God Is an Englishman: 1 (Swann Family Saga)

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I thoroughly enjoyed God Is an Englishman, so much so that even before I finished it, I went and got part two (Theirs Was the Kingdom). We even have mention of the Civil War in the USA and how it affected production in England; there is a sense of history here as historical events happen with Adam and Henrietta and their managers on what feels like the forefront of a new England. One becomes aware of how much writing has changed over the years with very few modern authors taking the time to provide such precise descriptive writing.

I read this series when I was in high school - back in the day when I didn't mind series, or historical fiction, or war-themed stories. Much of the book examines (which could be boring to some) the business growth, with some time being spent on his family. They are not notably interest ing or likable people; but they are real, and Adam in par ticular seems just the sort of self‐confident, intelligent gam bler who, no doubt, created many of the business empires of the last century. He also weaves in a witty, self-knowing, self-mocking account of his own faith journey, from the heavy-duty evangelical Christianity of his youth when he was stoned as he walked, strumming his guitar, through the Bogside district of Derry inviting people to prepare the way of the Lord, through a spell as a reporter at Church Times, the parish pump of Anglicanism, and on to his loss of belief during IVF treatment.

His late 60’s dissection of English politics culture and economics during the last two or three centuries, from the height of the Empire to its decline and Britain’s nod toward Europe is highly critical of high-brow, stuck up England (the south), finds English yeomanry (the north) praise-worthy, though strangely passive and mimicking concerning the south and is spot on when he suggests its flirtation with Europe will ultimately be rejected. Those two storylines, his marriage and family and the development of his business, interweave with in-depth forays in one or the other at certain crisis periods.

I think most of us like honest and decent people to prevail, which - to varying degrees - seems to happen in his books, albeit with the slings and arrows which most poeple have to endure at times in their lives. Adam Swann is now an old man and at the start of the Edwardian era the motor engine starts to take over from horses, which has a huge effect on 'Swann-on-wheels'.During his last battle, he had killed a man carrying a small casket and he managed to open it and find a ruby necklace.

The story starts after a battle during the Indian Mutiny (or First War of Indian Independence if you prefer) with some jewels falling into Swann's hands. This is the kind of book that becomes a favorite, at least for me, because I love huge complex stories like this. I just read another great review of this book, and coupled with yours, I think that I am going to be reading this one soon.

It is a generalization to be sure, but today's literary novelists work with a much smaller scope than those of the past. She gradually blossoms and discovers depths and strength you wouldn’t expect, and I ended up actually respecting her. It was strange, he thought, that a man who professed to love the open air, and had cherished movement from boyhood, would feel more at home here than anywhere else in the world.

The hero, Adam Swann, a former soldier, founds a haulage firm after a railroad employee explains there is a need for wagons to carry merchandise from cities and small towns to the railroad. The very English genius George Orwell warned against the “habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects” but if we think about today’s English people I’d compare them to that little desert lizard who hops from foot to foot to avoid getting its feet burnt on the hot sand. She changed so much but still somehow retained her youthful innocence despite some occurrences that would turn many into bitter, prematurely old women.Paul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit, but changes are taking place in the countryside. This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Out of that resolve have come his great family sagas- The Avenue, A Horseman Riding By and its sequel, The Green Gauntlet, and now his latest and most ambitious saga which begins with God Is An Englishman.