Phillip Rock

The Passing Bells

Dean Riesner

A Novel

Dirty Harry

Before Downton Abbey, there was Abingdon Pryory, the elegant country home of the Grevilles—a titled English family who, along with their servants, see their world turned upside down when England goes to war. Once their well-kept lawns and whirling social seasons give way to the horrors of World War I, no one, upstairs or downstairs, is left untouched. For fans of sweeping historical fiction, the reissue of Phillip Rock's New York Times bestseller The Passing Bells is a breathtaking family saga not to be missed.

The Acclaimed Trilogy That Has Been Called a Must-Read for Fans of Downton Abbey A generation has been lost on the Western Front. The dead have been buried, a harsh peace forged, and the howl of shells replaced by the wail of saxophones as the Jazz Age begins. But ghosts linger—that long-ago golden summer of 1914 tugging at the memory of Martin Rilke and his British cousins, the Grevilles. From the countess to the chauffeur, the inhabitants of Abingdon Pryory seek to forget the past and adjust their lives to a new era in which old values, social codes, and sexual mores have been irretrievably swept away. Martin Rilke throws himself into reporting, discovering unsettling political currents, as Fenton Wood-Lacy faces exile in faraway army outposts. Back at Abingdon, Charles Greville shows signs of recovery from shell shock and Alexandra is caught up in an unlikely romance. Circles of Time captures the age as these strongly drawn characters experience it, unfolding against England's most gracious manor house, the steamy nightclubs of London's Soho, and the despair of Germany caught in the nightmare of anarchy and inflation. Lives are renewed, new loves found, and a future of peace and happiness is glimpsed—for the moment.

Circles of Time

The final installment of the saga of the Grevilles of Abingdon Pryory begins in the early 1930s, as the dizzy gaiety of the Jazz Age comes to a shattering end. What follows is a decade of change and uncertainty, as the younger generation, born during or just after the "war to end all wars," comes of age. American writer Martin Rilke has made his journalistic mark, earning worldwide fame with his radio broadcasts, and young Albert Thaxton seeks to follow in his footsteps as a foreign correspondent. Derek Ramsey, born only weeks after his father fell in France, and Colin Ross, a dashing Yankee, leave their schoolboy days behind and enter fighter pilot training as young men. The beautiful Wood-Lacy twins, Jennifer and Victoria, and their passionate younger sister, Kate, strive to forge independent paths, while learning to love—and to let go. In their heady youth and bittersweet growth to adulthood, they are the future—but the shadows that touched the lives of the generation before are destined to reach out to their own.

A Future Arrived

Abingdon Hall - Der letzte Sommer

Abingdon Hall - Stürmische Zeiten

Eine Welt im Umbruch, eine Familie, die ihrem Schicksal trotzt ... England, Ende der 1930er-Jahre. Schon immer wollte Albert Thaxton in die Fußstapfen seines erfolgreichen Schwagers Martin Rilke treten. Mit seiner Karriere als Auslandskorrespondent hat er sich diesen Traum erfüllt. Als er jedoch Jennifer Wood-Lacy begegnet, kreisen seine Gedanken erstmals nicht mehr nur um seinen Job. Auch für Charles Greville, den zukünftigen Earl von Abingdon Hall, ändert sich das Leben von Grund auf, als er auf Marian Halliday trifft, die ihn endlich wieder glücklich sein lässt. Doch die Welt ist im Umbruch, auch wenn die Bewohner von Abingdon Hall noch nicht ahnen, was die nächsten Jahre bringen werden ...

Phillip Rock

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