Welcome To The Roaring Twenties. As I finish this book a couple of weeks late - yet appropriately just hours before the Roaring Twenties come back - I'm actually thankful I wasn't able to complete it sooner due to various traveling I was doing in the early parts of this month. Because this book is a phenomenal look at the Roaring Twenties, young adult disillusionment in their twenties generally, and the realities we sometimes face in our thirties. But it is also extremely tragic, and without actually giving anything away let's just say be prepared to bawl for the last 100 pages or so of this 400 page book. Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended.

This book was amazing! I don't even think I have the words to describe how much I immensely loved this book. I am definitely going to recommend this one to everyone I know!

Iona Grey is a new author to me and I so thoroughly enjoyed reading The Glittering Hour! I loved the rich detailed writing and characters. Selina Lennox is the daughter of a rich society family with parties and scandal living her life to the fullest with no plans to become tied down until she falls for a lowly artist, Lawrence, and in one night her life changes forever. Told from alternating views we come to glimpse Selina’s desperate choices. It has been a long time since I savored every page of a story and hated it to end. I received an arc of this book, all opinions are my own.

Sometimes I get pitched books months and months in advance and sometimes I simply forget a title until I pull up my calendar for the following month to see what I have coming up to read.

That’s what happened with this book. I pulled up my December calendar…..the day after I made my Book of the Month selection for December. If you guys didn’t know, this book was a Book of the Month pick for December and Evie Dunmore who wrote Bringing Down the Duke (one of my favorite read of the year) recommended it so before I could look at my upcoming calendar, I selected this one and was set to watch my mailbox for it to arrive.

The following day (once my box shipped mind you) I pulled up my December review calendar and low and behold there was The Glittering Hour on my schedule! I had been sitting on the ARC e-copy this entire time and hadn’t read it yet! Well you can imagine how fast I downloaded my ARC to my iPad and started reading.

Summary
An unforgettable historical about true love found and lost and the secrets we keep from one another from an award-winning author

Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying on just the right side of scandal, all while running from the life her parents would choose for her.

Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina’s orbit one night and can never let her go even while knowing someone of her stature could never end up with someone of his. Except Selina falls hard for Lawrence, envisioning a life of true happiness. But when tragedy strikes, Selina finds herself choosing what’s safe over what’s right.

Spanning two decades and a seismic shift in British history as World War II approaches, Iona Grey’s The Glittering Hour is an epic novel of passion, heartache and loss (summary from Goodreads).

Review
One of the things that drew me to this novel (besides the glorious cover) is that it promised a romance forcing the characters to choose between passion and safety. I love love love that troupe. For women during that time so many chose safety but there were a few wild ones who threw caution to the wind for romance I am sure and I was eager to read a story with this troupe. Many reviews said the romance was also a slow burn, adding that to the mixture I was so ready for this book! Primed to love it more or less.

This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster! It started out a little slow and it was full of delicate prose so it did come across as slightly on the wordy side but once I got used to the story telling style, it was fine and I didn’t have any trouble being immersed in the story what-so-ever.

I will say, the review I read were spot on when it came to this being more of a slow burn romance. It was drawn out and heartbreaking but also so fulfilling emotionally. It’s hard to explain without giving anything away in the plot but just know that yes it’s a slow burn but it will be worth it so just keep reading.

I would also recommend having tissues close by because it was so emotional and I often found myself tearing up. To me, that’s a sign of how invested I was in the story and characters. I felt completely caught up in it all and when I had to put a bookmark in, I was emerge feeling as though I was disorientated. I felt as though I was right there along with the characters during the 1920s and felt out of place in my house—that’s how good the writing was.

I al so thrilled that I picked this book as my Book of the Month pick even though I had an ARC at home. It was a book I will treasure and will want to share with family and friends as well as return to so I am glad to have it on hand. If you are shopping for historical fiction fans this holiday season, this is a book that they are sure to love, I know I did!

Pull out the hankies. This is a historical romance novel with plenty of both history and tear-jerking romance. The love story of Selina and Lawrence, told against the background of Selina’s daughter Alice’s exile to the estate of her grandparents is solidly grounded in the time between the wars. Selina, a “bright young thing”, is a member of the society set that seems to be trying to live twice as fast to make up for their losses during the Great War. Selina, buffeted by multiple personal losses, finally seems to have settled down to married life with the stuffy Rupert Carew, content to raise her daughter Alice. She tells her story in letters sent to Alice while she and Rupert travel to Burma on business.

All is not what it seems, and the unfolding of secrets is carefully and rewardingly handled.

The Glittering Hour gave me an epic book hangover! This historical fiction hit hard. I binged read this book because I was so hooked. And that's rare for me within this genre.

