The Truth And The Trelawneys....
The Trelawneys - an aristocratic family of long history. Their home - the magnificent Trelawney Castle. The truth- the family have fallen on hard times brought about by excessive spending and high living and generally doing little else. This is their story. A hugely engrossing and entertaining read combining family drama, social satire, a wealth of well drawn and thoroughly engaging characters and much lightheartedness. Rather perfect.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘House Trelawney’ by Hannah Rothschild in exchange for an honest review.

“A dazzling comedy of manners about old money, new money and no money ..”

I adored Hannah Rothschild’s debut novel, ‘The Improbability of Love’. It was my favourite read of 2016. So I was delighted to discover that she had written a second novel. Like its predecessor ‘House Trelawney’ is a charming novel that could be seen as fluff but quickly reveals its depths.

It was published on 6 February and knowing how much I had appreciated her first novel, I elected to buy its audiobook edition, narrated by Elaine Claxton, to listen alongside reading the eARC.

Trelawney Castle, overlooking the South Cornish sea, has been the home of the Earls of Trelawney since their ennoblement in 1179. Through the centuries they have used their wealth and stealth to stay on the winning side of history.

Yet now in the summer of 2008, the castle is crumbling around the family’s ears and is in need of millions of pounds of renovations. Its lands are diminished, furniture and paintings sold off, and staff let go.

Jane, the downtrodden daughter-in-law of the elderly 24th Earl, is reduced to trying to feed her children and in-laws on next to nothing. The Earl and Countess are seeing out their days acting as if they were still living in splendour, calling for non existent servants, and dressing for dinner in inappropriate formal wear.

Jane’s feckless husband, Kitto, is heir to the Earldom and Chairman of Acorn Bank, a small West Country institution. Ten years ago his father had handed over the running of the Trelawney estate to Kitto, who discovered there was no money and few assets. He is hoping to restore the family fortunes through a series of risky investments.

His estranged sister, Blaze, works in finance and is considered a leading stock picker in the City. Yet for the past year she’s been seeing worrying trends and her intuition is that an international crises is imminent. Yet her warnings are falling on deaf ears.

Jane and Blaze were close friends while at Oxford university and Jane went on to marry Kitto. In the opening pages the third member of their tight circle, Anastasia, contacts Jane after twenty years absence with news that she is dying. She begs Jane to provide a home to her daughter, Ayesha, as after her husband, a Maharajah, died his heir had banished his stepmother and Ayesha from the palace. Anastasia had been a great beauty who had left many broken hearts in her wake before her move to India.

The eventual arrival of 19-year old Ayesha proves to be a catalyst for all kinds of change as does the events of October 2008 as Blaze’s worse fears come true.

So yes, ‘House Trelawney’ is a gentle satire about the fortunes of a family of downtrodden aristocrats but I felt that it also effectively explores the devastation created by the global financial crises as well as the bonds of family and friendship and, of course, of historic and contemporary privilege.

There are many fantastic one-liners and a large cast of eccentric characters. I quickly became very fond of workaholic Blaze as well as Aunt Tuffy, who quietly gets on with her research into the effects of climate change on insects in her tumbledown cottage on the Trelawney estate. Of all though, the Dowager Countess, Clarissa, was a comic creation to rival any that I have encountered.

There is also a villain in the form of ruthless American multibillionaire Thomlinson Sleet, another Oxford alumni and rejected suitor of Anastasia, with a long held grudge against House Trelawney for a perceived slight while at university.

Overall, I loved this novel from start to finish. It was very entertaining as well as heartwarming. When reviewing ‘Improbabilty’ I described it as Dickensian, whereas I found ‘House Trelawney’ was a comedy of manners in the tradition of Jane Austen. I will be recommending it widely and enthusiastically.

I'm afraid I gave up on this book at 15%. When I saw the words 'comedy of manners' I was expecting either something almost Blandings-esque - an amusing story of bumbling aristocrats getting into scrapes - or something akin to Diary of a Provincial Lady or the TV show The Durrells - a wry but sympathetic look at a family making the best of a hard time. What I got instead was an attempt at a humorous tone that felt sarcastic, nasty, and condescending. Perhaps the story will develop so that it isn't populated by such awful characters, but when there's so much sexism, ageism, and general misery already voiced by the characters, all given in this didactic, patronising tone, I don't really want to stick around to find out.

