First published 1999
The Forsyte family stands at the apex of Victorian London's merchant class—wealthy, rigid, and forever calculating. When Soames Forsyte, a possessive property lawyer, marries the beautiful Irene, he sets in motion a generational conflict that will test the family's rigid social code. As love collides with duty, and individual passions threaten the family's carefully constructed reputation, the Forsytes must navigate a world rapidly transforming through industrial change and impending world war. Each family member becomes a battleground between tradition and personal desire, with marriages, inheritances, and social standing hanging in the delicate balance. At its heart, this is a story of how one family wrestles with the seismic shifts of a changing world, where personal freedom challenges generations of inherited expectation.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, generational-conflict
Setting: Britain
Period: Early 20th Century
872 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press