My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I picked up this book not long after visiting Abercrombie House, a beautiful manor house built in the 1870s just outside of Bathurst, NSW. Its been lovingly restored and is open to the public. It also functions as the home of the ever-so-slightly eccentric Morgan family. Its the kind of thing we assume doesn't exist outside of the UK.
I tell you this because it became how I pictured Templeton Hall. It just couldn't be avoided!
I've watched enough Grand Designs and historical restoration shows to know that unless you have a bottomless pit of money to draw on, don't take on a project like this. It could well end you. You'll see from the beginning of the book that most of these characters are doomed.
You probably won't care though. They'll all drive you mental, you'll despise most of them. I couldn't even stand Nina by the end of it with all her meddling that only further ruined peoples lives. But you will be swept away.
It is a long story. It seemed to go forever (though I finished it relatively quickly). I felt very involved, which I have come to expect from McInerney. It is very much a McInerney book, though a little darker than some of her others.
Highly enjoyable, hence the 5 stars.
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