Amberwell (Ayrton Family #1) in Retro Reads

Mar 13, 2017 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: comfort-read, scotland, historical-fiction, wwii

Good old-fashioned historic fiction.

I started this nostalgic book, intending to read just a couple of chapters, but found it too hard to put down and finished it off the same night. It's the story of the Ayrton family and their beloved estate in Scotland, Amberwell. In particular, it follows five siblings through their childhood and into their lives as young adults during the WWII years. With emotionally absent parents, Roger, Tom, Connie, Nell and Anne learn to rely on each other for support. B Good old-fashioned historic fiction.

I started this nostalgic book, intending to read just a couple of chapters, but found it too hard to put down and finished it off the same night. It's the story of the Ayrton family and their beloved estate in Scotland, Amberwell. In particular, it follows five siblings through their childhood and into their lives as young adults during the WWII years. With emotionally absent parents, Roger, Tom, Connie, Nell and Anne learn to rely on each other for support. But life pulls them in different directions.

It's rather leisurely-paced but insightful, and the characters are well-drawn. I wanted to punch out the parents, who really did their children — especially their daughters — a disservice. The parents' motto was "never explain" (citing Benjamin Disraeli: "Never complain and never explain."). They just issue orders. The girls are never taken anywhere as children, not even to church or the local village.

So it was really interesting seeing what life brought to their five children, and what they made of their lives, especially when hard times hit ... as they do nearly all of them, with one notable exception.

When he had gone Nell lay awake for a long time trying to tidy up the chaos in her mind. It was not easy. She had always thought of herself as a complete nonentity, unimportant and ineffectual; but now, all of a sudden, she had had heavy responsibilities placed upon her shoulders, and placed there quite confidently. Roger obviously had no doubt at all of her ability to cope.

It's always nice seeing people rise to a challenge. Not that life is all rainbows and sunshine here; WWII, not to mention the fraught family dynamics, both have a real effect on the characters' lives.

This book isn't nearly as heartwrenching as some WWII era books; it felt a little more like a cozy read, with most of the deaths and trauma taking place with a little distance. But I really liked that it was realistic, both about the effects of the family's dysfunctions ((view spoiler)) and the wartime experiences. ...more

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Mar 31, 2024 Mela rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-period-1914-1945, internet-archive, historical-fiction, region-british, historical-romance, series, region-scotland

I would call it a comfort read, despite that a significant part of the story took place in the time of the IIWW.

An interesting study of characters. It took me some time to feel gripped by them, but when I did, I liked how the author captured the family. The parents who shouldn't have been parents. Children who (probably for the rest of their lives) searched for that precious place/thing they should have got as kids.

It was also another time travel to an English countryside before, during, and jus ...more

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May 12, 2021 Jackie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I just re-read this for the second time and I really loved it. I think it is one of those books that will hold up for future re-reads.
The five siblings this book is about, with the main focus on the youngest two girls, are well drawn and I felt their interactions with each other, their parents, Nannie, and the few other grown ups in their world are believable and absorbing.

Of course, it's hard to read how much less is given to the daughters of the house than the sons and their parents are (vie ...more

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Mar 26, 2021 Theresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Just as good (or better) as the first time I read it! The author cleverly portrays the life of an English family before and during the second world war (although the war itself is given a minor place in the story). The reader is drawn into their lives and story with realistic relationship struggles taking center stage. A satisfying comfort read.

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