be others that will enjoy it. So why not give it a go if you think it sounds like your kind of book.
This sounded really interesting and for a time engaged me but the longer it went on the more I lost interest and started to skim. None of the characters particularly held my interest and it was difficult to relate to them. Maureen particularly annoyed me. All the time it felt like I was outside what was happening. There was no emotional involvement or compelling need to keep reading..
For me this was just an average read and did not live up to the potential of the blurb. I was glad when I finally reached the end. However while it wasn’t for me, I have no doubt there will be others that will enjoy it. So why not give it a go if you think it sounds like your kind of book.
August 28, 2020
Looking at the blurb of this book, or even the title, this seemed a book which would have great appeal to me. I love books set in the inter-war years and the lives of the Guinness Sisters – Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh – are fascinating. Oddly, though, this is a flat read, which never really seems to take off.
This famous, Anglo-Irish family, are seen through the eyes of Fliss, who goes to live with the sisters when she is ten, a year younger than Maureen and two years older than Oonagh. There is much about the Guinness family and the politics of Anglo-Irish families at that time. Of course, there are great Anglo-Irish authors who actually lived during these times, and one of my favourites is Elizabeth Bowen; whose novels really encapsulate that period brilliantly. However, in this novel, it is Fliss whose eyes we witness everything through and the author makes her so young and innocent, that the political concepts are never really explored. Again, I return to Bowen, whose novel, “The Last September,” takes those political themes and explores them through the eyes of a young woman, but does it so much better.
For me, the Guinness Girls are more about London, debutantes and Bright Young Things. We witness the family at various stages and we see them in London during the 1920’s. There are real life cameos, such as Baby and Zita Jungman, but, somehow, the excitement of those years are not realised. I just felt it was a rather straightforward re-telling; it lacked excitement and I failed to feel empathy with any of the characters. An interesting story, which was let down by a rather dull narrative.
Out of interest, the son of Oonagh Guinness was Tara Browne, the young heir who died in a car crash and was said to be the inspiration for, “A Day in the Life.”
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
This famous, Anglo-Irish family, are seen through the eyes of Fliss, who goes to live with the sisters when she is ten, a year younger than Maureen and two years older than Oonagh. There is much about the Guinness family and the politics of Anglo-Irish families at that time. Of course, there are great Anglo-Irish authors who actually lived during these times, and one of my favourites is Elizabeth Bowen; whose novels really encapsulate that period brilliantly. However, in this novel, it is Fliss whose eyes we witness everything through and the author makes her so young and innocent, that the political concepts are never really explored. Again, I return to Bowen, whose novel, “The Last September,” takes those political themes and explores them through the eyes of a young woman, but does it so much better.
For me, the Guinness Girls are more about London, debutantes and Bright Young Things. We witness the family at various stages and we see them in London during the 1920’s. There are real life cameos, such as Baby and Zita Jungman, but, somehow, the excitement of those years are not realised. I just felt it was a rather straightforward re-telling; it lacked excitement and I failed to feel empathy with any of the characters. An interesting story, which was let down by a rather dull narrative.
Out of interest, the son of Oonagh Guinness was Tara Browne, the young heir who died in a car crash and was said to be the inspiration for, “A Day in the Life.”
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
September 8, 2020
The tagline of Emily Hourican's newest novel, The Glorious Guinness Girls, is 'Three sisters. One shared destiny.' The novel purports to take the three Irish sisters of the Guinness fortune, the 'glamorous society girls' - 'elegant' Aileen, outspoken Maureen, and gentle Oonagh - as its focus, and moves from London and Ireland between 1918 and 1930. There is also a strand of a more modern story, set in 1978 in the old family home in Ireland, which is now being used as a care home.
In the late 1970s, Fliss has returned to this house, which she describes as 'big and old and pitiful, like the knuckles on an aged hand...'. She is seeking old family papers from the crowded attic space, having been asked to do so by two of the sisters. As she searches, she comments: 'I turn more paper. I do not know what I am looking for. All I see are sentimental recollections of childhood, and even at a distance of sixty years, I can catch the smell of that time. Dullness and emptiness, endless waiting, stuck between the schoolroom and the nursery, at ease nowhere. Beating at time with our fists to make it go faster.'
The blurb asks, 'what beautiful ruins lie behind the glass of their privileged worlds? The love affairs, the scandals, the tragedies, the secrets...'. The novel sounds as though it is poised to be revealing of the lives of the Guinness sisters, but unfortunately, I do not feel at all as though this was the case. We learn about the girls physically - for instance, they are described in 1918 as having 'each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways'.
Hourican has not just used historical figures in The Glorious Guinness Girls; she has invented individuals. One of these is Felicity Bryant, known as Fliss, who is the narrator of the whole, and who is undoubtedly the protagonist of the piece. She is a kind of poor cousin to the girls, who moves in with them after her father passes away. At first, it seems that she grows up as part of the family, given that she is a similar age to the younger sisters, and 'knows the girls better than anyone.' However, there are some hazy allusions to the way in which she feels continually excluded - when she is not taken on a very expensive cruise around the world with the sisters, for instance. Despite growing up in such privilege, Fliss is grateful for nothing, and I took a real dislike to her. As a character, she is utterly contrived; she brings nothing to the novel, and serves only to unnecessarily blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.
There are rather a lot of characters included in the novel; indeed, it is even prefaced with an extensive list of them. This feels like an overload at times, particularly early on. Barely any of the secondary characters feel fleshed out, either; rather, they skulk about in the shadows, and are known largely by the jobs which they do around the house. The way in which the narrative flits back and forth in time without any real chronological structure is a little irksome in places, too. There is very little plot here, and what there is has been stretched out; barely anything happens in more than 400 pages.
I was quite underwhelmed by the prose of the novel, too. This is Hourican's sixth novel, but it sometimes reads more like an early, less polished effort than one might expect. The prose is quite matter-of-fact, and the conversations are so overblown and repetitive that one gets hardly anything from them. There are a great deal of clichés which have been used, too; for instance, when things change in their lives, and the supposedly incredibly naïve girls are 'too merry and giddy to notice'. Hourican also uses some strange descriptors; I, for one, have never considered an eyepatch 'dashing'...
The Glorious Guinness Girls is not a book which necessarily would appeal to me if I spotted it in a bookshop, but I visited the Guinness Factory in Dublin with my boyfriend a couple of years ago, and have always meant to find out more about the illustrious family. I was a little disappointed, therefore, to find that the Guinness girls actually make up a relatively small part of the plot. Given that the author writes in her notes, which follow the novel, that she has been fascinated by the family for years, and has been researching them for different publications for a decade, I am surprised that they are not focused upon more. I feel as though I learnt relatively little about them, and not once did they feel like fully fleshed out beings. Hourican notes that she was inspired by the 'stories told about them, [and] the historical background to their lives', but this element feels somewhat lost.
