First dance

It's impossible to find a good one liner about first dances - well, from a minute of Google anyway. Nonetheless, I completed my first volume yesterday.


It's quite a curious book, in many ways. If I had read it as a standalone work, I think I would be mystified and not a little irritated. Quite frankly, having read it as part of a 12 part series, it's not entirely clear what the point is either. The sensation, though not the plot or setting, is reminiscent of the first volume of Durrell's Anignon Quintet, though infinitely less barking.


That said, I enjoyed it greatly, and evokes very well that strange inter-war era in Britian where entrenched privilege went hand in hand both with a need for service or a career, but a kind of haphazard approach to preparation for it. From the protagonists perspective, the nineteenth century, possible the Edwardian era is still the dominant template. Uncle Giles' abiding interest in the Trust is reminiscent of no other author so much as Trollope. And I love Trollope.