5 stars!
What a wonderful read! I loved the main character, Selina immediately. Her boldness, zest for life; also for what happens at the beginning when she saves a cat from the streets after a night of partying. She did the right thing, what I would have done...and I liked her so much for it. At this same time she meets someone she falls very hard for, but he is not part of her glittering world. A poor man, an artist...photographer. Her parents would not approve.

They fall deeply in love but cannot really be together. A tragedy takes place and while Selina loves Laurence very deeply, she marries someone else; needing to feel safe and running from ever loving so deeply again. Someone who her parents approve of and who can give her the life they want her to have.

Part of the story is told in her letters to her daughter, Alice, while she is traveling with her rich husband abroad on a business trip. Those were the sweetest parts. Selena has such a deep love for young Alice. Alice adores her mommy and is eager for her to come home. There is a dual timeline here. Going back and forth with the time when Salina is young and carefree; then to 10 years later when she is traveling with her husband and keeping in touch with her daughter via weekly letters.

I will say here that the story was slow for me in the beginning. It seemed wordy and I wasn't sure I was all in until at least 50%. I read this along with some other friends in the Traveling Sister Group. Some loved it. Some not as much. By around 60% I had to know what was happening. There is a mystery and I needed to find out what was going on. I didn't want to put it down.

I ended up loving this book and I highly recommend it. I knew it would be a 4 to 4.5 star read in the last 70%, but I moved it to a 5 with the ending. A very satisfying read for me. I look forward to more novels by Iona Grey.

Many thanks to the publisher, NetGalley, and Ms. Grey for an outstanding read for me during December 2019. Beautiful!
5

A gut wrenching and captivating historical story. I was very moved and shed my fair share of tears. A story of lost love and family secrets. I enjoyed the main characters and I was sad when I read the last page of the book. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Received this as an ARC from netgalley.com

I LOVED this book. I am a fan of historical fiction but this was different from anything I have read before. The story line, the setting, and the characters. I liked that there was a flash forward but it wasn't modern times which I liked. The story was touching and heartbreaking at times. I cried at the end. I loved the party atmosphere of 1920's London versus pre war London of 1930's.

I have never read this author before but will be definitely looking for other works by her.

A beautiful historical, set in England during 1925-1936, to savor slowly--I have a feeling that The Glittering Hour will stay with me for a long time. The writing is elegant and flows gorgeously; my only regret is that I may have rushed through my reading and missed a few thoughfully chosen details in order to find out what happens. This is very much a character-driven novel, and the time the reader spends getting to know Selina, Lawrence, and Alice makes the story so powerful. Highly recommended, but bring your box of tissues for this story of true love and loss. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the preview copy!

**Disclaimer: I received an ARC of The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**


What a beautiful book! Do you enjoy books with duel timelines? This books transitions easily between two dates, 1925 and 1936, as well as two people, Selina and Alice. I found this book to be really entertaining and I was bawling by the end! Be sure to have your tissues ready because this story will definitely make you cry, and I mean that in the best way possible.

This book is one of the December Book of the Month choices (and one that I solved the spoiler riddle for!), but what really attracted me was its Downton Abbey-esque setting. It's a great read - both to read on your own, and one that I think would make for a nice book club read, as well! The book is framed in two timelines - with a 1926 and then a 1936 setting. In the later setting, young Alice is left behind at her grandparents' estate while her parents are away. But, her mother has left her a bit of a treasure hunt to allow Alice to dig into her mother's past, which brings the 1920s scenes. I really like this multimedia approach - letters, different narrators and each scene is lushly described. The dialogue has a nice cadence to it, too and the characters all spring to life in a remarkably short span of time.

This is the author's second novel and before even finishing this, I got my hands on a copy of that one, because I really love this book a lot!! There's tension, drama and pacing that kept me up late into the night (quietly sobbing into my pillow - so have the tissues ready!). I loved this from start to finish. The characters are all fully realized and authentic. There are definitely some scenes that are reminiscent of Downton Abbey (though this feels even more deeply researched in some places). I really loved this!!!

I requested this book because of online hype. It did not disappoint.

Due to my obsessive Downton Abbey watching a few years back, the description of Blackwood Hall my mind immediately took me back to the Abbey. Only this time, the house is nearly empty after the end of the Great War. Little Alice is sent to Blackwood Hall, her mother's childhood home, while her mother accompanies her father on an international trip. Alice is homesick, and is not used to being stored away in a nursery, with only the company of a very strict nanny, and a very kind maid, who used to care for her mother, Selina. In order to counteract the homesickness, Selina leads Alice on a treasure hunt, that leads toward stories and secrets that have long since been quieted.