The author does go on to comment that the characters here are purely fictional; their traits and personalities were invented almost entirely by the author. She writes of her 'versions of these people... [as] characters based on what I know of them, fleshed out with things I have invented.' The Glorious Guinness Girls is, Hourican stresses, 'a kind of join-the-dots, with fiction weaving in and out of fixed historical points.' This element of fiction, though, is dry, and bogs the entirety down. I cannot help but feel that this would have been a far more successful book had it been a straight biography of Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh.
Fictional characters should not have had to be invented to bring these young women to life, and I feel as though the way Hourican has gone about writing this novel detracts from their own story. It is near impossible to know the elements which are based on fact, and those which have been fabricated by the author; given that Fliss is fictional, and the whole plot of the novel revolves around her, every conversation involving the sisters is surely therefore entirely made up. There is also a real lack of emotional depth here.
Whilst it is clear from her notes that Hourican did a lot of research before embarking on this book, the historical details are not always enough, and the sisters often feel too underdeveloped. The invention of Fliss as a plot devide to move the story along did not work at all, in my opinion, and I feel as though the novel would have been far more readable had a third person perspective been used throughout. Using the Guinness sisters as the focal point of this novel had a lot of potential, but for me, much about it fell flat. The Glorious Guinness Girls feels like a mistitled novel, and a missed opportunity.
In the late 1970s, Fliss has returned to this house, which she describes as 'big and old and pitiful, like the knuckles on an aged hand...'. She is seeking old family papers from the crowded attic space, having been asked to do so by two of the sisters. As she searches, she comments: 'I turn more paper. I do not know what I am looking for. All I see are sentimental recollections of childhood, and even at a distance of sixty years, I can catch the smell of that time. Dullness and emptiness, endless waiting, stuck between the schoolroom and the nursery, at ease nowhere. Beating at time with our fists to make it go faster.'
The blurb asks, 'what beautiful ruins lie behind the glass of their privileged worlds? The love affairs, the scandals, the tragedies, the secrets...'. The novel sounds as though it is poised to be revealing of the lives of the Guinness sisters, but unfortunately, I do not feel at all as though this was the case. We learn about the girls physically - for instance, they are described in 1918 as having 'each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways'.
Hourican has not just used historical figures in The Glorious Guinness Girls; she has invented individuals. One of these is Felicity Bryant, known as Fliss, who is the narrator of the whole, and who is undoubtedly the protagonist of the piece. She is a kind of poor cousin to the girls, who moves in with them after her father passes away. At first, it seems that she grows up as part of the family, given that she is a similar age to the younger sisters, and 'knows the girls better than anyone.' However, there are some hazy allusions to the way in which she feels continually excluded - when she is not taken on a very expensive cruise around the world with the sisters, for instance. Despite growing up in such privilege, Fliss is grateful for nothing, and I took a real dislike to her. As a character, she is utterly contrived; she brings nothing to the novel, and serves only to unnecessarily blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.
There are rather a lot of characters included in the novel; indeed, it is even prefaced with an extensive list of them. This feels like an overload at times, particularly early on. Barely any of the secondary characters feel fleshed out, either; rather, they skulk about in the shadows, and are known largely by the jobs which they do around the house. The way in which the narrative flits back and forth in time without any real chronological structure is a little irksome in places, too. There is very little plot here, and what there is has been stretched out; barely anything happens in more than 400 pages.
I was quite underwhelmed by the prose of the novel, too. This is Hourican's sixth novel, but it sometimes reads more like an early, less polished effort than one might expect. The prose is quite matter-of-fact, and the conversations are so overblown and repetitive that one gets hardly anything from them. There are a great deal of clichés which have been used, too; for instance, when things change in their lives, and the supposedly incredibly naïve girls are 'too merry and giddy to notice'. Hourican also uses some strange descriptors; I, for one, have never considered an eyepatch 'dashing'...
The Glorious Guinness Girls is not a book which necessarily would appeal to me if I spotted it in a bookshop, but I visited the Guinness Factory in Dublin with my boyfriend a couple of years ago, and have always meant to find out more about the illustrious family. I was a little disappointed, therefore, to find that the Guinness girls actually make up a relatively small part of the plot. Given that the author writes in her notes, which follow the novel, that she has been fascinated by the family for years, and has been researching them for different publications for a decade, I am surprised that they are not focused upon more. I feel as though I learnt relatively little about them, and not once did they feel like fully fleshed out beings. Hourican notes that she was inspired by the 'stories told about them, [and] the historical background to their lives', but this element feels somewhat lost.
The author does go on to comment that the characters here are purely fictional; their traits and personalities were invented almost entirely by the author. She writes of her 'versions of these people... [as] characters based on what I know of them, fleshed out with things I have invented.' The Glorious Guinness Girls is, Hourican stresses, 'a kind of join-the-dots, with fiction weaving in and out of fixed historical points.' This element of fiction, though, is dry, and bogs the entirety down. I cannot help but feel that this would have been a far more successful book had it been a straight biography of Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh.
Fictional characters should not have had to be invented to bring these young women to life, and I feel as though the way Hourican has gone about writing this novel detracts from their own story. It is near impossible to know the elements which are based on fact, and those which have been fabricated by the author; given that Fliss is fictional, and the whole plot of the novel revolves around her, every conversation involving the sisters is surely therefore entirely made up. There is also a real lack of emotional depth here.
Whilst it is clear from her notes that Hourican did a lot of research before embarking on this book, the historical details are not always enough, and the sisters often feel too underdeveloped. The invention of Fliss as a plot devide to move the story along did not work at all, in my opinion, and I feel as though the novel would have been far more readable had a third person perspective been used throughout. Using the Guinness sisters as the focal point of this novel had a lot of potential, but for me, much about it fell flat. The Glorious Guinness Girls feels like a mistitled novel, and a missed opportunity.
September 10, 2020
The Glorious Guinness Girls by Emily Hourican will be published September 17th with Hachette. It is described as ‘a glorious, gripping, moving and richly textured novel which takes us to the heart of the remarkable real-life story of the Guinness Girls' and is a book I was really looking forward to reading. I must admit to knowing very little about the Guinness family and I was quite fascinated by the lifestyle of these three sisters as they socialised in the circle of the notorious ‘The Bright Young People’ of 1920s London.
Emily Hourican takes a small step back in their lives introducing us to the family as they lived in Glenmaroon, their palatial residence in Dublin. Arthur ‘Ernest’ Guinness was the son of Lord Iveagh, owner of the Guinness Empire and a man of extreme wealth. Ernest was sent to assist with the running of the brewery at James’s Gate. With his wife, Marie Clothilde ‘Cloé’ Russell, they transformed their original dwelling into a plush and ostentatious residence, Glenmaroon. Their home comprised of two separate buildings interconnected by a walkway bridge, with the idea that one was for everyday use and the other for entertaining. The wealth of this family is so very difficult to comprehend but, back then, during the years of civil unrest in a country trying to establish itself as independent, this show of aristocratic wealth stuck in the throat of many and, as history tells us, instilled much anger in many more.
