Nashborough - Hardcover

Burch Donald, Elsie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007118988 ISBN 13: 9780007118984

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

A turbulent saga and rich read, set in the exotic world of the American Deep South in the first half of this century.

For generations, the Nashes and Douglases have been the leading families in Nashborough, a town in the American South. The Nashes founded it. The Douglases, in the 1920s, are its richest citizens. The Nashes' only son has married a Douglas.

But the six Douglas children, born into aristocratic luxury, and expecting happiness on a permanent basis, reach adulthood with the calamities of the 20th century about to burst upon them.

It is, however, the Nash-Douglas union that holds centre stage, as the beautiful and courageous, but thoroughly undomesticated Dartania, the second Douglas child, breaks the established social codes. And as the older generation, its values and outlooks, slowly disappear, its successors, caught in the surge for independence sweeping across America, experience the result – an atrophy of traditional family life, and accompanying loss of roots.

The town of Nashborough forms a microcosm, anchored in the past but altered by events as they reshape America: the Depression, World War II, the glory days of Hollywood, the rise of the civil rights movement.

Seen through the lives of two prominent families, this captivating and provocative saga – lyrical, humorous and wise – brings to life seminal changes that, over a period of only thirty years, transformed America forever.

About this title

Review:

'This intelligently capacious book takes us from the American twenties through to the sixties as two dynasties from the American South struggle to survive the momentous changes. Nashborough will appeal to readers of Edith Wharton – or even Thomas Mann.' Salley Vickers, author of Miss Garnet’s Angel

'This is one of those relentlessly gripping books that can be recommended as a good summer read. But its author's forceful intelligence, sure grasp of history and sense of class make it something both more provocative and more durable.' Francis King, Literary Review

Synopsis:

The Nash and Douglas families, discreetly intermarried, were the arbiters of society in Nashborough. They lived in town houses and plantation mansions. They had cotton crops, they owned banks and they ran the local politics. They had recovered themselves from the disasters and poverty of the Civil War the previous century, and when the novel opens at the marriage of the youngest Douglas daughter, it looks as if this world would never end. But financial, political and social events intervened. Even the South did not remain immune from the effects of the banking collapse of the 1920s, and certainly not from the growth of racial tensions. Some of the family ran away to Chicago or Paris; some married outside the golden circle - to a penniless anarchist, and to an Englishwoman. One, the splendid Dartania, even had an affair with the Prince of Wales. But the changes also affected the whole tradition of family. Miss Alice might still hold the party of the year, but many of her descendants had started to reinvent themselves - becoming senators, artists and even a film star.

The women no longer organised social events but worked, and one Douglas was even to become the most eminent black preacher in the South. Full of great characters woven in with real people, and rich in the atmosphere of the houses, the society and a way of life, Nashborough is a truly compelling saga. It is a fascinating take on that frequently studied subject: the family.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0007118988
• ISBN 13: 9780007118984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416