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The Last September
Elizabeth Bowen
#UB9482
Paperback, 303 pages; 2000 (1929)
$13.95
 Members' Price: $11.86
It's summer as usual at Lord and Lady Naylor's country home in County Cork: guests wandering in and out, competition on the tennis courts, long walks in the garden, and romance on the dance floor. But this is 1920 in Ireland, and "the Troubles" are roiling. Nevertheless, the English summering there carry on as though the bombings and killings are just an annoyance—like the mosquitoes on the lawn. When Lord Naylor's niece is courted by a young English soldier stationed nearby, Lady Naylor squelches the "inappropriate" romance handily: she's ruthless, but with faultless manners, even when tragedy follows. There's an undercurrent of radical change beneath the apparent calm surface of this 1929 novel, one that subsequent history has borne out. Elizabeth Bowen's writing is undeniably English—with clarity and restraint as its hallmarks. If you seek intelligent, meaningful fiction, read The Last September.
(EE)
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