Emily Hourican intertwines factual elements of the Guinness story with a fictional story about a young girl, Felicity ‘Fliss’ Burke, from Co. Wexford. Fliss is taken under the wing of the Guinness family to accompany their daughters and to help keep them out of trouble. Fliss returns to Glenmarron in 1978 to look through papers that have been discovered, ones that relate to those early years when The Guinness family lived there. Now a care home, much has changed, and as the memories flood in, Fliss recounts those years and takes the reader on a journey to her formative years and into the world of The Guinness Girls.
Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh Guinness were stifled with their lives. Each day was based on rules and regulations. With their father oft-times away for work and a mother with a nervous disposition, the three girls were lost and lonely. The boundaries set for them were very strict. They were The Guinness Girls with a reputation to uphold and an expected path laid out before them. When Fliss arrived, she was very young, understandably very nervous and of course overwhelmed by the lavish lifestyle before her. Fliss’s family had fallen on difficult times, her clothes threadbare in comparison. These girls lived sheltered lives, making demands, dismissing staff and being totally wrapped up in their own existence. But underneath the veneer are three girls just looking for attention, looking to be loved.
Fliss brings excitement into their lives when her older brother Hughie and his friend Richard arrive for visits to Glenmaroon. The presence of boys adds variety to their mundane lives but what none of them know is that the seeds of discontent are being scattered and these innocent days will not last for this bunch of youngsters.
As the unrest of the Irish Civil War puts fear among the aristocracy, with houses being burned down, and disdain being shown, Ernest makes a decision to pack up and leave Glenmaroon, moving the whole family back to the safety of his London residence. Fliss is distraught, not wanting to leave Ireland, but decisions are made and the girls embark on the next stage of their lives.
1920s London, following the First World War, was a hotbed for hedonistic play. The young folk were sick of the darkness of the previous years and wanted to escape the confines, rebel, have fun. The world was changing. Society was changing. For those with wealth, London became their playground and for The Guinness Girls, it became a place where they could throw off their perceived shackles and finally have some real fun. They soon became part of the circle known as The Bright Young People, counting Baby and Zita Jungman, Elizabeth Ponsonby, Stephen Tennant and many more as their friends. Living a decadent and carefree lifestyle, flamboyancy was de riguer, the more daring the better.
Emily Hourican wraps Fliss’s story around these years as she struggles to find her own identity, her independence from this high-intensity lifestyle. Fliss is caught between the world she wishes to inhabit and this fast-moving and exhausting world of The Glorious Guinness Girls.
The Glorious Guinness Girls is not just the story of Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh Guinness. They are a very important part of the novel but as Emily Hourican says –
“This is a work of fiction. There are characters based on real people, and there are invented characters, but all are part of a fictional landscape. I have woven my story around specific historical moments, and the challenge of that was to plot a story that took in these moments and made sense of them – a kind of join-the-dots, with fiction weaving in and out of fixed historical points”
The Glorious Guinness Girls is a joy to read. I would whole-heartedly agree that it is a must for all Downton Abbey fans. Society was going through huge change in the early twentieth century and the notion of the ‘big house’ was beginning to be seen differently. Emily Hourican charts these years through the eyes of Felicity Burke and brings the reader on a very insightful and thoroughly enjoyable journey. I always say that I love a book that encourages me to do further research and The Glorious Guinness Girls did just that. It is well worth taking a look online for articles posted over the years and to see for yourself the grandeur of Glenmaroon and the antics of Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh, although Maureen stands out as the most eccentric of them all!
The Glorious Guinness Girls is a gorgeous book, a captivating tale about a young girl caught up in the lifestyle of this family that continues to fascinate, The Guinness Family. And I have to mention the cover, isn’t it just so very striking? Perfectly suited to it’s contents.
“I think about how much we grew apart. Or were forced apart. By their fortune, but also by the things that happened that summer that felt like a beginning but turned out to be an end”
Emily Hourican takes a small step back in their lives introducing us to the family as they lived in Glenmaroon, their palatial residence in Dublin. Arthur ‘Ernest’ Guinness was the son of Lord Iveagh, owner of the Guinness Empire and a man of extreme wealth. Ernest was sent to assist with the running of the brewery at James’s Gate. With his wife, Marie Clothilde ‘Cloé’ Russell, they transformed their original dwelling into a plush and ostentatious residence, Glenmaroon. Their home comprised of two separate buildings interconnected by a walkway bridge, with the idea that one was for everyday use and the other for entertaining. The wealth of this family is so very difficult to comprehend but, back then, during the years of civil unrest in a country trying to establish itself as independent, this show of aristocratic wealth stuck in the throat of many and, as history tells us, instilled much anger in many more.
Emily Hourican intertwines factual elements of the Guinness story with a fictional story about a young girl, Felicity ‘Fliss’ Burke, from Co. Wexford. Fliss is taken under the wing of the Guinness family to accompany their daughters and to help keep them out of trouble. Fliss returns to Glenmarron in 1978 to look through papers that have been discovered, ones that relate to those early years when The Guinness family lived there. Now a care home, much has changed, and as the memories flood in, Fliss recounts those years and takes the reader on a journey to her formative years and into the world of The Guinness Girls.
Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh Guinness were stifled with their lives. Each day was based on rules and regulations. With their father oft-times away for work and a mother with a nervous disposition, the three girls were lost and lonely. The boundaries set for them were very strict. They were The Guinness Girls with a reputation to uphold and an expected path laid out before them. When Fliss arrived, she was very young, understandably very nervous and of course overwhelmed by the lavish lifestyle before her. Fliss’s family had fallen on difficult times, her clothes threadbare in comparison. These girls lived sheltered lives, making demands, dismissing staff and being totally wrapped up in their own existence. But underneath the veneer are three girls just looking for attention, looking to be loved.
Fliss brings excitement into their lives when her older brother Hughie and his friend Richard arrive for visits to Glenmaroon. The presence of boys adds variety to their mundane lives but what none of them know is that the seeds of discontent are being scattered and these innocent days will not last for this bunch of youngsters.
As the unrest of the Irish Civil War puts fear among the aristocracy, with houses being burned down, and disdain being shown, Ernest makes a decision to pack up and leave Glenmaroon, moving the whole family back to the safety of his London residence. Fliss is distraught, not wanting to leave Ireland, but decisions are made and the girls embark on the next stage of their lives.
1920s London, following the First World War, was a hotbed for hedonistic play. The young folk were sick of the darkness of the previous years and wanted to escape the confines, rebel, have fun. The world was changing. Society was changing. For those with wealth, London became their playground and for The Guinness Girls, it became a place where they could throw off their perceived shackles and finally have some real fun. They soon became part of the circle known as The Bright Young People, counting Baby and Zita Jungman, Elizabeth Ponsonby, Stephen Tennant and many more as their friends. Living a decadent and carefree lifestyle, flamboyancy was de riguer, the more daring the better.
