The Cardboard Crown: (the Langton Quartet Vol.1) - Couverture souple

Boyd, Martin

 
9780140069044: The Cardboard Crown: (the Langton Quartet Vol.1)

Synopsis

In "The cardboard crown" Mr Boyd returns to the theme of Lucinda Brayford. It is the story of an Australian woman of the last century whose need for the traditional civilisation of Europe draws her from her own country. Yet this continual attraction prevents her from taking root either in the Australian world in which she is socially pre-eminent, or in the English country home preserved from decay by the life-blood of her money; each excursion to Europe is paid for with tragedy and ends in retreat. The events and influences of her life: her elopement and marriage; an idyllic Roman interlude with a man who for her typifies European civilisation; the ironic sequel to this affair, are re-created long afterwards from a variety of sources: from her diary, in which passages of revealing emotion run like scars through its Victorian reticence; from the memories of those who knew her - notably Arthur, a colourful though not very reliable witness - and from fragments of family mythology and gossip. Each adds depth to the picture, and, in so doing, proves once again Mr Boyd's mastery at revealing the growth of character through experience.

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Présentation de l'éditeur

Released in 1952 to wide acclaim, The Cardboard Crown was the first novel in The Langton Tetralogy; the work for which Boyd is best known. Set in Australia and England at the turn of the twentieth century, Boyd presents an unforgettable portrait of an upper middle-class family who love both countries but are not quite at home in either. At the centre of this immensely readable novel is Alice Verso, whose dynasty-founding marriage masks the inner turmoil she faces surrounding the promise of love in distant Rome, only to be discovered generations later.

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