Book Club January 2021- House of Trelawney
By: Hannah Rothschild
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Pages: 384
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): For more than seven hundred years, the vast, rambling Trelawney Castle in Cornwall--turrets, follies, a room for every day of the year, four miles of corridors and 500,000 acres--was the magnificent and grand "three dimensional calling card" of the earls of Trelawney. By 2008, it is in a complete state of ruin due to the dulled ambition and the financial ineptitude of the twenty-four earls, two world wars, the Wall Street crash, and inheritance taxes. Still: the heir to all of it, Kitto, his wife, Jane, their three children, their dog, Kitto's ancient parents, and his aunt Tuffy Scott, an entomologist who studies fleas, all manage to live there and keep it going. Four women dominate the story: Jane; Kitto's sister, Blaze, who left Trelawney and made a killing in finance in London, the wildly beautiful, seductive, and long-ago banished Anastasia and her daughter, Ayesha. When Anastasia sends a letter announcing that her nineteen-year-old daughter, Ayesha, will be coming to stay, the long-estranged Blaze and Jane must band together to take charge of their new visitor--and save the house of Trelawney. But both Blaze and Jane are about to discover that the house itself is really only a very small part of what keeps the family together.
What I thought
Back in 2016 we read Rothchild’s book The Improbability of Love for book club and I wasn’t a fan. Looking back, I only gave in 2 stars, so when Meghan picked this book I was a bit apprehensive. This summary did sound interesting, and I couldn’t remember exactly why I didn’t like Rothchild’s other book so I tried to go into this book without judgement.
The Trelawneys are an aristocratic family from Cornwall and have lived in their same castle for 800 years. Now the castle is falling apart and on the brink of destruction. Jane, the wife of Kitto (heir to Trelawney) is trying her best to keep up the castle while Kitto works for a bank in London. The book takes place in 2008 right before the stock market crash. The story also follows Kitto’s sister Blaze and other various Trelawney family members.
The book got off to a little bit of a slow start for me, but by the 3rd chapter it really started to pick up. I was intrigued by the characters and I liked seeing the world leading up to the crash and how everyone was acting. There are some terrible people that make good villains and kept the story interesting as well. However, once we got to the crash it slowed back down for me again. Then we got to the ending which, kind of ruined he entire book for me.
I think for the majority of the book my favorite character was Blaze. I liked her drive and independence and I also appreciated that while she was a logical person, she had illogical behaviors from time to time. Other than her Uncle Toby, I really couldn’t stand the rest of the Trelawney’s and for the most part, felt like they got what they deserved. It was an interesting story of old aristocracy in the modern world and I liked that perspective of it.
Overall, I did enjoy this book more than The Improbability of Love, but I don’t think Rothchild is the author for me. I felt like the ending was rushed and unfulfilling, so even though I liked the majority of the story I was left with a poor taste in my mouth.
What Book Club Thought
It was kind of nice that everyone seemed to be on the same page. We all felt the characters were underdeveloped and disliked the ending greatly. The funny thing was that I went back and read my review on the Improbability of Love and pretty much everything we were saying, I said in that review too. So, we decided that this author is not one for us.