Abdication

This novel uses as its backdrop events in Great Britain in 1936--from the death of George V and the ascension of his son Edward VIII through Edward's abdication in December of that year to marry the American widow Wallis Simpson. The author has created characters caught up in the royal drama, and the story includes palace intrigue, secret loves, and a dash of social commentary. Narrator Carole Boyd has exactly the kind of voice this book deserves. She is British to the core--elegant, graceful, and proper--and she demands, and earns, our attention. Boyd pronounces every syllable with aplomb and also does a variety of accents, including those of the upper class and working class, and an extremely credible American voice. (After all, she does need to introduce us to Mrs. Simpson.) R.I.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

March 26, 2012
Set in England in 1936, historian Nicolson’s debut novel explores the tumultuous love lives of two couples, set against the backdrop of a world bracing for another global conflict while still recovering from WWI. Prince of Wales Edward and American divorcée Wallis Simpson are entangled in a scandalous (real-life) love affair whose secrecy they try desperately to maintain, a challenge made all the more difficult after Edward’s ascension as king and concomitant thrust to the forefront of the public stage. Meanwhile, May Thomas, a chauffeur staying with Jewish relatives, falls in love with political Oxford undergraduate Julian Richardson, whose restlessness threatens their relationship. As if navigating an illicit royal love affair weren’t enough, Edward and Wallis’s situation becomes further complicated when Wallis’s childhood friend—the overweight “virgo intacta” Evangeline Nettlefold—shows up and her long-held resentments threaten to undo the monarchy. Though richly detailed and set in a dynamic time and place, the novel revolves primarily around the uninteresting and unlikable Evangeline, leaving the truly interesting characters of Edward and Wallis to wait in the wings. Agent: William Clark, William Clark Associates.