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1936: A country house party has consequences for many of its guests…
The Summer House Party
What you need to know before your trail
In the gloriously hot summer of 1936, a group of people meet at a country house party. Within three years, the country will be engulfed in war, but for now time stands still as they sip champagne on the lawn, engaging in casual flirtations and carefree conversation. Then a shocking death puts an end to their revelry, changing everything in an instant.
For all of them, that summer house party will be a turning point. The mistakes made during that fateful weekend will change their lives for ever.
Travel Guide
Surrey
Sadly, Woodbourne House is not real but Clandon Hall in the county can be a close second judging by the appearance and setting. It’s a nice place to visit and if you read this book here, so much the better!
The house is said to be in the middle of the countryside and be close to Chidding Village and Staplow village. Staplow is a real village in Herefordshire though!
Berkshire is the setting for Copley Hall, another grand home where Paul is thinking of moving to. Again, fictional as are the woods and Cutbush farm where many of the characters enjoy spending time. Paul is also a fan of Hazlehurst Village and Aldersworth Village as this is where they used to live.
London
The city is evoked for all the lush locations and restaurants with Fortnum and Mason and fine dining establishments in South Molton Street, just off Oxford Street being two of the locations where good food is enjoyed. The city is one under siege however during the war and several places are where we see characters running for cover in search of a shelter.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
I read this in order to clasp on to the last remaining days of summer. Well, there was certainly enough heat in the first section of the book.! I can’t imagine or even remember the guests of Downton Abbey being this much on heat. Knocks on doors in the middle of the night, stolen kisses on the Chaise Longue and that’s nothing compared to what happens in the little wooden artists haven at the bottom of the garden.
There’s a summer party going on and many guests with their fair share of secrets. They look down upon those with less money than them and celebrate their cleverness by games on the lawn, lazy summer days and whispered conversations in the library. War is coming, some of the men go off to foreign climes but will they live to tell the tale?
The lies which are told during this summer however have consequences that last for years. That’s where the novel fell short for me as not all of the consequences were explained or even tied up in any way by the end. I’m not talking minor ones either, but one which is mentioned heavily at the start of the novel and indeed forms a large part of the lies of the day. I was waiting for an appearance of one character in paticlar, a mention, even a death….but nothing. Is there a sequel to this book I wonder? Still strange for a character to disappear like that. Then there’s the little girl Avril , so traumatised at the house party, who also seems to disappear later on in the book. Was there a murder Agatha Christie style that was so perfect not even the characters have worked it out yet?
The setting of Woodbourne House however is magnificent and nicely done with its evocative description and jaunts to London for tea and cake at Fortnum. Oh this is the life! Well, apart from the infidelity, suspicions of homosexuality, the seemingly revolving doors on some of the bedrooms of this grand manor house, war, tales of survival and traumatised children.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Summer House Party
Destination : Surrey, London, England Author/Guide: Caro Fraser Departure Time: 1936
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