God Is an Englishman: 1 (Swann Family Saga)

Product Information

His struggle to succeed and his conquest of Henrietta, the spirited daughter of a rich manufacturer, drive a richly woven tale that takes the reader from the dusty plains of India to the teeming slums of nineteenth-century London, from the chaos of the great industrial cities to the age of the peaceful certainties of the English countryside. It is the 19th century, the country changes from an agricultural one into an industrial empire, with railroads ruling the transportation, mills, mines and factories replacing the farms and Adam Swann takes on a daring project of using horses as his road to success. Adam starts a business hauling cargo around Britain, filling in gaps left by the railroad, employing the drivers who were left unemployed by that same invention.

Youngster brought home his school photos, earlier this week, and pulled them out of the envelope without actually handing it to me, as if he planned to keep them. I had heard of Delderfield but that's all and I don not know why he is not better-known or read on both sides of the pond!

I must say that I liked this approach and I just was riveted by Adam Swann and by the whole process of him starting from a scratch and, despite unexpected failures and ‘bumps ‘, holding on to what he believed and never losing sight of what Adam deemed as success. So beautiful to read that I am prompted frequently to read passages out loud which I found to enhance my enjoyment. Adam arrived in town at the time of the riot and watched as Sam, Matthew and his son Makepeace Goldthorpe (the man Henrietta was to marry) rode into town.

Paul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit, but changes are taking place in the countryside.I have to admit that I skimmed some of these sections, though, because I wanted to get back to the main story and the details got a bit much for me at times. If it could be summed up in 370 well-written pages, we would soon dismiss it and move on to looking for the next New Jerusalem. He can make you laugh out loud, and generates a momentum that has you turning the pages wanting it never to end. This is a fascinating and outstanding novel about exciting times in economic and social development throughout Victorian England. Delderfield was born in London but has lived much of his life in Devon, where he started writing as a reporter on his father's newspaper, the Exmouth Chronicle.

As now, the secret of Swann's success is building an efficient and competitive business that is ahead of its time and is essential to the success of others. Delderfield draws a detailed map of the territory, county or city that he will cover, placing the houses where his characters will live and adding the place names and details that will build up into a rich and convincing background.Adam then began reading of activities around the world after acknowledging the fact that events outside of England would affect his freight business.

If you're not a robot, your comment will eventually show up and I will respond, with a few exceptions.

His wife had died giving birth to Henrietta and he valued her as a possession to be used to gain more wealth. It takes account of the sweeping social and economic turmoil of the Industrial Revolution while bringing individuals to life and capturing the energy of the age in a way that I haven’t felt since Dickens or Gaskell. A Victorian family chronicle about the rise to wealth of Adam Swann and his ever-expanding network of transport depots which stretch north to the scottish Highlands and west to the Dublin Pale.