# Novels and stories about interwar Britain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332 "2012-09-01T03:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/1 "2012-09-01T03:17:05Z")
I’m a great fan of literature about Britain between WWI and WWII (flexible, but that’s the rough period). I’ve read Anthony Powell (Dancers to the Music of Time), the Nancy Mitford novels, Dorthy Sayers, Christie, Wodehouse, and many others that don’t come to mind now. My question: What can anyone recommend for me from this era? As you can see I’ll take comedy, mystery, straight fiction or anything else. I’ll stretch to pre-WWI (late Victorian, Edwardian) as well, though WWII and postwar fiction strike me as a different breed. Nothing wrong with it, just not my sweet tooth. I’ll even go steampunk, or whatever you might call retro-sci fi set in the 20s, though actual speculative fiction from the era seems a bit lame to me; but please, show me I’m wrong. I know this is pretty broad request, but hoping many will weigh in. Thanks in advance for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/2 "2012-09-01T04:29:47Z")
I enjoyed _The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie_. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/3 "2012-09-01T05:12:36Z")
Pretty much anything by P G Wodehouse. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/4 "2012-09-01T07:12:16Z")
I would have suggested either Christie or Wodehouse, but you’ve already done them. In that case I can only off the early \*Saint \*books by Leslie Charteris. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/5 "2012-09-01T10:13:39Z")
[Evelyn Waugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh). Great writer. Really gifted. If you haven’t read him already he should be number one on your list. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/6 "2012-09-01T12:28:05Z")
Some [C. P. Snow](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/c-p-snow/) is written or set in that period, although most of his books are post war… He coined the phrase ‘the corridors of power’. Or [R. F. Delderfield](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/r-f-delderfield/) was once very popular although modern readers might find his style overly sentimental. _To Serve Them All My Days_ and the _A Horseman Riding By_ trilogy are his best known works, I think. Both of them were made into popular UK tv series. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/7 "2012-09-01T13:48:25Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [Evelyn Waugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh). > > Great writer. Really gifted. If you haven’t read him already he should be number one on your list. I came in to mention Waugh. _Brideshead Revisited_ is one of my favorite novels. I also highly recommend EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia novels (where my user name comes from). They’re like Wodehouse, if Wodehouse had focused on Aunts Agatha and Dahlia rather than Bertie Wooster. If you can find them, you might also see the later (and less well known) novels and short stories in John Galsworthy’s _Forsyte Saga: To Let, A Modern Comedy, The White Monkey, The Silver Spoon, Swan Song_. All are set in the 1920s, beginning just after the end of WWI. I’ve found a list of Galsworthy’s novels online at [http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL77081A/John\_Galsworthy](http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL77081A/John_Galsworthy). ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/8 "2012-09-01T21:34:51Z")
Great suggestions, everyone! I have read some Waugh, will go back and read more, but will check out all of these. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/9 "2012-09-01T21:35:58Z")
_Keep the Aspidistra Flying_ and _Coming Up for Air_ by George Orwell. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/10 "2012-09-01T22:30:23Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > I’ll stretch to pre-WWI (late Victorian, Edwardian) as well… Don’t know if this will fit the bill or not: [\*The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm. \*](http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Summer-England-Before/dp/0802118461/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nT1?ie=UTF8&colid=24QTCUIQPIK7&coliid=IF8VI1BK9GBML) Here’s the description: > [@](#): > > The Perfect Summer chronicles a glorious English summer a century ago when the world was on the cusp of irrevocable change. Through the tight lens of four months, Juliet Nicolson’s rich storytelling gifts rivet us with the sights, colors, and feelings of a bygone era. That summer of 1911 a new king was crowned and the aristocracy was at play, bounding from one house party to the next. But perfection was not for all. Cracks in the social fabric were showing. The country was brought to a standstill by industrial strikes. Temperatures rose steadily to more than 100 degrees; by August deaths from heatstroke were too many for newspapers to report. Drawing on material from intimate and rarely seen sources and narrated through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals — among them a debutante, a choirboy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler, and the Queen — The Perfect Summer is a vividly rendered glimpse of the twilight of the Edwardian era. