To Serve Them All My Days


Book Description

"R.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller." — Sunday Mirror To Serve Them All My Days is the moving saga of David Powlett-Jones, who returns from World War I injured and shell-shocked. He is hired to teach history at Bamfylde School, where he rejects the formal curriculum and teaches the causes and consequences of the Great War. Eventually David earns the respect of his students and many of his fellow teachers, against the backdrop of a country struggling to redefine itself. As David falls in love and finds himself on track to possibly take on the headmaster role, he must search to find the strength to hold true to his beliefs as the specter of another great war looms. To Serve Them All My Days is a brilliant picture of England between the World Wars, as the country comes to terms with the horrors of the Great War and the new forces reshaping the British government and society. Subject of a Landmark BBC Miniseries Includes Bonus Reading Group Guide WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: "Mr. Delderfield's manner is easy, modest, heartwarming."—Evening Standard "He built an imposing artistic social history that promises to join those of his great forebears in the long, noble line of the English novel. His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett."—Life Magazine "Sheer, wonderful storytelling."—Chicago Tribune "Highly recommended. Combines tension with a splendid sense of atmosphere and vivid characterisation. An excellent read." —Sunday Express







The Dreaming Suburb


Book Description

Between the wars, the lives of four neighboring English families intersect in this “highly recommended” saga by a New York Times–bestselling author (Sunday Express). In the spring of 1919, his wife’s death brings Sergeant Jim Carver home from the front. He returns to be a single parent to his seven children in a place he has never lived: Number Twenty, Manor Park Avenue, in a South London suburb. The Carvers’ neighbor Eunice Fraser, at Number Twenty-Two, has also known tragedy. Her soldier husband was killed, leaving her and her eight-year-old son, Esme, to fend for themselves. At Number Four, Edith Clegg takes in lodgers and looks after her sister, Becky, whose mind has been shattered by a past trauma. No one knows much about the Friths, at Number Seventeen, who moved to the Avenue before the war. The first book in the two-part historical series the Avenue, which also includes The Avenue Goes to War, The Dreaming Suburb takes readers into the everyday lives of these English families between World War I and World War II, as their hopes, dreams, and struggles are played out against a radically changing world.




Theirs Was the Kingdom


Book Description

The second book in R.F. Delderfield's Swann family saga. Adam Swann's expanding business empire now stretches as far north as the Scottish Highlands and as far west as the Dublin Pale. Alex, his elder son, is a professional solder; George is a pioneer of the motor industry and his adopted daughter Deborah works to uncover the terrible injustices facing working-class women. The great edifice of the British Empire is beginning to crumble, and as the gap between prosperity and poverty widens Victorian England can no longer afford to be complacent . . .




God is an Englishman


Book Description

This bestselling novel set in the ruthless world of Victorian commerce follows the fortunes of Adam Swann, a scion of an Army family and veteran of campaigns in the Crimea and in India, in his quest to found his own financial dynasty. His struggle to succeed and his conquest of Henrietta, the spirited daughter of a rich manufacturer, drive a richly woven tale that takes the reader from the dusty plains of India to the teeming slums of nineteenth-century London, from the chaos of the great industrial cities to the age of the peaceful certainties of the English countryside.Filled with epic scenes and memorable characters, God is an Englishman triumphs in its portrayal of human strength and weakness, and in its revelations of the power of love.




Everybody's Magazine


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Bengal, Past & Present


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To Serve Them All My Days


Book Description

"R.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller." — Sunday Mirror The beloved classic saga from master author R. F. Delderfield, subject of a landmark BBC miniseries. To Serve Them All My Days is the moving saga of David Powlett-Jones, who returns from World War I injured and shell-shocked. He is hired to teach history at Bamfylde School, where he rejects the formal curriculum and teaches the causes and consequences of the Great War. Eventually David earns the respect of his students and many of his fellow teachers, against the backdrop of a country struggling to redefine itself. As David falls in love and finds himself on track to possibly take on the headmaster role, he must search to find the strength to hold true to his beliefs as the specter of another great war looms. To Serve Them All My Days is a brilliant picture of England between the World Wars, as the country comes to terms with the horrors of the Great War and the new forces reshaping the British government and society. Subject of a Landmark BBC Miniseries Includes Bonus Reading Group Guide WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: "I sometimes still wake up in the morning and look forward to reading more about P.J. and Bamfylde." "From the stationmaster on the first page to the last boy on the last page, these characters all have a very human aspect that connects to you immediately." "This book should be in everyone's library." "This is an ennobling book…it showed a person wounded in body and spirit who found that concentrating on the details of teaching the schoolboys under his care was, in a sense, a healing meditation." "…just the book for a cold rainy day…with a hot cup of tea and a scone." "Mr. Delderfield's manner is easy, modest, heartwarming." Evening Standard "He built an imposing artistic social history that promises to join those of his great forebears in the long, noble line of the English novel. His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett." Life Magazine "Sheer, wonderful storytelling." Chicago Tribune "Highly recommended. Combines tension with a splendid sense of atmosphere and vivid characterisation. An excellent read." Sunday Express




Saturday Review


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Chicago Commerce


Book Description