Emily Hourican wraps Fliss’s story around these years as she struggles to find her own identity, her independence from this high-intensity lifestyle. Fliss is caught between the world she wishes to inhabit and this fast-moving and exhausting world of The Glorious Guinness Girls.
The Glorious Guinness Girls is not just the story of Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh Guinness. They are a very important part of the novel but as Emily Hourican says –
“This is a work of fiction. There are characters based on real people, and there are invented characters, but all are part of a fictional landscape. I have woven my story around specific historical moments, and the challenge of that was to plot a story that took in these moments and made sense of them – a kind of join-the-dots, with fiction weaving in and out of fixed historical points”
The Glorious Guinness Girls is a joy to read. I would whole-heartedly agree that it is a must for all Downton Abbey fans. Society was going through huge change in the early twentieth century and the notion of the ‘big house’ was beginning to be seen differently. Emily Hourican charts these years through the eyes of Felicity Burke and brings the reader on a very insightful and thoroughly enjoyable journey. I always say that I love a book that encourages me to do further research and The Glorious Guinness Girls did just that. It is well worth taking a look online for articles posted over the years and to see for yourself the grandeur of Glenmaroon and the antics of Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh, although Maureen stands out as the most eccentric of them all!
The Glorious Guinness Girls is a gorgeous book, a captivating tale about a young girl caught up in the lifestyle of this family that continues to fascinate, The Guinness Family. And I have to mention the cover, isn’t it just so very striking? Perfectly suited to it’s contents.
“I think about how much we grew apart. Or were forced apart. By their fortune, but also by the things that happened that summer that felt like a beginning but turned out to be an end”
March 11, 2022
Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh Guiness were the daughters of Ernest Guiness, the wealthy owner of the famous Dublin brewery. Fliss, a fictional distant relative, is sent to live with the Guiness family after the death of her father in World War I. She's a companion to the three Guiness girls and their mother. Fliss is not really part of the family, but often shares their glamorous lifestyle. The political situation in 1920s Ireland is volatile. Her brother becomes involved in the unrest, then disappears, leaving Fliss hoping that he is hiding and alive.
When the girls are older adolescents, they move to London to be presented to society and make good marriages. Aileen follows tradition, attending the debutante parties and dances. Maureen and Oonagh become more involved with a legendary group that throws outrageous parties in the Roaring 20s night after night. The group was nicknamed the Bright Young Things by the gossip columnists. Fliss does not really feel that she fits in with them, and wants to go in another direction. Women had more opportunities for a career in the 1920s.
This was an enjoyable book with many historic details, but a few too many descriptions of the parties in the second half of the book. Fliss called it "this endless ragtag party, a kind of sea serpent with many coils, that pops up now in Belgravia, now in Chelsea, now at the weekend homes of various friends, but is always somehow the same party. The same people, the same excitement, the same antics." The glorious Guiness girls led glamorous lives, but the rich and famous are subject to their own set of expectations and social pressures. 3.5 stars.
When the girls are older adolescents, they move to London to be presented to society and make good marriages. Aileen follows tradition, attending the debutante parties and dances. Maureen and Oonagh become more involved with a legendary group that throws outrageous parties in the Roaring 20s night after night. The group was nicknamed the Bright Young Things by the gossip columnists. Fliss does not really feel that she fits in with them, and wants to go in another direction. Women had more opportunities for a career in the 1920s.
This was an enjoyable book with many historic details, but a few too many descriptions of the parties in the second half of the book. Fliss called it "this endless ragtag party, a kind of sea serpent with many coils, that pops up now in Belgravia, now in Chelsea, now at the weekend homes of various friends, but is always somehow the same party. The same people, the same excitement, the same antics." The glorious Guiness girls led glamorous lives, but the rich and famous are subject to their own set of expectations and social pressures. 3.5 stars.
May 3, 2021
An intriguing novelization of the lives of Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh Guinness, the three beautiful and glamorous daughters of Ernest and Chloe Guinness. The story is told from the point of view of Felicity “Fliss” Burke, a fictional character sent to live with these famous sisters first at their grand home of Glenmaroon in Dublin, and later in the heart of London. While at Glenmaroon, the sisters and Fliss are kept away from the trouble going on outside their protected enclave, but soon some of the danger and violence of the struggle for Irish Independence begins to seep in. Beginning with the worries of their parents and eventually from the involvement of Fliss’s older brother and his friend, the War for Independence is at their front door. To safeguard his family, Ernest decides to relocate them to their home in London. Here as the girls grow older, their world begins to expand. As each make her debut, they find the constrictions of their parent’s rules constraining. Maureen ventures out into the social world of the Roaring Twenties and the group of young the press has named “The Bright Young Things”. Dragging Fliss and her sisters along with her, they find themselves among those flaunting the old ways and creating a new way to live in a changing world.
This is an engaging and richly drawn portrayal of the lives of these three early “celebrities”. While the first part of the novel dealing with the Irish Revolution is a bit light on history, the second part truly shines. The world of young socialites, casting off the pall of the Great War and trying to find a place in the new world order is captivating. The rise and fall of the “Bright Young Things” is vibrantly detailed, and the eventual disillusionment with the shallow world of celebrity is accurately depicted. This is a novel which will appeal to fans of Julian Fellows and Downton Abbey.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.
This is an engaging and richly drawn portrayal of the lives of these three early “celebrities”. While the first part of the novel dealing with the Irish Revolution is a bit light on history, the second part truly shines. The world of young socialites, casting off the pall of the Great War and trying to find a place in the new world order is captivating. The rise and fall of the “Bright Young Things” is vibrantly detailed, and the eventual disillusionment with the shallow world of celebrity is accurately depicted. This is a novel which will appeal to fans of Julian Fellows and Downton Abbey.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.
December 5, 2020
Can I give it 6 stars? I loved every bit of it. The different lifestyles, the parties, the wealth, the lack of concern for their personal futures; yet all with an air of loneliness and often despair. These girls had literally everything and nothing, in equal measures. A fascinating bio fiction which I devoured, like a good G&T. Bittersweet.
Excellent stuff!
Excellent stuff!
September 8, 2020
The beautiful glittering dress on the cover, the blurb proclaiming revelations of 'Love affairs, lies, secrets', the focus on the famous 'Golden Guinness Girls' socialites... With this presentation, the readers have been brazenly promised a book crammed with glitz, glamour and lashings of scandal. It is hard to believe that the flat narrative, centred on the unspeakably dull, fictional (and not a Guinness Girl) Fliss, is the same book which was described.
