Good story, enjoyable reading about the exciting events of 1936. The interactions between Wallis Simpson and her school friend, Evangeline Nettleford was an interesting part of the narrative. Neither of them is a nice person. It's excellent historical fiction. Recommended. ( )

Meh. This will teach me to judge a book by its cover: I was foolishly attracted by the blurb: "Abdication rings with authenticity . . . a period drama ready to be adapted by the BBC and rerun on PBS." All I can say is, uh, NO. Snooooooooore. I speed-read to finish (because I hate leaving books), which I think was the way to go, sort of like ripping off a band-aid. I don't know what bothered me so much, aside from the boredom; my only conclusion is that I can't take seriously writing that uses the word "mouthwatering" with any sincerity. ( )

The title is somewhat misleading because this is not a book centered on the abdication of Edward VIII, but more about those people on it's periphery. I loved that the author approached such a well known event from such a different angle.

The characters in this book were terrific. We have May Thomas, a recent transplant to England, who becomes a secretary and chauffeur for Sir Phillip Blunt. It is through her position that we are able to gain a unique perspective of the upper echelon of British society during those turbulent years preceding WWII. May is only 19 but is strong, self reliant and kind and becomes invaluable to her employers.

Evangeline Nettlefold is our introduction to Wallis Simpson. Evangeline was a classmate and friend to Wallis during her years in Baltimore and is also acquainted with Sir Phillip and his wife Lady Joan, who is her godmother. Evangeline is so easy to picture because of the talents of Nicolson. Evangeline has never married, is hopelessly overweight and had a mother who found her an embarrassment. But through all this she is still a congenial person although a slightly bit socially awkward. She travels to England to stay with her godmother and reconnect with her old friend Wallis.

There has to be a love interest (outside of the Prince of Wales), and Julian Richardson fills that roll, as he becomes an object of desire for both Evangeline and May. Friends with the Blunt's son, Rupert, he is more aware of the plight of Britain's downtrodden and wants to be more than just idly rich. It is through him that we delve a little deeper into the social unrest that is gripping the country.

I really enjoyed this book and it's a great read for anyone that loves period fiction.
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In 1936 a young woman from Barbados, May Thomas, arrives in England with her brother. May takes a job as a secretary and driver to Sir Philip Blunt. One of her duties has her taking a friendly spinster Evangeline Nettleford, a girlhood friend of Wallis Simpson, to Ft. Belvedere the home of H.R.H. Through these two women, May and Evangeline, we get a glimpse of the growing relationship between Edward and Wallis and of the society in England. We also see the budding romance of May and Julian, a young, idealistic Englishman and the first rumblings of the Fascist movement in England. Both my gentleman friend and I read the book and enjoyed it immensely. ( )

England, 1936. The beloved king has died and a charismatic new monarch has been crowned; he is young, sympathetic to the needs of the working class, glamorous and single. By the end of the year England will be surprised to see him give up the throne for love and the lead up to World War II. Abdication follows the story of May Thomas, a wise-beyond-her-nineteen-year old who secures a position as secretary and driver to Sir Philip Blunt. This opens her eyes to British high society and falling in love with a man well beyond her reach.

I’m always interested in the time period from the 1920’s to the 1960’s, but I think that was my love for hard boiled crime novels and Mad Men. But a book about high society in the 1930’s England sounded really interesting. Abdication by Juliet Nicolson started off as a slow burn; developing characters, showing how they fit with the history at the time but I never really felt like the book took off in any way. I was waiting to be engaged with the story but it never really happened.

It is possible the author really stuck to one story arc and this book could have really benefited with some more characters to keep the book interesting. Some witting and exciting characters to spice things up would have helped as well. This book just felt slow moving and in the end boring; the character development was decent but there weren’t enough interesting characters to push me through this book.

Also the prose in the novel were only average, there was no beauty or elegance in the writing or the scenery. It was just focused on one element, which it did a decent job with but one decent element does not make a great read. Abdication just ended up being a non-fiction writer trying to attempt fiction.

Juliet Nicolson knows her history and she managed to fit fictional characters in with historical characters but I think she is trying to do what Hilary Mantel did with Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. While this period of time was interesting, (I think The Kings Speech did a decent job telling us about this period of history) Abdication just ended up feeling like another attempt at the same formula. This was a big disappointment for me, I really wanted to like this book but I didn’t.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2012/11/10/book-review-abdication/ ( )