I was immediately attracted to the cover of this book. Not initially realizing that this is a re-release of a 1972 novel, I quickly scooped it up (courtesy of NetGalley). Long Summer Day is the first installment in the Horseman Riding By trilogy by RF Delderfield. I have not read any of his other novels, so I cannot make a comparison.

This novel covers an interesting period of history, beginning with main character Paul Craddock arriving home from the Boar War. He is seriously injured and not expected to live until his benefactor, Franz Zorndorff, shows up. He blows in like a storm, paying for the very best care for young Paul and informing him of his recent inheritance.

The reader is frequently reminded that Paul would be more comfortable in an earlier century than the modern and innovative Edwardian era. Rather than take up the work his father left behind, Paul is determined to invest in a large estate of farms and horses. Along the way, he must choose between two very different lady loves.

Delderfield creates a large cast of well developed characters in this novel, though some do seem to have ideas and abilities beyond their years. The life of those on a large farming estate is described down to the most minute detail, with wonder expressed over the regions introduction to a horseless carriage and debates over women's suffrage.

My first issue with this book was sloppy conventions in the form of thoughts in quotation marks and dialog between two people not separated into paragraphs. This made it unclear at times whether someone was thinking something or actually saying it...or who was saying it. This was not an insurmountable problem, but nothing could improve the drudgery of getting through this books long stretches of inactivity. If you are interested in everyday life in the first decade of the 1900s, you will love this book. I found myself skimming.

Good old-fashioned storytelling at its best. A narrative arc that seamlessly works its way towards the conclusion, credible characters, an interesting setting, well-paced and always enjoyable. This is the first volume of A Horseman Riding By trilogy about the life and times of a young man, Paul Craddock, who comes back injured from the Boer War, and decides to buy a country estate in Devon. We follow his fortunes up to the 1960s, although this volume just covers the years up to the First World War. As much a social history as a family saga, there are political affairs, the suffragettes, agricultural matters, education and much more as the background to the adventures of Paul and his family. Not great literature, perhaps, but a great read to enjoy and learn from.

I was approached to review this book because I had read (and loved) Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Are these two books similar? Well, they're both really long, and they tell a story of a period of a time rather than any one character.

Long Summer's Day follows Paul Craddock, who, after an injury, buys Shallowford and becoems Squire Craddock. The novel follows his life after becoming Squire, and how he impacts the tenants and inhabitants of valley, and how they impact him. While Paul is undeniably the top dog, so to speak, other main characters include Claire, Ikey, Rudd, and ok, there are a lot and I'm not going to list them here. It's through the collective story of these people that you get a sense of England in the early 1900s, and how they were (resisting) change.

My favourite character of this book is probably Claire. Although she did not feature prominently in the first half of the book (apart from the first few chapters), I liked her because of her generous nature. She has a really loving spirit, and is unflinchingly honest.

Curiously, I didn't like Grace, the feminist and women's suffrage campaigner even though, when I think about it, the two of them are quite alike. They both know what they want, although they want different things. Perhaps it's because most of the novel is seen through Paul's eyes, and Grace hurts Paul quite badly emotionally. Or it could because Grace was somehow too unique, and I didn't like her because I didn't understand her.

This is a long, winding read, and it's at its best when the author is just letting the story speak. At certain times, the author tries to give an overview of how all the character feels through a bird flying or something like that, and for that moment, it goes very close to the bother of pretentiousness. But thankfully, such moments are few, and the book is a lovely read because it manages to tell the tale of many people in a straightforward manner.

I would definitely recommend to fans of long reads like Fall of Giants. It's not a fast-paced adventure, but rather, follows the meandering road of a man's life.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.