NetGalley was nice enough to accept my request to read House of Trelawney. Sadly, I soon discovered that this book wasn't quite what I'd envisioned. I'm 40% in and the story has just sort of begun. Until that point we have countless scenes showing us how pathetic and silly the Trelawneys are. Most of the men in this novel are a mixture of bumbling and patronising fools. The women are subservient or considered weird/odd/undesirable and cannot stand up for themselves.
I'm fine with stories focused on dysfunctional family (rich or not) but these caricatures of aristocracy lacked bite and humour. Just because they are made to seem ridiculous doesn't mean that they are funny or clever satirical portraits of certain aristocratic/privileged types.
Worse still is that nothing much happens. The story is dull on all fronts. The Trelawney's House is only vaguely rendered. We have no clear descriptions other than it is 'run down'.
The characters predictably whiny and self-absorbed, reminding me very much of
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld . Exaggerating their quirks and behaviours doesn't really result in satire....

Since time is precious and all of that, I'm doing myself a favour by abandoning this novel. If unfunny satirical and uneventful stories are your thing you might want to check this out...

First of all I'd like to thank Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sharing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about the house of Trelawney which has been in existence for hundreds of years. We come to know many of the family members but the story really centres on three friends from childhood, Jane, Blaze and Anastasia. Jane is the wife and Blaze is the sister of Kitto, the current earl. At the beginning of the story there's a letter from Anastasia to Blaze and Jane, revealing she is dying and asking for one of them to take in her daughter. Anastasia may not be present but she has something of a ghostly presence and her actions have an effect on many in the family.

Jane has tirelessly tried to keep the home going, despite a husband who gets stuck into bad financial schemes and fritters away the little money they have. Meanwhile Blaze is a whiz working in finance but whose warnings of financial crisis are being ignored in 2008 London. During the course of a couple years these characters will develop in ways they haven't before and the reader follows the progress with insights into many of the family members along the way.

Okay I went through stages with this book. At first I was quite engaged but then I found it dragged quite a bit. I think it took a lot to understand the multitude of characters presented here. Further along, I found myself getting a better idea of what was going on and then things seemed to fall into place a bit more. To be honest the promise of great wit wasn't fulfilled all that much, particularly in the first half of the book. I began to see it a bit more as the story progressed but it wasn't complete. By the end I could appreciate a lot more of the story and I did like it in the end.

I do take some issue with this idea that Apple was an up and coming company in 2008 since it's been around for ages. Also, I felt like the ending wasn't terribly satisfying and left a few too many loose ends. I don't expect all to wrapped up, especially with so many characters. But I do think all of the main arcs should be addressed to some degree.

Anyway, I did like this overall and give it 3 stars.

Loved this satire. The plot is turning the pages, from the start of the novel a letter arrives to the crumbling castle trelawney, and disturbs some of its inhabitants. Trelawneys are penniless aristocrats and their situation is something that could happen, but of course exaggerated for good reason. extremely well-portrayed characters have funny dialogue - what's not to like.

Gently satirical, this look at aristocracy in the modern world has a wonderful blend of interesting characters and sharp observations.
Life in Britain has a changed drastically in the last 100 years, many of the large family estates have fallen into decay and everyone has been affected by the blithe arrogance of worldwide bankers and money managers. I love the way that the author has packaged such bitter truths in such an entertaining read.
Definitely hoping for a follow-up.

**3.5stars**
The story of a family who have lived in Trelawney Castle for over 800 years and one steeped in tradition. Over time the family heritage has been eroded and sold off, now the current Lord and his family live in a castle falling down around them. And the situation is not helped by the current custodian Kitto and his failed investments.
I actually found this book took quite a bit of time to set the characters up but once it was done the story rollicked along and wondered at times wether I felt it had an air of black humour. It highlights the noose that can be felt by family members who fall in the line of inheritance, regardless if they are the best for the job or not.
An enjoyable foray into a world that is vanishing
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Anyone who follows me knows that family dramas are my favourite books and this was no exception. Set during the financial crash in 2007. Filled with well balanced drama, great characters and lovely writing.

I really enjoyed Hannah Rothschild’s first novel, The Improbability of Love, a few years back, so I was excited when I joined Netgalley and found I could read her new one, House of Trelawney, ahead of its official release. I wasn’t disappointed: it was a lot of fun, and I loved seeing the characters develop over the course of the story.

