House of Trelawney / Hannah Rothschild.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780525654919
- ISBN: 0525654917
- Physical Description: 370 pages ; 25 cm
- Edition: First American edition.
- Publisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.
- Copyright: ©2020
Content descriptions
General Note: | "This is a Borzoi Book." |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Castles > England > Cornwall (County) > Fiction. Families > Fiction. Women > Fiction. Cornwall (England : County) > Fiction. |
Genre: | Domestic fiction. |
Available copies
- 3 of 3 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 3 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prince Rupert Library | Roth (Text) | 33294002080182 | Adult Fiction - Second Floor | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 January #1
The tangled expanse of Trelawney Castle and the surrounding quagmire of its gardens and grounds have withstood hundreds of years of royal excesses, but at the dawn of the twenty-first century, Kitto Trelawney, its most recent heir, stands to lose it all. The global financial crisis has further reduced the dwindling family fortune to a mere pittance. With the castle crumbling at the slightest gust of wind, Kitto flees, leaving his long-suffering wife, Jane, to care for their three children, his doddering parents, and ancient Aunt Tuffy, an entomologist. Banished by the laws of primogeniture and forced to make her way in London, Kitto's sister, Blaze, a financial titan with a penchant for unpopular predictions, foresees the international monetary crisis, but fails to anticipate falling in love with her closest competitor. Into this volatile mix comes Ayesha, the voluptuous daughter of their long-estranged friend, Anastasia, bearing a secret that will fell the Trelawney family tree. For all its Fawlty Towers froth, Rothschild's (The Improbability of Love, 2015) comedy of manners and manors belies a sobering tale of friendship and loyalty. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews. - BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2020 February
House of TrelawneyThe Trelawney estate in Cornwall is much like the Trelawney family itself: sprawling, ancient and crumbling. Once among the most breathtaking estates in Britain, it has fallen into disrepair as the Trelawney fortune disappears. Ivy and moss grow through the walls of what were once grand ballrooms. Greenhouses around the property lie in collapsed heaps. Most of the formerly extensive art collection has been sold off, leaving shameful empty patches on the castle walls. As author Hannah Rothschild writes, "As the centuries tripped by, the Earls of Trelawney, their senses and ambition dulled by years of pampered living, failed to develop other skills. Of the twenty-four earls, the last eight had been dissolute and bereft of any business acumen. Their financial ineptitude, along with two world wars, the Wall Street crash, three divorces and inheritance taxes, had dissipated the family's fortune."Â
As has been the tradition for centuries, Kitto promptly kicks his sister, Blaze, out of the castle when he is named the 24th Earl of Trelawney. The hapless Kitto, who is virtually devoid of employable skills or interests, lives in the castle with his wife, Jane, whose own sizable inheritance has been sunk into the lost cause of maintaining Trelawney.Â
Blaze, sent packing with little cash and no plan, has remade herself as an uber-successful financial investor in London. Beautiful, ruthless and utterly lonely, Blaze hasn't spoken to the family in years. But when an unexpected heir turns up, the family is forced to reengage and find a way to save the house of Trelawney.
Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love and The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild, is also an accomplished film director and a member of that Rothschild clan (the banking one). Her understanding of the eccentric world of English aristocrats shines throughout this remarkably entertaining novel. Her writing is whimsical yet poignant as she examines how privilege can become a burden, and how an inheritance system so focused on men impacts the women drawn into it. Consider an elderly male relative who marvels at the survival instincts of a young Trelawney woman who is single-mindedly focused on marrying someone wealthy: "He'd never understood women; men were so simple by comparison. Centuries of absolute power had dulled the male brain, whereas women, forced for so long to cajole and manipulate, had evolved into far more complex and capable beings."
Part comedy of manners, part serious meditation on money and gender roles, House of Trelawney is both deeply thought-provoking and thoroughly fun.Â
Copyright 2020 BookPage Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2019 December #2
An eccentric family of British aristocrats, their decaying ancestral home, and the financial crash of 2008 are the ingredients of Rothschild's (The Improbability of Love, 2015, etc.) romantic/comic fairy tale. Downton Abbey has nothing on 800-year-old Trelawney Castle with its four miles of hallways, a room for each day of the year, and 85 members of staff. But that was in its heyday. Now Kitto, the future 25th Earl of Trelawney, is on his financial uppers, presiding over a freezing, crumbling semi-ruin. His wife, Jane, has sunk her own money into the castle but is still struggling to feed herself, their three children, and Kitto's aging parents, the current earl and countess. Kitto's sister Blaze, a talented stock picker at a London hedge fund, does have some money, but her company has just been bought by ruthless opportunist Thomlinson Sleet, which puts her in jeopardy. The plot starts to move when Jane and Blaze receive letters from their old college friend Anastasia, now dying and asking them to care for her daughter, Ayesha. The banking crisis swallows Kitto's remaining money, and Jane kicks him out. After a family death, Blaze comes to the castle's rescue, although she's dist racted by an on-and-off love affair with much nicer hedge fund squillionaire Joshua Wolfe. Rothschild writes well about these elite milieus, but hers is a broad, pantomime-ish tale stocked with simple, one-dimensional characters: flabby villain Sleet; indefatigably decent, endlessly deferred Wolfe; tirelessly sneery oldest son Ambrose. The flow is unevenâKitto disappears for half the story; Blaze is exhaustingly inconsistentâand the book is both long and weakly paced. Trelawney does, however, finally get the upgrade it needs, and its dysfunctional family may be positioned for a sequel. Deft narration fails to eclipse the inherent shortcomings in this patchy satire of entitlement (literally) with sentimental touches. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2019 September
With literally hundreds of rooms and four miles of corridors, Trelawney Castle has stood on 500,000 acres in Cornwall for over 700 years. Now tumbling down, it's home to the heir, Kitto; his elderly parents; his wife, Jane, and their children; and Kitto's financial whizz of a sister, Blaze. The unexpected arrival of teenaged Ayesha, daughter of the estranged Anastasia, forces everyone to reconsider what really binds this family together. From the author of the Baileys Women's Prize finalist
Copyright 2019 Library Journal.The Improbability of Love .