by Melvyn Bragg
First published 2001
Douglas Tallentire stands at the crossroads his father and grandfather never reached. Education has opened doors they could only dream of. Independence flows through his veins like new blood. He can build any career he wants, travel anywhere his ambition takes him. The Tallentire legacy of struggle seems finally broken. But the 1970s demand a different kind of fighting. Competition cuts deeper than family feuds ever did. Douglas moves between the familiar hills of Cumbria and the electric pace of New York and London. Each city promises what the last could not deliver. Success arrives, yet happiness slips away like smoke. Freedom weighs heavier than the chains his ancestors wore. The Tallentire blood carries more than ambition. It holds uncertainty that no achievement can silence. Pain that no distance can heal. Douglas discovers that winning the war his family fought for generations means facing battles they never imagined. The kingdom he inherits is not the one they died trying to build.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, social-mobility
Setting: Cumbria, London, New York
Period: 1970s
378 pages · Paperback · Hodder & Stoughton