The Montforts

by Martin Boyd

In The Montforts, the novel that launched him as an international novelist, Boyd vividly explores the conflicts of homesickness and rebellion, themes that characterise his other great Anglo-Australian novels, Lucinda Brayford and The Langton Quartet novels.This a reprint of the the 1928 novel first published by Constable. It includes an introduction by Brenda Niall.

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 - 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born Lucerne, Switzerland, into the à Beckett-Boyd family—a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia.
Boyd was an expatriate novelist, memoirist, and poet who spent most of his life after World War One in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One.
His siblings included the potter William Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Theodore Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces, and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (b. 1916), painter Arthur Boyd (1920 - 1999), sculptor Guy Boyd (1923 - 1988), painter David Boyd (1924 - 2011), painter Mary Nolan (b.1926) - who was married to painters John Perceval and Sidney Nolan, and architect Robin Boyd (1919 - 1971). His nephew Guy Boyd was his literary executor.

Reviews

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather difficult to keep track of the multitude of characters, all from one family over a lengthy period, and, for a novel 'touching exquisitely on snobbery', according to one reviewer, the lack of a single working class character is a failing. Having said all that, the novel is still gripping and well worth a read.

[Paul Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful discovery. Engrossing look at a 19th Century Melbourne family.