Long Live the King

June 3, 2013
Weldon's second installment of the Love and Inheritance Trilogy is a capable, but lackluster, return to romance, intrigue, and beautiful homes. In this starchy rendering of King Edward VII's all-consuming 1902 coronation, England is still mourning Queen Victoria. Tension between Lord Robert (Earl of Dilberne) and his wife, Isobel, over extra coronation tickets results in Isobel secretly posting them to Robert's estranged brother, Edwin, along with a gift for their 16-year-old niece, Adela. Edwin is a repressed, abusive man who calls Adela stupid and plain, and deprives her of food. When tragedy strikes Adela's family, the suddenly-orphaned, lovely, blue-eyed girl with the "blonde-red Botticelli waves" is seduced into the world of trances, séances, and fake spiritualism, becoming Princess Ida. Meanwhile, Isobel is consumed with Robert's interest in the beautiful, bejeweled, and unhappily married Duchess Consuelo, a Vanderbilt. Robert and Isobel's outspoken daughter, Rosina, stung by her family's rejection, marries spontaneously and unsuitably, running off with her mate and chatty parrot to Australia. Weldon ends on a happy note: the king survives appendicitis, Robert and Isobel become grandparents, and Adela unites with family. Fans of the Victorian and Edwardian periods will appreciate the characters' noble mien and place in history.

May 1, 2013
Weldon's second installment in the Edwardian trilogy (Habits of the House, 2013) again revolves around deciding who is to receive prized invitations, this time to Edward VII's 1902 coronation. Robert, Earl of Dilberne, and his wife, Lady Isobel, again hold center stage. Son Arthur is now happily married to Chicago heiress-with-a-past Minnie, who has not quite adjusted to British aristocracy. Suffragette daughter Rosina, a spinster at 31, is still hobnobbing with intellectuals and idealists. Having recovered his fortune with the help of his Jewish financial advisor Mr. Baum, Sir Robert has become prominent in ruling circles and will participate in the coronation being organized largely by Lord High Steward "Sunny" Marlborough, nicknamed for his unsunny demeanor, and Lady Marlborough, nee Consuelo Vanderbilt. When Consuelo offers Robert three extra tickets to the big event, Robert plans to give two of them to Mr. Baum and his cultured wife, Naomi (who talks about Zionism with Lord Balfour), evidence that the Baums are rising in society since it was a mere dinner invitation that Isobel resisted offering last go-round. But in a fit of jealous pique over Robert's apparent intimacy with dashing young Consuelo, Isobel rashly sends the tickets to Robert's estranged younger brother Edwin, an eccentric minister who lives in miserly religiosity with his wife and ethereal 15-year-old daughter, Adela. Isobel regrets her decision immediately, but the invitation has been mailed. Meanwhile, tragedy befalls Edwin and his wife, Elise, and Adela, scheduled to enter a convent, disappears. As the coronation approaches, Isobel struggles to cover her mistake. Weldon plugs in historic figures like Lord Balfour and Lady Marlborough and some interesting bits of Edwardian social history and manners, but as a work of fiction, this entry is less than compelling.

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December 1, 2014

Weldon, who wrote the pilot episode of the original Upstairs Downstairs, returns to the Edwardian era with the tale of the Dilbernes, a once-grand family striving to regain former glory. Poor investments and rising expenses have left the Earl of Dilberne with no choice but to marry off one of his sons to an American heiress, but this infusion of new money has unanticipated consequences. Weldon's return to her roots is as enjoyable as those early episodes of Upstairs Downstairs, mixing high drama and historical accuracy with humor.

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April 15, 2013
His balance sheet firmly back in the black thanks to the machinations of his solicitor, Eric Baum, Lord Dilberne, can now turn his attentions to more pressing affairs of state, especially the upcoming coronation of King Edward VII. There are grouse to be shot and golf to be played, and his wife, Isobel, must advise both family and the court on the proper amount of ermine to trim the royal robes. And then there's the matter of the coveted extra tickets to the event itself: Should they go to the socially unacceptable Baums or to Lord Dilberne's estranged brother Edwin and his family? Isobel makes a potentially awkward decision, unaware that Edwin has died. His now-orphaned teenage daughter, Adela, then falls prey to a pair of con artists out to capitalize on the gentry's fascination with spiritualism. Teeming with tasty tidbits about royals great and small, Weldon's second installment in her Dilberne Court trilogy, following Habits of the House (2013), gives devoted Anglophiles a whirlwind tour upstairs, downstairs, and all around the castle. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Promotional efforts will be redoubled as acclaimed author Weldon's delicious series continues.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)