I should have known something was amiss from the huge list of characters on the first few pages. The ever-changing group of people means no character is properly fleshed out, the Guinness Girls themselves remaining spoilt blonde things with little personality. The first half of the book sees Fliss and the girls living in Ireland, the plot focusing on the growing tension between rich and poor in a politically divided Ireland. Due to Fliss' lack of political knowledge, this stays quite surface although I did enjoy the inclusion of Fliss' brother Hughie.
It is only in the second half of the book we get to witness the girls' socialite life in London, even then not really being allowed to be fully immersed due to the simple narrative lens of Fliss. We only hear about glamorous and wonderful events or view them exclusively from Fliss' perspective who longs to go home whenever she is out of the house.
All in all, anyone interested in this period of history will find this an good read I'm sure but it was not for me. I was drawn in by marketing and was hoping for a more exciting and juicy story than the one which was presented. The author herself said she finds the personal tragedies of the Guinness Girls fascinating - perhaps this just didn't translate well in this instance because I felt nothing for them. However, I was compelled to do some more research into these girls after reading and there is clearly reams of material from their lives which could have inspired a more scandalous side to this book. It is just a shame the writing never really took off.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I should have known something was amiss from the huge list of characters on the first few pages. The ever-changing group of people means no character is properly fleshed out, the Guinness Girls themselves remaining spoilt blonde things with little personality. The first half of the book sees Fliss and the girls living in Ireland, the plot focusing on the growing tension between rich and poor in a politically divided Ireland. Due to Fliss' lack of political knowledge, this stays quite surface although I did enjoy the inclusion of Fliss' brother Hughie.
It is only in the second half of the book we get to witness the girls' socialite life in London, even then not really being allowed to be fully immersed due to the simple narrative lens of Fliss. We only hear about glamorous and wonderful events or view them exclusively from Fliss' perspective who longs to go home whenever she is out of the house.
All in all, anyone interested in this period of history will find this an good read I'm sure but it was not for me. I was drawn in by marketing and was hoping for a more exciting and juicy story than the one which was presented. The author herself said she finds the personal tragedies of the Guinness Girls fascinating - perhaps this just didn't translate well in this instance because I felt nothing for them. However, I was compelled to do some more research into these girls after reading and there is clearly reams of material from their lives which could have inspired a more scandalous side to this book. It is just a shame the writing never really took off.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 18, 2023
The Glorious Guinness Girls
By: Emily Hourican
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The incredible story of the daughters of the man behind Guinness Beer. All so different and lead a privileged life.
Felicity is a young girl sent to live with the family as a companion to the girls. Her mother can no longer care for her. She sees how the girls are treated and sometimes benefits from their life.
An unexpected thing happens at a party which changes everything.#thegloriousguinnessgirls, #emilyhourican, beer, #guinnessbeer, #bookstagram, #booksconnectus, #bookreview, #bookstagram
By: Emily Hourican
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The incredible story of the daughters of the man behind Guinness Beer. All so different and lead a privileged life.
Felicity is a young girl sent to live with the family as a companion to the girls. Her mother can no longer care for her. She sees how the girls are treated and sometimes benefits from their life.
An unexpected thing happens at a party which changes everything.#thegloriousguinnessgirls, #emilyhourican, beer, #guinnessbeer, #bookstagram, #booksconnectus, #bookreview, #bookstagram
March 20, 2021
I received this book from Hachette Ireland in exchange for an honest review.
As a young girl, Fliss is brought to the grand house of Glenmaroon in Dublin to become the childhood companion of the three daughters of Arthur 'Ernest' Guinness. As the girls grow up together, Fliss watches as they leave a tumultuous Ireland behind and enter the glamourous life of 1920s London. But what is left for Fliss after all the girls are gone?
This is a charming historical fiction looking at the lives of three women I never knew existed yet at one point they were the belles of the balls in London society, and their father branded the drink that will forever be associated with Ireland. The writing in this is very good, and you can tell the author did so much work studying not only the lives of the Guinness Girls but also the people they socialised with and the era they lived in - not just in London but in Ireland as well.
There are fascinating looks or more glimpses as we learn through Fliss the political and often violent climate in Ireland during the 1920s and while she doesn't understand much, she knows it's important and she sees her beloved brother get caught up in it. I never realised that Arthur Guinness, being Anglo-Irish would actually be very Pro-Crown, anti-Irish independence and would have supported the Black & Tans who did awful things to Irish people fighting for their rights. It definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth!
Seeing as Hughie was such a huge character in this, both visible and invisible at times, I would have actually liked to have seen even more of him and more of his political views. It did feel a bit muted how everything with Hughie ended up and it took so long to really learn much of substance about what happened (literally the last two pages).
The glimpse into the parties and debauchery of the 1920s in London was fascinating and while it was glamorous and I loved the descriptions of everyone's fashion at the tome and what the girls wore to all the parties, I definitely would be more of a Fliss and probably want to sit a lot of them out. They sounded tiring. I also can't say I ever really liked the Guinness girls - they were vain, selfish and silly and it didn't sound like they ever really grew out of it - Maureen in particular.
I liked learning about how the great stock crash affected those in London circles and how much it muted the types of circles the girls socialised in.
I liked this book but there was a part in the middle where the book definitely dragged a bit, and Fliss while being a very observant...observer.. isn't necessarily a character full of gumption and can be a bit boring. I actually would have liked more of Fliss being Fliss and taking charge of her life after the girls were gone and married but all of that was left out.
As a young girl, Fliss is brought to the grand house of Glenmaroon in Dublin to become the childhood companion of the three daughters of Arthur 'Ernest' Guinness. As the girls grow up together, Fliss watches as they leave a tumultuous Ireland behind and enter the glamourous life of 1920s London. But what is left for Fliss after all the girls are gone?
This is a charming historical fiction looking at the lives of three women I never knew existed yet at one point they were the belles of the balls in London society, and their father branded the drink that will forever be associated with Ireland. The writing in this is very good, and you can tell the author did so much work studying not only the lives of the Guinness Girls but also the people they socialised with and the era they lived in - not just in London but in Ireland as well.
There are fascinating looks or more glimpses as we learn through Fliss the political and often violent climate in Ireland during the 1920s and while she doesn't understand much, she knows it's important and she sees her beloved brother get caught up in it. I never realised that Arthur Guinness, being Anglo-Irish would actually be very Pro-Crown, anti-Irish independence and would have supported the Black & Tans who did awful things to Irish people fighting for their rights. It definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth!
Seeing as Hughie was such a huge character in this, both visible and invisible at times, I would have actually liked to have seen even more of him and more of his political views. It did feel a bit muted how everything with Hughie ended up and it took so long to really learn much of substance about what happened (literally the last two pages).
The glimpse into the parties and debauchery of the 1920s in London was fascinating and while it was glamorous and I loved the descriptions of everyone's fashion at the tome and what the girls wore to all the parties, I definitely would be more of a Fliss and probably want to sit a lot of them out. They sounded tiring. I also can't say I ever really liked the Guinness girls - they were vain, selfish and silly and it didn't sound like they ever really grew out of it - Maureen in particular.
