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The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm | 
 enlarge | Author: Juliet Nicolson
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.86
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 26009
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0802143679
Dewey Decimal Number: 390
EAN: 9780802143679
ASIN: 0802143679
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
The Perfect Summer chronicles a glorious English summer a century ago, when the world was on the cusp of irrevocable change. Through the tight lens of four months, Juliet Nicolson’s rich storytelling gifts rivet us with the sights, colors, and feelings of a bygone era. That summer of 1911 a new king was crowned and the aristocracy was at play, bounding from one house party to the next. But perfection was not for all. Cracks in the social fabric were showing. The country was brought to a standstill by industrial strikes. Temperatures rose steadily to more than 100 degrees; by August deaths from heatstroke were too many for newspapers to report. Drawing on material from intimate and rarely seen sources and narrated through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals--among them a debutante, a choirboy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler, and the queen--The Perfect Summer is a vividly rendered glimpse of the twilight of the Edwardian era.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Charming August 26, 2008
The Perfect Summer is a charming history of Edwardian England before the upper class existence was irrevocably changed by WWI. Nicolson has written a truly lovely book that reads almost like a novel. If you enjoy 19th century English history this book is a delightful good read. Enjoy!
Engaging and absorbing August 3, 2008
This is one of the best social histories I have read. It reads like a novel with intriguing characters and plot twists. It was very informative to read about the famous and well-known (e.g. Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill) as they were just starting out. The book gives real insight into not only a pivotal year before World War I, but into the birth of 20th century as a whole. Highly recommended.
 Not Such a Perfect Summer August 2, 2008
Because I am a long-time admirer of Nicolson's grandfather Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville West I read "The Perfect Summer".
I found it disappointing: a collection of many repeated and well-known anecdotes from contempory accounts of the early 20th century.
Far better to go to her sources which can be found in most libraries, second hand bookstores and Amazon. Sources like Harold's great political diaries, Diana Cooper's wonderfully engrossing memoirs, Chips Channon's Diaries not to mention all the collections of letters and novels of the era.
The photographs are sadly indequate, poorly chosen and often irrelevant. I feel Ms Nicolson was taking advantage of her illustrious connections and shows an intellectual laziness.
If Not Perfect, Awfully Good July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Must say I'm a bit surprised by the negativity of some of my fellow readers' comments. I'm not sure what they expected in this slim but engaging account of the Summer of 1911, but I thought Ms. Nicolson delivered what I anticipated rather nicely. [If one objects that "Perfect" overstates the case, think how dull the title, "The Good Summer," would be.] In particular, and especially considering this is her first book, she has a "second nature" writing style which reminds me (perhaps partly because of the adjoining time periods) of Judith Flanders in her splendid "Inside the Victorian Home." Both authors express themselves beautifully and are able to move among and between characters and subject matter with fluidity and grace. Please don't be put off; if you enjoy English social history, I am quite sure you will enjoy this book. I, for one, hope that Ms. Nicolson is hard at work on her next project.
 Not what it could have been June 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book tries to paint a vivid picture of a "moment in time." It fails. There are good parts of course, but also stupid inaccuracies [i.e. the "Ancient" Ceremony of Investiture of the Prince of Wales.] For someone as wonderfully well connected as this author, she did not take adequate advantage of those connections, nor did she push herself hard enough in research or analysis. It's a decent read, but certainly not a true "history" of the summer. It is pretty shallow. I also found the book club questions in my edition to be silly and totally unnecessary. I imagine publishers feel these "add value" or make the book somehow seem less vapid than it really is.
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