lunabee34

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The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's set in Edwardian times through the aftermath of the first World War, and is very Downton Abbey in its themes and characters. It's very funny with excellent dialogue, but it expounds on some very important themes like class and identity and marriage. The protagonist Agatha is a paragon of Edwardian virtue and breeding, and the novel follows her as she realizes she's made a mistake in marrying her husband though she married him for all the right reasons according to aristocratic society. One of the secondary characters has been deemed mentally unsound by most of his family; they think he's cognitively damaged in some way. Really, he's just very different from them and unwilling to play the social games they all thrive on; Agatha always sees his value and never believes the family narrative that he's an idiot. Her interactions with him are really interesting. The novel ends ambiguously; Agatha is poised on the brink of a decision, and we aren't quite sure what she'll do which I love.

I think anyone who enjoys Downton Abbey or novels of Victorian high society would like this book.



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