I liked learning about how the great stock crash affected those in London circles and how much it muted the types of circles the girls socialised in.
I liked this book but there was a part in the middle where the book definitely dragged a bit, and Fliss while being a very observant...observer.. isn't necessarily a character full of gumption and can be a bit boring. I actually would have liked more of Fliss being Fliss and taking charge of her life after the girls were gone and married but all of that was left out.
June 29, 2021
I love historical fiction, especially when it deals with real people from the past. This novel sounded like it was going to be right up my alley. You have the heiresses to the Guinness stout fortune, a perfect time in history-the roaring twenties, and an abundance of tragic circumstances since this was about Ireland and in the early 20th century. This should have been an exciting or at least informative book about the Guinnesses, right? But, no, it was not.
The debutantes are seen through a fictitious person's eyes, and she (Felicity or Fliss as they nicknamed her) was the most boring of narrators. The only interesting thing going is what happens between Fliss and her brother Hughie, which seems to be a bit on the incestuous side but without the sex (at least that we know of).
This bok was filled with enough ennui, rants about poor over-privileged me, words that were just filler, drugs, alcohol, and stupid parties. The girl's mother was sick through this entire book- did the author deign to tell us what the problem was? No. Did the author flood this book with enough florid prose to make you want to tear your hair out? Yes.
I'm sorry, but no, just no. I do admit to having enough interest to finish this ARC, though.
*ARC supplied by the publisher.
The debutantes are seen through a fictitious person's eyes, and she (Felicity or Fliss as they nicknamed her) was the most boring of narrators. The only interesting thing going is what happens between Fliss and her brother Hughie, which seems to be a bit on the incestuous side but without the sex (at least that we know of).
This bok was filled with enough ennui, rants about poor over-privileged me, words that were just filler, drugs, alcohol, and stupid parties. The girl's mother was sick through this entire book- did the author deign to tell us what the problem was? No. Did the author flood this book with enough florid prose to make you want to tear your hair out? Yes.
I'm sorry, but no, just no. I do admit to having enough interest to finish this ARC, though.
*ARC supplied by the publisher.
June 13, 2023
A great read. did only realise about 3/4 through that the brewery they were discussing IS the guinness brewery💀 pls someone get me a new brain. LOVED the characters, plot was great & i loved the author’s note explaining all the historical details🥰
January 2, 2021
The Glorious Guinness Girls ⋆ Emily Hourican
✨🛍🥂
A story of love, loss, glamour and tragedy weaved throughout the Irish War of Independence, Hourican stylishly captures the essence of being young and growing up in an ever-changing world.
The Glorious Guinness Girls was a treat, a marvel, an absolute delight of a book. Admittedly I felt its pacing was slower than I’d hoped, but I cannot let this overshadow the fact that it was a perfect read for someone who adores Downton Abbey, the Jazz Age and the glitz & glamour of ‘20s society.
The Guinness Girls, the darling sisters, stars of society & pets of the press, were undoubtedly unique and perfectly crafted by Hourican. Of course, these women are not fictional (see slides of this post!) but Hourican‘s interpretation of wise Aileen, vivacious Maureen and sweet Oonagh was divine and truly compelling.
Our main character, Fliss, a young girl taken under the wing of the Guinness’s, takes us through her life from 1918 to 1929. She is at first a schoolmate for the girls, and then a friend, or almost sister. We see everything from her eyes.
Now, Fliss’ character fell a little flat for me; she didn’t seem to have any defining characteristics until she was older and became accomplished as a working woman, which I loved. It did seem that she was merely used as an unneeded narrator on the boundaries of high society - it would’ve been interesting to hear the story told from one of the sisters themselves. But, I must add, Fliss’ quieter character could’ve been used by the author to enhance the daring, bold and effervescent personalities of the Guinness girls, who each were glowing & glorious.
This book is wonderful in its way of encouraging you to read more of its history. While writing this review & researching the Guinness girls, I have discovered the complexities and truths of things that were hinted at in the novel but never fully explained. I now long for a TV adaption of this book & expect to be cast as a Guinness girl, thank you very much ;).
4⭐️
Thankyou to Headline for sending me an early release of the book - it is out now!
𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆
follow @whatalicereads on Instagram for more! 📚
✨🛍🥂
A story of love, loss, glamour and tragedy weaved throughout the Irish War of Independence, Hourican stylishly captures the essence of being young and growing up in an ever-changing world.
The Glorious Guinness Girls was a treat, a marvel, an absolute delight of a book. Admittedly I felt its pacing was slower than I’d hoped, but I cannot let this overshadow the fact that it was a perfect read for someone who adores Downton Abbey, the Jazz Age and the glitz & glamour of ‘20s society.
The Guinness Girls, the darling sisters, stars of society & pets of the press, were undoubtedly unique and perfectly crafted by Hourican. Of course, these women are not fictional (see slides of this post!) but Hourican‘s interpretation of wise Aileen, vivacious Maureen and sweet Oonagh was divine and truly compelling.
Our main character, Fliss, a young girl taken under the wing of the Guinness’s, takes us through her life from 1918 to 1929. She is at first a schoolmate for the girls, and then a friend, or almost sister. We see everything from her eyes.
Now, Fliss’ character fell a little flat for me; she didn’t seem to have any defining characteristics until she was older and became accomplished as a working woman, which I loved. It did seem that she was merely used as an unneeded narrator on the boundaries of high society - it would’ve been interesting to hear the story told from one of the sisters themselves. But, I must add, Fliss’ quieter character could’ve been used by the author to enhance the daring, bold and effervescent personalities of the Guinness girls, who each were glowing & glorious.
This book is wonderful in its way of encouraging you to read more of its history. While writing this review & researching the Guinness girls, I have discovered the complexities and truths of things that were hinted at in the novel but never fully explained. I now long for a TV adaption of this book & expect to be cast as a Guinness girl, thank you very much ;).
4⭐️
Thankyou to Headline for sending me an early release of the book - it is out now!
𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆
follow @whatalicereads on Instagram for more! 📚
May 23, 2022
This book is overhyped as a “Great Gatsby-esque Historical Fiction”… its only parallel to Gatsby is that there are a lot of 1920’s parties and drinks in it. There is little actual glamour, or romance, or whimsy …or any sort of real storytelling to it at all, really. After 380ish pages later, I feel like I read a tabloid full of fake facts about who married who and how many Gin and It’s they drank leading up to it. Ugh. I was really hoping it would lead to some sort of story but once I had 60 pages left to go and I realized it wasn’t going anywhere, it just made me feel sad.
Look… I like Guinness beer and I liked Gatsby, but sometimes when you make a Frankenstein out of two good things it’s actually just something that kind of sucks. Oh well.
The author has like ~10 collective fore-words and after-words sections that talk about how much fun she had researching for this book and writing this book, so that’s nice and I’m glad for her, at least.