This ends up being a nice historical fiction and love saga that you won't want to miss.

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.

Favorite Quotes:

Blackwood Park was full of ghosts. Its empty corridors echoed with the whispers of lost voices and snatches of old laughter. It was a house where the past felt more vivid than the present, which was nothing more than a stretch of endless days fading into uniform blankness.

… there was a bowl of paperwhite daffodils on the table by her armchair. Their delicate perfume was fresh in a room that smelled of stopped clocks and old paper.

I resented the rules and restrictions and the rigidness … The hypocrisy and control… Their favourite punishment was to withhold food, and I resented being sent to bed hungry while downstairs seven courses were being served in the dining room and people were only picking at each of them. And the more resentful I was the naughtier I became and the more I was punished… I spent my childhood feeling permanently ravenous.

Don’t you be shy about ringing the bell or going down to find her if it doesn’t appear –she’s got a head like a sieve, that one. Not that I imagine she’ll have much time for daydreaming today. Miss Lovelock’s had her up and down like a fiddler’s elbow already this morning, fetching tea and toast and hot water cans and whatnot.

‘Someone once told me that a woman’s body is like a piano. It’s up to the man whether he chooses to pick out a nursery rhyme with one finger, or learn how to play a symphony. I suppose that was the first movement’… ‘I’m terribly ignorant about culture,’ she whispered. ‘Remind me – how many movements are there in a symphony?’

Secrets and half-truths seemed to swirl through the corridors on icy currents of air.


My Review:

This was a feast of a book. The Glittering Hour was thoughtfully written and cunningly insightful as well as shrewdly observant. It was a slowly evolving and highly emotive story that was skillfully crafted and elegantly told, and I absorbed it as if it were being injected straight into my gray matter while vivid imagery flickered behind my eyes. There were four-hundred-eighty beautifully written pages and I read them ever so slowly as I wanted to savor each perfectly chosen word, even though the storylines turned me inside out, stung my eyes, pinched my heart, and put hot rocks in my throat. Iona Grey is found treasure and a new addition at the very top of my list of favorite authors.

The Glittering Hour is set in England prior to WWII. The roaring 20’s and 30’s is an exciting time in the lives of many people, especially Selena. She is definitely trying to break the mold her parents expect her to conform to.

Selena is wealthy, young socialite. Her parents have no intention for her to marry, or have anything to do with, Lawrence. Lawerence is a poor, starving artist. These two manage to fall in love and have a pretty good time of it, until a catastrophe happens. You better keep tissues on hand…this story is reeks havoc on all your emotions.

I did find part of this story a little wordy and tedious, especially at the beginning. I wanted it to move faster in places. However, there was just something about these two characters and this time period which kept me reading. And boy! Am I glad I did!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

he Glittering Hour is told via two timelines and characters. First, there is Selina in 1925. Selina lives a life of privilege, however life changes when she meets and falls quickly in love with Lawrence Weston, a talented, but as it often goes, struggling artist. Then, there is Alice in 1936. Alice is Selina's young daughter. As the story begins, she's staying with her grandparents and her family's maid Polly. Alice's story revolves around the letters her mother sends while on a trip to Burma. She uses the letters to begin telling Alice about her past via a treasure hunt she has built as well as continuing to remind her daughter how deeply she loves her.

Very early in the story, it is revealed that Lawrence is not who Selina ended up with, and instead, she married a "safe" choice as Selina's dad is not Lawrence. Much of Selina's story is then explaining why and how she found great love, but also what pushed her to make different choices. It was an interesting experience to read a story knowing the happily ever after ending you see isn't going to be. However, there was such emotional power in going on the journey to understand why Selina did what she did. Her story is one full of pain, as well as one of resilience. As her story is told, the reader (as well as her daughter) see her mother's authenticity, vulnerability and strength.

In addition to being about Selina, this is about Alice. For the first time, she learns who her mother was before. She and her mother have an amazing connection, however there is a side of her she has never seen. This is a journey that really makes you think. How many of us don't really know who/what our parents were before we existed? What are the choices that got our parents to each of us, and what could they have done differently? I appreciate a story that makes me think about my own life through the story on the pages, and this absolutely did that.

Not only is it about the before, but this is truly a deep emotional dive into what Selina did in the moment. There is tragedy in Selina's story. She encounters significant grief and loss, and she has to move forward. It isn't easy, and she does what she feels she must to be okay and move forward. The connection to her past told through Alice's discoveries then do a brilliant job of showing her whys, as well as even giving her a chance to revisit her story.

