Mary WESLEY : The camomile lawn

Oliver is just back from the Spanish Civil War and world-weary at only nineteen. Calypso is gorgeous, utterly selfish and determined to marry for money. Polly and Walter, brother and sister, play their cards close to their chests. Then there's little Sophy, who nobody loves. Soon the world will be swept into war again and the five cousins will enter a whirligig of sex, infidelity, love and loss, but for now they have one last, gaspingly hot summer at the house by the cliffs with the camomile lawn.

This week-end, I watched the mini-series The camomile lawn with, among others, Toby Stephens (whom I have a soft spot for), Tara Fitzgerald, Jennifer Ehle (platinum blonde, I didn't recognize her at first !). Time period, very good cast, I enjoyed watching it but wasn't crazy about it. However, I researched the book it was inspired from and found out that it's a modern classic in Great Britain, written by a Lady who was in her old age, so I managed to get the book for free and read it quickly enough while watching the show.

It's not a great book. I can see why many people liked it (life during the war, 3mns phone calls, train travels, rations, pain but also more freedom) however... everybody kept  having sex with almost everyone ! (Max practically sleeps with every woman in the novel). I'm not a prude, far from it - see my shelves on GR, but there are some things I didn't expect to see there. I was more surprised than shocked, yet having this older man liking to put his hands up the skirts of much younger girls, the general attitude toward little girls bothered me. The old perv attracted to younger girls is presented as a harmless man, and yes, I know guys like him exist, but he made me feel uneasy given the way he's portrayed. Especially when there's another man at the beginning of the novel that keeps flashing a little girl. See ?

Apart from that, it's a recollection of memories from different characters viewpoints. So there is a lot of telling, not much showing, practically zero psychological depth. It's a novel that helps pass time, but I'm quite certain that there are much better books out there about the same time period. 

I was about to give it 3 stars when I closed it, yet thinking back about those older men and those girls made me lower it down to 2 stars. I know other people loved this book according to Goodreads, but honestly it's not the better piece of writing in the world !