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Bezig met laden... 1939: The Last Season (1989)door Anne de Courcy
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. While billed as a story of 1939's debs this is an interesting look at the social life of the upper class English woman before World War II changed all of their lives. They could see war looming on the horizon but their Coming out was quite important socially for all of them. A chance to find a husband, to shine, to take their place in society, that which was most of what they were groomed to be. A sad indictment on society and how it perceived these women to be little more than clothes hangers but perhaps it was a more honest time. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
A wonderful portrait of British upper-class life in the Season of 1939 - the last before the Second World War. The Season of 1939 brought all those 'in Society' to London. The young debutante daughters of the upper classes were presented to the King and Queen to mark their acceptance into the new adult world of their parents. They sparkled their way through a succession of balls and parties and sporting events. The Season brought together influential people not only from Society but also from Government at the various events of the social calendar. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chaperoned his debutante niece to weekend house parties; Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, lunched with the Headmaster of Eton; Cabinet Ministers encountered foreign Ambassadors at balls in the houses of the great hostesses. As the hot summer drew on, the newspapers filled with ever more ominous reports of the relentless progress towards war. There was nothing to do but wait - and dance. The last season of peace was nearly over. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)900History and Geography History History and GeographyLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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I guess it depends where a reader is coming from. Someone at Goodreads was disappointed by the politics and wanted more of the society gossip. *chuckle* Maybe this book was de Courcy’s way of teaching a bit of British history to the sort of people who read celebrity gossip magazines and who fawn over the rich and famous? Whatever her intent, there is far too much about debutantes and the vast amount of money spent on their coming-out, but these sections are clearly signalled and the impatient reader can skip them. I certainly did.
The bits that I was interested in were the background on Chamberlain, his rivalry with Churchill, the unpreparedness of Britain for war, the complex negotiations with potential allies especially Russia, and the juxtaposition of bad news with the hapless politician in receipt of it having to keep a stiff upper lip at some ball or dinner. The chapter titled ‘Health and Panaceas’ was an insight into commonplace deadly diseases in the era before antibiotics and the National Health system. De Courcy says that most people really were better off at home rather than in hospital because they were probably immune to their own germs whereas cross-infection in hospitals was often terminal, as indicated by the anecdote about a woman who had a leg amputated after puerperal fever. Plastic surgery, (which would be in demand for pilots rescued from burning planes), was a nightmare: between each graft the patient had to wait until the resulting infection cleared up, making any procedure longer and more painful than can be imagined now. And this situation was not so long ago really… my parents were teenagers in 1939.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/08/01/1939-the-last-season-by-anne-de-courcy-bookr... ( )