House of Trelawney follows the (mis)fortunes of several characters from the Trelawney family, members of the aristocracy who have lived on the same (massive) spot in Cornwall since the middle ages and are barely clinging to their sprawling, crumbling ancestral home in 2008, when the story begins. Rothschild really brings the setting and family to life by creating a rich backstory of amusing legends and anecdotes from the dynasty’s past.

The various Trelawneys are faced with crisis after crisis - including, naturally, the financial one - in this state-of-the-nation satire, and I read a lot of the book in one go because there was always so much going on to hold my interest. As in The Improbability of Love, Rothschild isn’t afraid to put her characters through the mill, and it’s a credit to her writing that many of them are so likeable that you feel sorry for them and hope things turn out okay. And when a particular character isn’t likeable, they more than make up for it in laugh value!

As well as the humour, what I really loved about House of Trelawney was the way practically everyone in it develops and ‘comes into their own’ in some way. This is especially true of Jane, who has married the head of the family and been burdened with the Sisyphean task of keeping the house relatively intact while also looking after her curmudgeonly parents-in-law, and Blaze, the ‘spare’ daughter who lives a dull life as a City trader. The struggle to save Trelawney transforms both of them in very positive ways as they - and we - discover new aspects of their characters.

One quibble I did have was that the characters kept referring to Apple as a ‘new company’ it would be wise to invest in. As Apple had been around for more than 30 years and made the Mac, iPod and iPhone by 2008, I’m pretty sure everyone would have already heard of them! I’d have also liked to have read more about Aunt Tuffy - an endearingly eccentric entomologist - as she was such an interesting character.

In House of Trelawney, Rothschild combines hilarity with tenderness, putting sympathetic characters in situations that reflect and parody the ridiculousness of modern life. I would recommend it to fans of Jonathan Coe, as well as anyone who enjoyed One Week, by Sebastian Faulks, and Capital, by John Lanchester.

House of Trelawney is published by Bloomsbury on 6 February 2020.

Trelawney Castle has been in the Trewlawney family for 800 years. Every Trelawney Earl has over spent and under earned. Now the castle is crumbling around their ears. Love, lust, high finance and screen printing swirl around as the fate of the castle is decided. I loved Hannah Rothschild's previous novel The Improbability of Love this is just as good

A deliciously wicked novel about a dysfunctional aristocratic family and their crumbling mansion. The Trelawneys have lived in Trelawney Castle for eight centuries and seen the house grow from a humble home to a stately one with additions made over the ages. But now in 2008, after two world wars, the great depression and a series of inept Earls, the family has run out of money to keep any staff or pay for the restorations needed.

Neither the current Earl, Kitto, his elderly father or his eldest son, Ambrose, have the ability or business acumen to restore the family fortune and it is up to Kitto's wife, Jane to keep the house running, look after his elderly parents and keep their own three children fed and clothed as best as she can. When even more financial disaster hits, Jane finds herself an ally in Kitto's sister Blaze, a hedge fund manager, and together they come up with a plan to make the house pay for itself. However, fate throws them a spanner in the works in the form of the beautiful nineteen year old daughter of a dying friend from the past.

This is a witty and entertaining novel about a dying aristocracy, the fight to save decaying historical homes and a family at odds with the modern world. As a member of a famous banking family and daughter of a Baron herself, the author writes of this world with an assured authenticity. The characters are excellent in all their quirkiness - Kitto, almost a caricature of the entitled, bumbling aristocrat, Kitto's mother, the Dowager Countess still living in the past and mad Aunt Tuffy who is not mad but is actually a world renowned entomologist and climate biologist. The women of the family are the real treasure here with Blaze, a financial wiz but hopeless at relationships and Jane the put upon wife, the ones who will eventually show the rest of the family the true meaning of home.

A decent story that had me engrossed throughout the story. A little 'upper class for my taste but kept going until the end.

The House of Trelawney has been in the family for 800 years but the current occupants have let it fall to wreck and ruin and now it looks like it is about to end the centuries long tradition. The house isn’t just made of bricks and mortar though. It is also built upon secrets and lies.