Look… I like Guinness beer and I liked Gatsby, but sometimes when you make a Frankenstein out of two good things it’s actually just something that kind of sucks. Oh well.
The author has like ~10 collective fore-words and after-words sections that talk about how much fun she had researching for this book and writing this book, so that’s nice and I’m glad for her, at least.
May 5, 2021
I feel I was sorely misled by this book... when I read the summary and saw words like "gripping," "fascinating, and "shockwaves," I thought this was going to be a great read! Instead it meandered and dragged and though I was rooting for Felicity, it was half-hearted. Everything about the story seemed lacklusterish. Perhaps if I was more familiar with the time period and people featured I would have enjoyed it more? As it is, all I can say is the narrator did a great job.
July 22, 2023
For me this book was a 3 1/2 . It is a fictional account of the 3 Guiness Girls, who were coming out during the wild days of the '20's. It is a story of the troubles in Ireland and how it affected the family and their friends. It is a story of love, recklessness, loyalty and commitment. And yet for me still a 3 1/2.
January 3, 2023
Okay so this book was really a shitty read. Let me explain.
The book was told in a dual timeline, going between timeline one which took place from 1916 to 1930, and then timeline two which was in 1978. Both were told by Felicity who is the cousin of the famous Guinness sisters. Being Irish and Scottish I was intrigued by a book of this subject matter.
The book talks about the fight for Ireland’s Independence and if the book focused more on that instead of the freaking parties of the late 1920s I think the book would have been just an overall better read.
In the second timeline there was this need for Felicity to go back to the Guinness family home and look for secrets that could be shared with the world now that the family was not living there and the nuns who were, were cleaning out the old.
The book ended without any real hard and fast conclusion. There wasn’t a shock or plot twist and honestly it was a book of rich girls in the 1920s who did not see it in themselves to care what was going on in the world if it didn’t effect them. This is a story of haves and have nots and I wish I would not have read it.
The book was told in a dual timeline, going between timeline one which took place from 1916 to 1930, and then timeline two which was in 1978. Both were told by Felicity who is the cousin of the famous Guinness sisters. Being Irish and Scottish I was intrigued by a book of this subject matter.
The book talks about the fight for Ireland’s Independence and if the book focused more on that instead of the freaking parties of the late 1920s I think the book would have been just an overall better read.
In the second timeline there was this need for Felicity to go back to the Guinness family home and look for secrets that could be shared with the world now that the family was not living there and the nuns who were, were cleaning out the old.
The book ended without any real hard and fast conclusion. There wasn’t a shock or plot twist and honestly it was a book of rich girls in the 1920s who did not see it in themselves to care what was going on in the world if it didn’t effect them. This is a story of haves and have nots and I wish I would not have read it.
July 17, 2021
I always find reading about wealthy socialites a fun and compelling read! I also typically enjoy a good historical fiction book that’s based around a true story!
This one was very well written and I liked the dual timelines! I relish in the opportunity to travel while I’m reading and I enjoyed that this one took place in two countries - Ireland and England!
I was however hoping for a little more juicy scandal but it was still an intriguing read! Bonus points for a stunning cover!
This one was very well written and I liked the dual timelines! I relish in the opportunity to travel while I’m reading and I enjoyed that this one took place in two countries - Ireland and England!
I was however hoping for a little more juicy scandal but it was still an intriguing read! Bonus points for a stunning cover!
July 28, 2021
Three high society darlings, Maureen, Aileen, and Oonagh, are the focus of press attention and, as members of the prominent Guinness family, descendants of the founder of the famous beer, they have no worries or responsibilities. Felicity, the companion sent to live with them as a young girl, knows better. Living both within and outside of the family she has a firsthand vision of the inner workings of the family and what they are really like beneath the facades.
This book was outside my typical wheelhouse to begin with, and I was honestly drawn to it’s lovely cover and Irish setting. Unfortunately, that Irish setting only lasted about half the book and apart from the admittedly well-researched descriptions of that troubled time and uncertain politics of that period in Ireland, the setting itself could’ve been any grand house, almost anywhere in the world. The writing is solid, but the prose is incredibly stilted and wordy, taking a lot to say very little and I was left wondering where the plot was, even at the end of the book. I love historical romance (and fiction), Ireland, and beer (especially Guinness), so I expected to at least like this book and that didn’t happen. I think a lot of the problem, besides long passages of prose in which nothing was really said, was Felicity as a narrator. She is of course only a girl when the book begins, but the girlish naivete of her voice never changes or matures, even in the flash-forward scenes from the 1970s. She is incredibly dramatic and yet so tepid as to seem barely involved in her own story and completely spineless. Felicity mostly just comes off as a naïve ninny who understands nothing and never tries to. The high drama and extreme detail of the writing established, for me anyway, this air of inhalation, an indrawn breath as we wait for the other shoe to drop. Which is great, only nothing ever came of it.
I kept reading in hopes that this element of tension would come to fruition as something special and interesting or compelling, but it just never did. Meanwhile, Felicity kept making ridiculous comments and decisions and never grew more likable for me, and since the book is only told from her perspective, that pretty much curtailed my enjoyment. At the end of the book, I still didn’t feel like I knew any of the characters well, even Fliss, so they all felt dull and one-dimensional. Even the descriptions of glamourous parties in 1920s London were flat and rather boring, especially given that they were mostly described in terms of how boring the girls found them. The sisters were underdeveloped as well, with the exception of perhaps Maureen, but the more she was described, the less likeable and more annoying she became. Perhaps it was too far out of my wheelhouse, but this book just didn’t do it for me and was definitely not what I was expecting based on the cover and blurb and, though I did finish, it was rather a slog.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book was outside my typical wheelhouse to begin with, and I was honestly drawn to it’s lovely cover and Irish setting. Unfortunately, that Irish setting only lasted about half the book and apart from the admittedly well-researched descriptions of that troubled time and uncertain politics of that period in Ireland, the setting itself could’ve been any grand house, almost anywhere in the world. The writing is solid, but the prose is incredibly stilted and wordy, taking a lot to say very little and I was left wondering where the plot was, even at the end of the book. I love historical romance (and fiction), Ireland, and beer (especially Guinness), so I expected to at least like this book and that didn’t happen. I think a lot of the problem, besides long passages of prose in which nothing was really said, was Felicity as a narrator. She is of course only a girl when the book begins, but the girlish naivete of her voice never changes or matures, even in the flash-forward scenes from the 1970s. She is incredibly dramatic and yet so tepid as to seem barely involved in her own story and completely spineless. Felicity mostly just comes off as a naïve ninny who understands nothing and never tries to. The high drama and extreme detail of the writing established, for me anyway, this air of inhalation, an indrawn breath as we wait for the other shoe to drop. Which is great, only nothing ever came of it.
