Gripping post war saga set against the elegant and risky world of the grand hotel - its rise and fall mirrored in the fortunes of one British family, and one woman in particular.
The time is 1951, the place Aylestone, a noble pile overlooking the Thames that has been in the Prynne family for centuries. The Prynnes have been wealthy landed gentry but, alas, no longer: in the bleak post-war years the realisation has gradually dawned on them that their means are insufficient to support either themselves or the family home. Charming but feckless, the older generation is startled out of its smugness by the vision of the elder daughter Judith Prynne who rebels against the aimless existence lived by most of her family, haunted by nostalgia and dreams of the past.
Despite the Prynnes' impoverishment, their dependence on the financial capital provided by a person they neither like nor admire, Judith is determined to create a chain of the best hotels in the country, starting with Aylestone. She has a natural beauty, an instinctive flair that gains her many admirers. But, above all, she discovers she has the talent and just about the right amount of ruthlessness to make her way in the devious, complex world of big business.
Judith eventually makes a judicious marriage, partly to further her ambition, to a man she respects but does not love. Together they set up a world-renowned restaurant, Prynne's, in London. However, there is one pitfall in her path to success that is almost her undoing. She lets her heart overrule her head, her better judgement, in her passion for a man of compulsive but sinister charm, who is more ambitious, more ruthless than she.
Genre: General Fiction
The time is 1951, the place Aylestone, a noble pile overlooking the Thames that has been in the Prynne family for centuries. The Prynnes have been wealthy landed gentry but, alas, no longer: in the bleak post-war years the realisation has gradually dawned on them that their means are insufficient to support either themselves or the family home. Charming but feckless, the older generation is startled out of its smugness by the vision of the elder daughter Judith Prynne who rebels against the aimless existence lived by most of her family, haunted by nostalgia and dreams of the past.
Despite the Prynnes' impoverishment, their dependence on the financial capital provided by a person they neither like nor admire, Judith is determined to create a chain of the best hotels in the country, starting with Aylestone. She has a natural beauty, an instinctive flair that gains her many admirers. But, above all, she discovers she has the talent and just about the right amount of ruthlessness to make her way in the devious, complex world of big business.
Judith eventually makes a judicious marriage, partly to further her ambition, to a man she respects but does not love. Together they set up a world-renowned restaurant, Prynne's, in London. However, there is one pitfall in her path to success that is almost her undoing. She lets her heart overrule her head, her better judgement, in her passion for a man of compulsive but sinister charm, who is more ambitious, more ruthless than she.
Genre: General Fiction
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