This was a re- re- re- re- read..I think I have read this about 6 times now but not for about 20 years. I had forgotten so much and it was a wonderful experience to read it again. The story is so melancholy and poignant and so richly told. All what it is to be young and in love with a person, a place, an idea of each but not the reality maybe. It is about desire, and that overwhelming awe of something you haven’t ever had and want. It is about times gone, never to be had again...really it is achingly sad. But also amazingly brillintly told. The people in it are alive to me.

A badly written review but I will just say that I don’t think many books are written so spectacularly well more recently. I loved it totally and it will remain one of my favourites. I see some people have criticised it for being about wealthy, aristocratic, privileged ‘toffs’...well.....I read books about all people..rich, poor and everything in between. While the politics of extreme wealth and hereditary wealth is one thing, that doesn’t mean that the human beings living that life don’t have stories and can not be written about because of that. This story is about people with incredible wealth that affords them many of life’s privileges but it isn’t about that and is far from a glorification of wealth...in many ways it is the opposite.
So to criticise the book for that is...in my opinion...just not ok. I think we should be open to all stories and learn about other people through the books we read..books teach us...above all else...how to understand and have empathy with other human beings.