The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm - Couverture souple

Nicolson, Juliet

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0802143679 ISBN 13 : 9780802143679

Editeur : Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008

Synopsis

The Perfect Summer chronicles a glorious English summer a century ago, when the world was on the cusp of irrevocable change. Through the tight lens of four months, Juliet Nicolson's rich storytelling gifts rivet us with the sights, colors, and feelings of a bygone era. That summer of 1911 a new king was crowned and the aristocracy was at play, bounding from one house party to the next. But perfection was not for all. Cracks in the social fabric were showing. The country was brought to a standstill by industrial strikes. Temperatures rose steadily to more than 100 degrees; by August deaths from heatstroke were too many for newspapers to report. Drawing on material from intimate and rarely seen sources and narrated through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals--among them a debutante, a choirboy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler, and the queen--The Perfect Summer is a vividly rendered glimpse of the twilight of the Edwardian era.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

'An accomplished and engaging piece of social history' (Daily Telegraph)

'[Nicolson] sweeps across voices and classes to assemble a mosaic of sunlit impressions' (Independent: Boyd Tonkin)

Listed as number three of six in the 'Bookseller's Chart' by Phoebe Bentick of Henry Stokes & Co. (The Times)

'With the gifts of a great storyteller, [Nicolson] rekindles a vision of a time when the sun shone, but cast long shadows.' (Waterstone's Books Quarterly)

"Nicolson on swimwear from Victorian times through Brigitte Bardot to today. " (The Spectator)

'Juliet Nicolson has taken this "perfect summer" as the backdrop for an ambitious work of multiple biography, which sets the extravagance of the upper classes against the increasingly desperate lives of the poor.' (Observer)

'I wanted to evoke the full vivid richness of how it smelt, looked, sounded, tasted and felt to be alive in England during the months of such a summer' (The Lady)

'Juliet Nicolson does not pretend to offer a close political analysis, but rather a thoroughly entertaining portrait of the period, full of memorable detail' (The Spectator)

'There is an unpretentious directness about Nicolson's approach to her subjects that gives the book a freshness and vitality. Happily, she also has an eye for the amusing or the ironic.' (The Scotsman, Rachel Billington)

'A fascinating read... I did indeed feel transported' (Mail on Sunday: Antonia Fraser)

Présentation de l'éditeur

One summer of nearly a hundred years ago saw one of the high sunlit meadows of English history. A new king was crowned; audiences swarmed to Covent Garden to see the Ballet Russes and Nijinsky's gravity-defying leaps. The aristocracy was at play, bounding from house party to the next; the socialite Lady Michelham travelled with her nineteen yards of pearls. Rupert Brooke (a 23-year-old poet in love with love, Keats, marrons glaces and truth) swam in the river at Grantchester.

But perfection was over-reaching itself. The rumble of thunder from the summer's storms presaged not only the bloody war years ahead: the country was brought to near standstill by industrial strikes, and unrest exposed the chasm between privileged and poor; as if the heat was torturing those imprisoned in society's straitjacket and stifled by the city smog. Children, seeking relief from the scorching sun, drowned in village ponds.

What the protagonists could not have known is that they were playing out the backdrop to WWI; in a few years time the world, let alone England, would never be the same again. Through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals, a debutante, a suffragette, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler and the Queen, Juliet Nicolson illuminates a turning point in history. With the gifts of a great storyteller she rekindles a vision of a time when the sun shone but its shadows fell on all.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Date d'édition: 2008
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0802143679
• ISBN 13: 9780802143679
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible