The Breached Wall (The Cresswell Inheritance Trilogy)

The Breached Wall is the third in a trilogy about two families before, during and after World War I, the aristocrate Cresswells and the family of successfull businessman Stan Eldridge. After the first two boks (The Broken Gate, The Heart's Citadel), The Breached Wall starts in spring 1915 at the beginning of World War I. Part of Cresswell Manor, the Cresswell family home i Devon, has been made into a reconvalescent home for injured soldiers, who are tended to by female volunteers and nurses. It's yet early days but slowly the seriousness of the war becomes apparent. The many young men who are enlisted, seemingly only for training in order to protect England against "The Huns", are more and more often shipped to the front, leaving the women to carry the burdens at home. Against the background of the war, the aristocracy, particularly its females, continue their lives seemingly undisturbed in their fine homes. Tended to by their servants, and keeping up the ever important "etiquette", they cling to a world which, unbeknowst to most of them, is about to disappear. After the Victorian and Edwardian areas, World War I does not only wipe out a whole generation of young men, it also changes the lifestyle of the English upper classes forever. It is fascinating to read how Anita Burgh captures the essence of "Old England". The aristocracy, the wealthy but socially unacceptable pursuers of trade - and the poor - servants and workers with menial skills. The difference between the living conditions of the upper and lower classes is huge. Yet, the working classes take as much pride in their stature as the privileged aristocracy. A trait which has always been very English, and which exists even today. Anita Burgh goes into every detail of daily life. The way people think, dress, talk. She manages the somewhat stilted speech of the aristocracy as easily as the simple, yet distinct, straightforward and grammatically lacking language of the servants. The all over drama in the book is the war and its effect on society as a whole. The lives of the people at Cresswell Manor and the nearby village are changed forever. There are tragedies and hardship and at the same time happiness found in ways that would have been unthinkable before the war. The various characters are strong and very much alive. The pompeous butler, the high tempered bustling cook secretly dreaming of love, and the timid, and sometimes obnoxious, young maids. The Lord of the Manor, Mortie is a kind and peace-loving man struggling in the shadow of lady Coral, difficult, hysterical and snobbish in the extreme. They are all there and love does indeed blossom among the gentry as well as in the kitchen and the servants' quarters! In spite of the ravages of the war, there is a fine sense of humour throughout the book. The friendship between old hypocondriac lady Penelope Cresswell whom everybody fear, and lovely young Rowan, newly married to lady Cresswell's grandson Morts, is one of the highlights.

This book is the third in a family saga and I should probably enjoy it even more if I had read the first two in the series. That being said, it was still a good WW1 family story, involving an aristocratic family and the families of their estate workers. Former maid, Rowan, has married the son of the Creswell family, much to the horror and disastisfaction of both families, the Creswells because of the disgrace of their son and heir marrying a servant and Rowan's own family who feel that she's gotten above herself and her proper station in life. The estate workers show themselves to be even more snobbish than their employers! The Manor has been converted into a convalescent home for wounded officers, with many of the estate girls, including Rowan, working long and hard hours as orderlies. Problems which would be known to readers of the first two books are eventually sorted out or else come to a horrifying climax. I enjoyed this as an individual read for its' descriptions of life above and below stairs in 1915, but would undoubtedly appreciated it more had I read the first two books.