One of the things I love about Ms Young's novels is the way her writing can transport you to a particular place and time - in this case a residential square in Radstow (Bristol) before the start of WW2. What he says goes, he is a vile, narcissistic obtuse individual who I don't think really likes women but thinks that all women fancy him! Young occupied a separate flat in their house and was addressed as 'Mrs Daniell'; this concealed the unconventional arrangement.

one family has the father who is a grade-A loser, Herbert Blackett, who likes to rule over his wife (Bertha) and three daughters, Flora, Mary, and Chloe, like he is a king of his castle and they are there to please him and to serve at his fancy. It’s rare to find this degree of depth and complexity in the creation of four key characters in the same book – Rosamund, Mrs Blackett, Miss Spanner and Mr Blackett (perhaps the most flawed of them all). A picture of England at the outset of the Second World War, as experienced by two families living across from one another in E. You don't have to be interested in Bristol history to enjoy Chatterton Square, though it's nice to recognise still-familiar sights in the descriptions of Clifton Down, the Suspension Bridge and the Avon gorge.The two families in question are the Frasers and the Blacketts, whose houses are situated perpendicular to one another in the corner of Upper Radstowe’s Chatterton Square – a setting modelled on Clifton in Bristol. But it is touching to see Rhode and Bertha come together as Chatterton Square progresses (and it begins when Rhoda sees her mother give her father a look which contained ‘a concentration of emotions which she could not analyse and which half frightened her.

But once it because apparent that Bertha resented her husband for the way he treated her and had always treated her (like she was his possession and she was there to cater to his every whim and fancy and to listen to him blather on and he could give a damn if she had an opinion on something because he was smarter than her and he was a man and she a woman), then E. As you say, you’re right there with them, immersed in their lives – replete with all the various hopes and challenges. I actually grew to like most of the characters and at the end was wanting to know what happened to them in the future.In truth, Rosamund feels deeply for this somewhat wounded soul with his noticeable limp and scarred face – both of which were sustained in the First World War. Initially, Miss Spanner was presented as a lonely spinster who was brought up by very strict parents whose goal it was to raise a person who would take care of them in their old age and be exactly like them (she was allowed very little freedom to do or to think as she pleased) — the father scared a potential suitor of Miss Spanner’s away from the house. But I should also say I am an outlier – most of the reviews I read from bloggers (see below for links) were laudatory towards the book. Marriage is very much the theme of this book, but it is set in 1939 and war looms large throughout the narrative. When it is proposed that Mr Blackett should take Flora on holiday to Europe, Bertha is all for it, knowing full well that she and Rhoda would be happier as a result.

Once Mr Blackett and his darling Flora are out of the way, Bertha visibly relaxes, as if a burdensome weight has been lifted from her shoulders.This was all fascinating but it was also sometimes difficult to understand this aspect of the book because people and events are not referred to by name. For Rosamund Fraser who has two sons of an age to fight, and for Bertha Blackett who is married to a man determined to ignore the danger, the situation is indeed a terrible one. With breathtaking wit and a keen observational eye, E H Young presents us with a beautifully drawn portrait of two very different families.