Review - Cynthia Harrod Eagles - The Homecoming

I am keeping the reviews short as there is so many books in the series.

I love the scenic descriptions of every region in England and Scotland - from Yorkshire to London itself. I also enjoy very much the descriptive manner in which the way of day to day life is handled in the books - from the very housewifely skills that seemed to be a necessity of the age to the farming methods used in that time (that is my agricultural background coming into play). Though horses - both the breeding of horses as well as horses as beloved pets are very much part of the story - and horses in Sri Lanka are few and far between, I very much like to read the part played by these animals right throughout the stories. Both in the personal lives of the characters as well as during the many, many wars which encompass the series.

The Homecoming set in 1885 is dealing with the dawn of a new age in England. Late Victorian on the one hand and on the other Oscar Wilde at first very welcomed in London society and finally shunned and ostracized for his homosexual leanings, the Prince of Wales set - and what I abhorred - the huge double standards applied to the aristocracy and how they literally got away with murder, and the last but not least bit - Girl's Education. This was the part that fascinated me. I did not know how difficult it was for progressive girls and families to be educated, what obstacles they faced and what hurdles had to be overcome just to be educated.

There are still quite a few books to come but I am giving reviews in between of other books to vary the reading.