Changes

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-0099513476

|pages=368

|publisher=Vintage Books

At Bleakly class will out, but the world is changing faster than some would like. Meanwhile Monty has unfinished business with Captain Peter Foxley, long-term Bleakly resident and the person Monty holds responsible for the death of her dear Sophia. Foxley certainly seems to be erratic and, perhaps dangerous, but he has a permanent place at Bleakly due to some kind of hold he has over the Hall's owners Curran and Grier Blackwood.

Ms di Rollo's PhD in history is evident but she uses her knowledge with a deft lightness of touch. What begins as a jolly romp, almost farcical in places, opens up to deal with some major themes and release a rainbow of emotions from both character and reader. The obvious theme of the futility of war is there, but also that of forgiveness and reconciliation amongst those who were meant to be on the same side. Bleakly Hall is also permeated with loss: the loss of loved ones, yes, but also the loss of hopes and status that, for many at that time, evaporated at the end of hostilities. Some of these themes are historic (e.g. the crumbling of the English class system). Some, however, are timeless; remaining as pertinent now we are sending our young people to fight in Afghanistan as they were when we sent them to fight the 'Hun'. There are some things, it seems, history can't teach.

If you'd like to read more about the sort of world to which the soldiers returned in 1918, try the non-fiction [[The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War by Juliet Nicolson]]. If you would prefer more fiction about the period then, perhaps, [[The Cocaine Salesman by Conny Braam]].

{{commenthead}}