A glittering portrait of fashionable Edwardian high society, seen through the lives of a brother and sister torn between their ties to the past and the lure of the modern era

"As opulent and ambiguous as the author herself" -- Victoria Glendinning "Sackville-West wrote without fuss or anxiety. Her fluency could be relied on to provide imaginative security, and she wanted readers - of The Edwardians, Family History, All Passion Spent - to feel that too" Guardian "A close-up portrait of the excessive lifestyle of the aristocracy in a country estate... living out the tension between playing your given part in society - staying true to the rules and culture you were born into - and becoming an independent person, a tension that also defines "Downton Abbey," both upstairs and down." Boston Globe