The Glittering Hour
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Average rating4
Welcome To The Roaring Twenties. As I finish this book a couple of weeks late - yet appropriately just hours before the Roaring Twenties come back - I'm actually thankful I wasn't able to complete it sooner due to various traveling I was doing in the early parts of this month. Because this book is a phenomenal look at the Roaring Twenties, young adult disillusionment in their twenties generally, and the realities we sometimes face in our thirties. But it is also extremely tragic, and without actually giving anything away let's just say be prepared to bawl for the last 100 pages or so of this 400 page book. Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended.
The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey is enchanting and brilliant! I chose this as one of my December ‘19 BOTM selections. I also purchased the Audible version to accompany it. I became so fond of the perfect narration by the lovely Imogen Church, one of my favorite narrators, that I took my time to listen and read simultaneously.
The story centers around the retelling of a romance that begins one fateful night in the summer of 1925 between Selina, the youngest daughter in an aristocratic British family, and Lawrence, a handsome artist from the other side of the tracks. The attraction and love they feel for each other is electric and magical. The antics of Selina and her friends are paparazzi fodder so the lovers must find stolen moments away from the limelight.
A decade later, while Selina and her husband are away, she decides to lead her 9 year old daughter Alice on a treasure hunt via letters she has carefully designed to tell Alice the story. This is done with the help of one of the household staff named Polly who is caring for Alice at Selina's parents' estate.
This book made me cry several times, but it also made my heart sing. The writing is so beautiful and brilliant that I felt like I was there. I could almost hear the music and feel the electricity in the air as I was reading. I couldn't put this book down and will definitely be recommending it to my friends.