All My Worldly Goods

Not since my early teens have I read a novel by a writer of "women's romance" fiction, and I came across this book by sheer accident. It is a treasure buried in its class of genre fiction. Though All My Worldly Goods is as far from preachy as it is possible for a book to be, it contains an important message for our day. All over the world, the computer revolution has created the phenomenon called Sudden Wealth Syndrome, a new sort of angst that comes with this dilemma for new millionaires and billionaires: how should they live their lives? Mostly, the debate on this question has centred on whether the new rich should practice or scorn conspicuous consumption: whether they should drive Mercedes SUVs or hide their money by choosing dull, mid-range sedans and dressing in L.L.Bean-wear. But how does wealth alter their obligations to their fellow human beings? How should they behave in society? The absorbing characters in this novel, most of whom belong to the English gentry and aristocracy, illustrate the ideals that inspired the finest members of the old nobility -- which included the absolute avoidance of all forms of pretentiousness and snobbery. The heroine, a young American beauty, is a model of calm good sense who easily fits Thomas Jefferson's and John Adam's idea of a natural aristocrat -- a person defined by "virtue and talents," as Jefferson put it. Anne Weale says in her book's dedication that it is a novel written for women. I'd make it compulsory reading for all victims of Sudden Wealth Syndrome. Ms. Weale is such a gifted storyteller that a more delightful form of treatment for the condition would be impossible to imagine.