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can I have suggestions please of books set in Edwardian times and beyond right up until WW2? Especially books that feature the fabulous house parties of the English aristocracy.

Have you read any Agatha Christie? Many of her books have country house settings, although not necessarily aristocratic.

P. G. Wodehouse Blandings series. Some of Dornford Yates - very popular in his day, although some of the attitudes he developed later in life have caused him to be somewhat disregarded today.

Interesting question; I feel I ought to be able to think of more - will go away and have a think about it!

Moving this to the recommendations folder. :)

Angela Thirkell has some lovely books complete with house parties and concerts.

The Forsyte Saga
The Passing Bells
The Remains of the Day
Habits of the House

Love Angela Thirkell!

Molly Keane also does Anglo-Irish, country-house gentry.

Taking Chances
Mad Puppetstown

Thank you all for your suggestions, some I'm familiar with but many new ones to explore.

I suggest books by Nancy Mitford and her sisters.

Margaret wrote: "I suggest books by Nancy Mitford and her sisters."

Oh yes, I'd forgotten them. Time for a reread, thanks for reminding me.

What about A Room with a View / Howards End?

Forster's examination of the social mores of the Edwardian period is biting. Also, his prose is gorgeous.

Novels written by Kate Morton!!!
The forgotten garden
Song of distant hours
The Riverton house
The secret keeper.
I accidentally stumbled upon 'The forgotten garden' after which, I obsessively read the rest of her novels. Absolutely fantastic. These four are not to be missed if you are a fan of Edwardian era fiction.

I remember reading a wonderful late-Victorian or Edwardian novel by Ouida called Moths when I was a teenager. Dunno if it is in print anywhere. If you like mysteries, there's a series by Robin Paige set in the 1890s or thereabouts, with a spunky American heroine who marries an English aristocrat, and they meet all sorts of famous people from the era. I believe the first in the series is Death at Bishop's Keep.

I just added Moths. Ouida is a new author for me, and I am in the mood to read this kind of romantic drama. It sounds like a good summer book.

Thanks!

Ada Leverson's The Little Ottleys and EM Delafield's Provincial Lady diaries are also wonderful - though much more modern and not the country house style the OP mentioned.

S.K., no promises on Ouida, I haven't read her since I was a kid and my taste has changed radically. Like when I reread Jane Eyre in my forties and said to myself, "Wow, this is really pulp fiction, isn't it?" (Apologies to all those Charlotte Bronte lovers out there.)

Well, though I see your point about pulp fiction, I love Jane Eyre (one of those "old friend" books).

Ouida is worth a try at any rate. There's something about a Victorian potboiler that draws me in every time!