All the Dear Faces

The characters are diverse and exeptionally well drawn so that you really feel you know them. The story covers a period from the end of the 19th century until just after the Great War, including the Suffragette movement. It tells the story of the members of three families, two aristocratic and the third descendants of Irish immigrants, whose lives become inextricably intertwined. Inevitably, because of the time period in which the book is set there is much tragedy, but the way in which the characters come through this makes fine reading. There is also Audrey Howard's inevitable unrequited love story running it's thread through the book.

I have read most of Howards' books, but I think this is the one I enjoyed the most. "There Is No Parting" picks up the story for some of the characters again during World War II, and is another excellent book. Potential readers may wish to read "Ambitions" first - although I don't consider it quite as good, it tells the earlier story of the Hemmingway/Osbourne families filling in the history for readers of this book.