The House of Trelawney is a family saga that does have you guessing to the very end. The multi perspective narrative means that you are constantly kept on your toes. Strangely, the story is a bit of a slow burner. There isn’t a pressing need to turn the page but you do enjoy the steady stream of new information. I enjoyed this story. I am not sure what I was expecting from it but I enjoyed the story none-the-less.

House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild is available now.

For more information regarding Hannah Rothschild (@Hannah71771890) please visit www.hannahrothschild.com.

For more information regarding Bloomsbury Publishing (@BloomsburyBooks) please visit www.bloomsbury.com.

If you aren't born into aristocracy, you might need some warming up to the characters as I did, but then I was totally hooked. Not surprisingly, as I loved the author's first book, The Improbability of Love, and now I got a chance to read its second - a huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication!
The story was about a vast and beautiful decay of the Trelawney castle and its family of inept and quirky aristocrats. The story was also set during one very recent financial crisis of 2008, that we all still remember and feel the effects of. Only one of these Trelawneys had a business acumen to try to save the castle (and the family) from total ruin, but was evicted for the stupid ancient rule of not being a heir of the family, thus not allowed to live in it. All the other members were hopeless dreamers, each in their own way. That unique person so different from the others, was the main character of this piece, the only one forbidding dreams to enter her small realm, and yet the only one who really deserved to have them fulfilled. Considering the circumstances.
It was trying to like this lot of people. At times they were so obnoxious, and yet, they felt real and not so bad folk, just like members of the family that tend to annoy you but you still can't imagine any reunion without them. That world of once-were and new riches was also perplexing for me. If the whole glamour and excess was exaggerated to ridicule the whole point of it, the book successfully made me feel total contempt for it. I liked how it all ended. I liked how the journey to this satisfying ending was all but predictable, wild and with so many unexpected turns and shocking twists.

It must be the current political climate, but I am just not bothered about the eccentricities of any aristocratic family and their slow decline and hunt for former glory. When I requested the book, I did not take this into consideration. Really me, rather than the book but all these type of English novels are just not working for me at present, which is neither the author's fault, nor the books. I dnfed around 20%.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this but it wasn’t for me. Skipped to get to the end.

Through seven centuries the Lords who owned Trelawny House have spent so that now Ketto the latest heir has no visible money left despite a banking job and joining a series of systems to make money. Set in the rapidly deteriorating castle Jane the artist wife struggles to look after her in-laws and cope with the realities of the house. Meanwhile her sister-in-law is successful in the City. An ancient aunt lives in the grounds working on her life long scientific projects of lice, fleas and decay until the elements force her to retreat to the family home. It is a story of exploitation of the family by someone with a grudge and also the mysterious arrival of the orphan daughter of a pal of Blaze and Jane’s from school days which literally sets the “cat among the pigeons” - a laugh out loud story well written about the pitfalls of the modern economy and greed.

I had eagerly awaited the next masterpiece – for this is what it is – from Hannah Rothschild for some months, and it definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Having discovered this wonderful author through her earlier novel “The improbability of love”, which was an absolute romp through the upper echelons of society and their misdemeanours, this latest masterpiece “The house of Trelawney” continues in this marvellous style and a not-dissimilar vein.

Unlike many novels I have read this year which have felt a disappointing waste of my time as a reader, from page 1 I was drawn in by Rothschild’s delicious use of language and utterly credible characters in an outwardly grand but internally collapsing family.

I read far too late into the night on many occasions, as I just could not put this book down, and it lasted long beyond several credible finishing points, but never losing impetus or worthy storyline.. I could picture the dilapidated pile of the ancestral home in Cornwall, as keenly as the contrasting London settings, and the wheeling and dealing of the financial world that dominates the theme of this book was factually well researched and related.

The interweavings of various dreadful characters, each setting out to cause the downfall of others, enticed you through an ever more exciting storyline, and the denouement was deliciously accomplished, with a fine fitting ending to this wonderful novel.

I cannot wait for her next masterpiece!

I was given a pre-publication copy to read in exchange for an unbiased review.

I didn’t ever connect with this story of an aristocratic family in reduced circumstances and the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. The things I wasn’t keen on in The Improbability of Love - the lack of real characterisation, the “comic” tone without ever being really funny - are amplified in this novel. Having said this, I think it will do well. A television adaptation of this would work, maybe, with actors breathing life into the characters.