Description: In 1952, Charles and Mary Freeman marry, take possession of a mansion high on a hill overlooking a small industrial town somewhere in the heart of England, and begin their family. This is the sweeping, rich, and astonishing story of the first thirty years of their lives together, during which they watch their children grow while Charles's business - and the family fortunes - ebb and flow. Charles and Mary have four children in quick succession: Simon, the eldest, who is both too much like his father and not enough; James, a sensitive boy whose habit of quiet observation develops into a talent for photography; Robert, a willful child whose stubbornness acquires a darker edge in adulthood; and Alice, the only girl and the one who, with her husband, Harry - carries on the family by having a large brood of her own. The stories of Simon, James, Robert, and Alice, stories of both joy and tragedy, create a generous epic of the life of a family, and of a country.

Please Wait