This is a book with an ending that is still heavy on my heart weeks after I read this book. It's one I'm still thinking about, and even as I type I find myself getting a bit teary thinking about how the story of these two women ended. It was one of those reveals when you find out all is not what it seemed that makes you gasp (literally), then clutch your heart (literally) as you've become so immersed into this world.

Y'all, this book was just beautiful, and I cannot say that enough. The story was emotional with such depth. If you're looking to be captivated and get all up in your feels (seriously, have some tissues handy), this is where you need to be.

The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey is the story of Alice Carew, a nine-year-old girl left at her grandparents’ estate, Blackwood Park, in Wiltshire while her parents, Rupert and Selina, are on a business trip to Burma in 1936. After she writes to her mother about how lonely she is, her mother decides to have a treasure hunt in which she will leave clues in her letters for Alice to follow around the estate. When Alice finds the location of the clue, a letter her mother leaves for her, tells her a story which corresponds to that location. It is at this point the story flips to the summer of 1925 when 20-year-old Selina was a young and wild woman. Along with her group of friends, known as the Bright Young People, her escapades were front page news. As the story flips back and forth between 1936 and 1925, Alice is taken on a journey of freedom, societal expectations and love. What will Selina’s story reveal to Alice? What secret has she been hiding all these years?
The Glittering Hour is filled with discovery, heartbreak and love. There is so much about this story that I wish I could talk about; however, spoilers, I can’t. The story is told in two parts. Part 1 was a bit slow and left me wondering where the story was leading. However, Part 2 blew wide open with a story of love, sacrifice, fear and learning about real love is. Ms. Grey wove a story so intriguing that even the slow parts kept you wondering if she was hiding a clue to the mystery and you kept reading. And as I kept reading the more intrigued, I was. I enjoyed Alice as the little girl who loved her mother and wished her home. Even the characters you were supposed to dislike, like her grandmother, Lady Lennox, you begin to feel for the woman who didn’t know how to do anything else but keep a sift upper lip. As the story ended, I had tears running down my face. I highly recommend The Glittering Hour!

The Glittering Hour
is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

A beautifully heart-wrenching story of falling in love, surviving loss, and appreciating all the steps of life in between. This is such a lovely tale, starting with Alice, a young girl left behind in her ancestral home with frigid grandparents, unfriendly family, but sweet companions in the maid and gardener as she misses for her mother Selina. But Selina has left a surprise for her beloved daughter: a scavenger hunt, which not only reveals clues to items but also to Selina's past and how Alice came to be. I found the beginning to be a bit slow but after a few chapters I was sucked in and by the halfway point I couldn't stop reading.

The prose is luscious and evocative, really taking the reader into the alcohol-filled party nights of post-WWI England. The format is really interesting as well as the story goes back and forth between the past (framed by two characters) and the present, which is led by Alice but also features sections from the points-of-view of Selina's husband, mother, sister, and many others. This is such an incredibly hard thing to do from a writing perspective but I felt connected to each new character introduced without losing touch with Selina and Alice.

This is the sort of story that leaves you with immense gratitude for life as it has the most breathtaking bittersweet ending of anything I've read this year. It's a story that teaches the reader that you have to brave enough to live life on your own terms, and what you can lose out on when you don't. But, in the end, the choices you make live on long after you. I wish I could say more without including a spoiler but I just can't. You'll have to read it for yourself.


Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and the author Iona Gray for the opportunity to do so.

Thank you to my friends at St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sharing an ARC of The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

This book will have mass appeal for those who love romantic historical fiction. Fans of Beatriz Williams and Kristin Hannah will find this book right in their wheelhouse. Told in two timelines, one early 1920’s Britain the other mid 1930’s English countryside. A story of lost love and family secrets and of course tragedy and heartbreak. I must admit, I found chunks of this book cliche and slow going. I loved the letters from Selina to her young daughter, as a way of advancing the story. The ending was quite emotional and saved this book from meh to yeah. I do think I was not in the truest mindset for a romantic read and I think that might have hindered parts of my enjoyment.
If you want a love story tinged with historical content pick this one up.

I absolutely loved Letter's to the Lost, Grey's first novel, so I was excited to read this one! Like Letters to the Lost, this one was a slow start for me. It also had two time frames (mid 1920's and mid 1930's) and I found myself a bit confused at first. However, there were characters in both story lines I really liked--Lawrence Weston from the 1920's story, and young Alice, Selina's daughter, from the 1930's story. The two storylines do come together in the end, in an emotional and heartbreaking way that I didn't see coming.

The writing is beautiful and eloquent. It's what I loved most about the book. I also haven't read many books set in this time period in England, so I enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of the book. While it wasn't a 5 star read for me, I still encourage you to read it if you love a bittersweet historical romance!