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve had it on my wish list for some time and just got it for my kindle. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/11 "2012-09-01T22:36:36Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_ and _Coming Up for Air_ by George Orwell. Also _Down And Out In Paris And London_, and _The Road To Wigan Pier_. About as far from Wodehouse and Christie as you can get. And for a taste of the pulp fiction of the period, try Sapper’s _Bulldog Drummond_ series, and \*The Saint \* series of Leslie Charteris. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/12 "2012-09-01T22:40:07Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Don’t know if this will fit the bill or not: [\*The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm. \*](http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Summer-England-Before/dp/0802118461/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nT1?ie=UTF8&colid=24QTCUIQPIK7&coliid=IF8VI1BK9GBML) > > Here’s the description: > > I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve had it on my wish list for some time and just got it for my kindle. Non-fiction, but _The Proud Tower_ by the wonderful Barbara Tuchman is a splendid history of the pre-First World War 20th Century. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/13 "2012-09-01T23:16:11Z")
_Coming Up For Air_ by Orwell is pretty much explicitly about being inter-war. From [Adam Cadre’s review](http://adamcadre.ac/calendar/12/12432.html): > [@](#): > > What the narrator contends, and what no one else seems to realize, is that another cataclysm is on the way — certainly no later than 1941, and probably sooner. Yes, everyone knows there’ll probably be another war; the skies are full of bombers on practice runs, and schools have regular air raid drills. But apart from the narrator, no one seems to grasp that very soon, when people talk about “before the war” they’ll mean _now_, not 1914; when people talk about the “modern world” they’ll mean _after the war to come_, not now. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/14 "2012-09-02T01:09:13Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > Or [R. F. Delderfield](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/r-f-delderfield/) was once very popular although modern readers might find his style overly sentimental. _To Serve Them All My Days_ and the _A Horseman Riding By_ trilogy are his best known works, I think. Both of them were made into popular UK tv series. The Avenue!! It follows the stories of several families living on an unnamed avenue in a London suburb from right after the end of WW I up until not long after the end of WW II. Available as one volume, _The Avenue_, or as two, _The Dreaming Suburb_ (1919- 1940, I think) and _The Avenue at War_ (1940-1947 or thereabouts). I first read this around 1972, and have reread it several times since. The “Horseman Riding By” trilogy (_Long Summer’s Day_, _Post of Honour_ and _The Green Gauntlet_) is set in Devon, from the second Boer War up until, again, after WW II; the second volume, I think, covers the between-wars period. I’ve read this one several times, too. Based on these books and the Swann saga (three books, Indian Mutiny-WW I), I’d recommend just about anything by Delderfield. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/15 "2012-09-02T02:07:32Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [Evelyn Waugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh). > > Great writer. Really gifted. If you haven’t read him already he should be number one on your list. If you’re looking SPECIFICALLY for novels set between the two world wars, start with Waugh’s \*\*\*Decline and Fall \*\*\*and _ **A Handful of Dust.** _ Virginia Woolf’s _ **Mrs. Dalloway** _ works, too. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/16 "2012-09-02T04:11:53Z")
W. Somerset Maugham, esp. **Of Human Bondage**. **Rebecca** by Daphne DuMaurier ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/17 "2012-09-02T07:52:31Z")
James Herriot’s [books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Herriot#Bibliography)are usually set in the inter-war years, though they go through to the 50’s. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/18 "2012-09-02T13:58:29Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > I’ll stretch to pre-WWI (late Victorian, Edwardian) as well. > > Thanks in advance for your help. AS Byatt’s _The Children’s Book_ stretches from 1895 to WW I and captures a certain late-colonial mood. Byatt isn’t everyone’s cup of tea,but I enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/19 "2012-09-02T18:22:09Z")
_Cold Comfort Farm_ by Stella Gibbons. It’s very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332/20 "2012-09-02T18:22:26Z")
Henry Williamson’s \*A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight \* series. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-and-stories-about-interwar-britain/633332.md?page=2)