An intriguing alternative view of the future - this novel was published in 1993 and was set a few years ahead of that date at a time shortly after the dismantling of the British monarchy and its replacement with a totalitarian, military-backed republic. However, that context is almost incidental as the meat of the story concerns the reminiscences of the narrator, now residing in self-imposed exile in Switzerland under the name of Dr Richard Slyde, though he had formerly revelled in the titles of Marquess of Brompton and Duke of London.
Born with a platinum spoon in his mouth, Richard was raised on the munificent Spellbrook estate, attended Eton and passed on to scholarly success at Cambridge. However, the sharpest memoris are of the amazing products of the various Spellbrook orchards and the exploits of the estate's African gamekeeper. This offers Profumo (son of THE Profumo) the opportunity to lament the loss of the short-lived fruit seasons of a few generations ago, to be replaced with the availability all year round of anodyne modern copies of older, sharper-tasting breeds. However, he never gives the sense that he is proselytizing, though he does open the door on an encyclopedic knowledge of the vast range of fruits available. He also manages to throw in an intriguing potted history of barbed wire -not a subject about which I had ever previously wanted to know more, though now I am glad that i do!
Essentially the novel is about loss - the fragmentation of the narrator's family is mirrored by the break-up of the Spellbrook estate, and then, indeed, the United Kingdom itself.
I first read this novel shortly after its publication and was enthralled and captivated then. having read it again, following a chance conversation about it in the pub, I am even more taken with it, and re-reading it in no way diminished the magic. ( )