I kept reading in hopes that this element of tension would come to fruition as something special and interesting or compelling, but it just never did. Meanwhile, Felicity kept making ridiculous comments and decisions and never grew more likable for me, and since the book is only told from her perspective, that pretty much curtailed my enjoyment. At the end of the book, I still didn’t feel like I knew any of the characters well, even Fliss, so they all felt dull and one-dimensional. Even the descriptions of glamourous parties in 1920s London were flat and rather boring, especially given that they were mostly described in terms of how boring the girls found them. The sisters were underdeveloped as well, with the exception of perhaps Maureen, but the more she was described, the less likeable and more annoying she became. Perhaps it was too far out of my wheelhouse, but this book just didn’t do it for me and was definitely not what I was expecting based on the cover and blurb and, though I did finish, it was rather a slog.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 10, 2020
This is an easy read about the lives of the three Guinness sisters through the eyes of their cousin Felicity. It is set during the Irish civil war and its aftermath which leads the Guinness girls to relocate to London and enjoy the 1920s as part of the Bright Young Things in London society. Felicity is a sensible cousin who struggles with knowing what her position in the family is and whether she is a charity case or an unpaid assistant. As mentioned, Felicity is the narrator of the story and because she is quite sensible and unsure of herself at times, the story often feels quite flat. For me, the story lacked drama or drive despite the time period in which the story is set being very exciting and I think this is may be because the narrator is very much not an active participant. Easy to read but slow moving and I found it hard to care about how the story would end/what Felicity was looking for in the historic papers.
September 29, 2020
For poor relation Fliss, the opportunity to go live with the Guinness family means she can get away from home, get an education and move on. Her beloved elder brother Hugh is away at school and Fliss grows up at the heart of a rich family. The Irish are in revolt and Hugh is in sympathy but when he disappears after a party Fliss just believes he has emigrated. Later she becomes an onlooker as the family moves to London and the three girls join the wild society of the Bright Young Things.
I wasn't sure what to make of the structure of this book. At first it jumped between the present day and the past but that model seemed to disappear after a while and everything was about the 1920s. The effects on the Anglo-Irish or the uprisings in Ireland were actually interesting but the rest just seemed to drag a little.
I wasn't sure what to make of the structure of this book. At first it jumped between the present day and the past but that model seemed to disappear after a while and everything was about the 1920s. The effects on the Anglo-Irish or the uprisings in Ireland were actually interesting but the rest just seemed to drag a little.
May 3, 2021
I found this book frustrating. I wanted to like it but I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen. I think the modern timeline set the readers expectations for something that never materialized. What was Fliss looking for and why bother?
The timeline was interesting. There could be great stories in the Irish struggle for home rule and in the London social whirl of the 1920s, this just wasn’t it. The problem may have been, in part, the protagonist. I’m not sure what she brought to the story, beyond an attempt at a Downton Abby style look at upstairs downstairs, and even that didn’t exist because Fliss never really existed ‘downstairs’.
There were some interesting moments but, overall, the author just never made me care about the characters.
The timeline was interesting. There could be great stories in the Irish struggle for home rule and in the London social whirl of the 1920s, this just wasn’t it. The problem may have been, in part, the protagonist. I’m not sure what she brought to the story, beyond an attempt at a Downton Abby style look at upstairs downstairs, and even that didn’t exist because Fliss never really existed ‘downstairs’.
There were some interesting moments but, overall, the author just never made me care about the characters.
January 30, 2022
okay i really wanted to love this book, but my goodness it was so beyond boring! i feel like the story was dragged on for so long and they make it seem like this big plot twist happens and honestly the twist left me completely unsatisfied. i skimmed through the last 100 pages because i really couldn’t bare the borden anymore!
September 26, 2020
I thought the writing in this book was beautiful, I haven't read fiction set during the war of Independence in year and enjoyed doing so and I liked reading about London's first IT crowd. I recommend.
June 30, 2022
I had such high hopes. It was long and windy. I felt no real need to continue. I finished it because I'm stubborn.
July 14, 2021
I freely admit that the interwar period, 20th C. CE, is not my area of expertise. However, this look at the time was fascinating.
Felicity is sent to serve as a companion to the three daughters of Arthur Guinness, the brewery magnate, shortly after WWI. She is underprivileged, and is thrown into the lives of the incredibly wealthy. Her brother, Hughie, is fascinated by the cause of Irish independence. The two subplots cross paths many times, as the interwar period coincides with the rise of the Irish Republican army.
We see Felicity not only as an older woman in this dual-timeline book, but also as she grows up observing a world in which she is neither servant nor family member -- and thus has the perspective of both. She gives us an insider view of the outrageous behavior of the titular Guinness girls, each vying for attention from distant parents, social peers who don't much care for them, and from potential spouses.
I admit to dilly-dallying with reading this book, which I oughtn't have done. It really was very entertaining and well-researched, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
Felicity is sent to serve as a companion to the three daughters of Arthur Guinness, the brewery magnate, shortly after WWI. She is underprivileged, and is thrown into the lives of the incredibly wealthy. Her brother, Hughie, is fascinated by the cause of Irish independence. The two subplots cross paths many times, as the interwar period coincides with the rise of the Irish Republican army.
We see Felicity not only as an older woman in this dual-timeline book, but also as she grows up observing a world in which she is neither servant nor family member -- and thus has the perspective of both. She gives us an insider view of the outrageous behavior of the titular Guinness girls, each vying for attention from distant parents, social peers who don't much care for them, and from potential spouses.
I admit to dilly-dallying with reading this book, which I oughtn't have done. It really was very entertaining and well-researched, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
August 11, 2024
I am still trying to figure out the point of this book. It was the story of Fliss, who lived in the Guinness estate and grew up with the 3 Guinness sisters. The Guinness girls were supporting characters. Should have been called "The Glorious Guinness Girls Adjacent". The book went on and on about the parties, the drinking, the quest for husbands, with a little about the fight for independence of the Irish republic thrown in, and always returning to the question "is Fliss to be the help or part of the family?" Any drama or attempt at drama was manufactured and fell flat. After a while I really didn't care.
September 7, 2021
Ireland and London, 1910; As a young girl, Felicity is sent to live as a companion to the Guinness girls, three daughters living a luxurious life thanks to Guinness family's wealth. As the years roll forward, Felicity struggles to find her identity as someone who belongs neither upstairs or down. Meanwhile, the Guinness girls also wrestle with establishing their identities, either as "old world" debutantes or "new world" independent working women.
December 7, 2024
I realllllly wanted to like this but there’s just no moment where you really feel for the characters. There was such potential, especially the way the author writes the complexity of the frivolous way the Guinness girls live their lives yet still are very human. But at the end of the day, the point of view of Felicity aligns the reader with her characterization as an outsider, slightly removed yet involved. This isn’t a positive attribute for a nearly 400 page book. The pacing felt slow and devoid of both emotional draw and resolution. I can tell what they were trying to go for, but I don’t think it was executed well.
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