The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm | 
 enlarge | Author: Juliet Nicolson
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.86
You Save: $6.14 (41%)
New (28) from $8.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 22402
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0802143679
Dewey Decimal Number: 390
EAN: 9780802143679
ASIN: 0802143679
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Perfect Summer chronicles a glorious English summer a century ago, when the world was on the cusp of irrevocable change. Through the tight lens of four months, Juliet Nicolson’s rich storytelling gifts rivet us with the sights, colors, and feelings of a bygone era. That summer of 1911 a new king was crowned and the aristocracy was at play, bounding from one house party to the next. But perfection was not for all. Cracks in the social fabric were showing. The country was brought to a standstill by industrial strikes. Temperatures rose steadily to more than 100 degrees; by August deaths from heatstroke were too many for newspapers to report. Drawing on material from intimate and rarely seen sources and narrated through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals--among them a debutante, a choirboy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler, and the queen--The Perfect Summer is a vividly rendered glimpse of the twilight of the Edwardian era.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Engaging and absorbing August 3, 2008
This is one of the best social histories I have read. It reads like a novel with intriguing characters and plot twists. It was very informative to read about the famous and well-known (e.g. Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill) as they were just starting out. The book gives real insight into not only a pivotal year before World War I, but into the birth of 20th century as a whole. Highly recommended.
 Not Such a Perfect Summer August 2, 2008
Because I am a long-time admirer of Nicolson's grandfather Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville West I read "The Perfect Summer".
I found it disappointing: a collection of many repeated and well-known anecdotes from contempory accounts of the early 20th century.
Far better to go to her sources which can be found in most libraries, second hand bookstores and Amazon. Sources like Harold's great political diaries, Diana Cooper's wonderfully engrossing memoirs, Chips Channon's Diaries not to mention all the collections of letters and novels of the era.
The photographs are sadly indequate, poorly chosen and often irrelevant. I feel Ms Nicolson was taking advantage of her illustrious connections and shows an intellectual laziness.
If Not Perfect, Awfully Good July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Must say I'm a bit surprised by the negativity of some of my fellow readers' comments. I'm not sure what they expected in this slim but engaging account of the Summer of 1911, but I thought Ms. Nicolson delivered what I anticipated rather nicely. [If one objects that "Perfect" overstates the case, think how dull the title, "The Good Summer," would be.] In particular, and especially considering this is her first book, she has a "second nature" writing style which reminds me (perhaps partly because of the adjoining time periods) of Judith Flanders in her splendid "Inside the Victorian Home." Both authors express themselves beautifully and are able to move among and between characters and subject matter with fluidity and grace. Please don't be put off; if you enjoy English social history, I am quite sure you will enjoy this book. I, for one, hope that Ms. Nicolson is hard at work on her next project.
 Not what it could have been June 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book tries to paint a vivid picture of a "moment in time." It fails. There are good parts of course, but also stupid inaccuracies [i.e. the "Ancient" Ceremony of Investiture of the Prince of Wales.] For someone as wonderfully well connected as this author, she did not take adequate advantage of those connections, nor did she push herself hard enough in research or analysis. It's a decent read, but certainly not a true "history" of the summer. It is pretty shallow. I also found the book club questions in my edition to be silly and totally unnecessary. I imagine publishers feel these "add value" or make the book somehow seem less vapid than it really is.
Who can resist anecdotes about Society Folk (even when they're fools)? June 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In our secret hearts, many of us imagine that we belong elsewhere --- say, in England, at a great country estate, in good weather, where we enjoy every luxury because we are rich and titled.
And why not, say, in May of 1911? Edward VII had died the previous spring; mourning was over, George V was about to be crowned, there would be a full season of glorious parties.
And the parties would be...hot. Paul Poiret's evening gowns were in vogue, and they were wonderfully sheer. The brassiere was replacing the corset; women were displaying their assets. Sex was everywhere. When Rolls-Royce commissioned a new hood ornament, it chose a woman in a clinging gown.
In that year, Winston Churchill wore pink silk underwear. Extra night watchmen were hired at great country houses to protect the precious jewels of weekenders. Porters rang bells at 6 AM so guests could scurry back to the rooms they were supposed to occupy. At parties, the jaded acted out --- for fun --- moments like announcing a child's death to its mother.
And, out of sight and out of mind, the lower orders seethed.
The upstairs/downstairs drama is old news --- the stuff of Masterpiece Theater.
What makes "The Perfect Summer" fascinating is that this story was, in 1911, about to change.
And --- how funny is this? --- the weather was a big factor.
Nicolson tells her story chronologically, month by month, a method that always builds suspense. In June, the crew of the Olympic goes on strike in Southampton; others follow. Diaghilev brings his new ballets to London. Leonard Woolf, dining with Lytton Strachey, meets 23-year-old Rupert Brooke.
In July, the temperature's in the 80s and there are 20 consecutive days without rain. Fires begin to break out along railroad tracks. At the Savoy, management sprays dancers with "ozone from iced cylinders". Only the African animals in the London Zoo thrive.
Along the way, there are fascinating details. Did you know that, in 1911, 700 families owned a quarter of England? That a fingertip rubbed on soap and then on the rim of a bottle of champagne will keep the bubbly from frothing? That, after rent, the greatest fixed expense the poor routinely faced was insurance to cover the cost of funerals and burial?
But the poor are a bore. Always with us, etc. Not good copy. So let us gloss over the 548 reported deaths from childhood diarrhea in England in August, when the temperature hit 100 degrees. And let's not spend too much time reading about that summer's strikes, even though some believed a revolution was happening and, in mid-August, a railroad strike pretty much crippled the country.
And so it goes, day after blistering day, with the rich as idle as ever and the poor making unaccustomed protest. And, of course, three years away and counting down, the war that will slaughter a generation.
This is a gripping portrait of otherwise intelligent people acting like fools because --- well, it's what people of a certain class do. In a way, it's a very reassuring read: nothing new under the sun, and all. And who can resist several hundred amusing stories about Society Folk?
|
|
|
