Customer Reviews

Diana (Hodder Great Reads)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is incredible to think DIANA is unreviewed. I have treasured it's reading for 33 years. Mr. Delderfield spins a story of love and dreams unparalleled in devotion to character. As Jan is enthralled with Diana, so am I to be allowed into the view of his view, of her, of his own drab life, and of his dreams, all seemingly detached, yet thrown together for 18 years.

The lead characters become alive and friends, not from glorious events or special effects, but from the daily grind of their lives offset by their collisions with each other so vividly presented. Nobody needs to be concerned about terms such as co-dependency or rating the chances of their uneven relationship being a success. This is the ultimate better to have loved than not have loved story.

Read the book and let yourself be someone else for a minute. This adventure is what Mr. Delderfield brings with his books. I can't do justice in a review to the value of his writings, only readers can.

How good was this book? Well, I read it when I was nine and some twenty years later I still think about it quite often. The tragic/romantic story of country lad Jan and his love for Diana, the rich man's daughter is simply glorious.

Diana was the first RFD book I read. It was the first book that ever brought a tear to my eye. I have many shared characteristics with Jan and have over the years grown more & more like him. I live on the outskirts of London but manage to travel to Devon on business a few times a year, as I near the border my heart begins to quicken and I can never resit pulling over in the car to take in large breaths of heather and gorse. RFD is by far my most favourite author, and I would recomend Diana to anyone who has read and enjoyed any of his books.

I was first introduced to RFD when a friend loaned me "Return Journey" something over thirty years ago. I loved that book so much that I recently bought a new copy so I could read it again. In the process I bought "Diana." It has become my favorite novel, bar none. Delderfield has a wonderful gift for creating characters that we come to know and love. No one who reads this book can help but feel great empathy for Jan and admire the strength of his love of Diana and Sennacharib. I hated to come to the end of this story. Its ending felt like the passing of friend and brought tears to my eyes.

Those who read "Diana" will observe that the basic story is not unique. There are very strong parallels between the characters and story in "Diana" to those in "Wuthering Heights." The similarity is inescapable. This does not detract from the appeal of this book as Delderfield's masterful use of language and his ability to touch the hearts of his readers make this truly one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

RF Delderfield is my favourite author. My mom introduced me to him one day when she got angry with me and in a fit of motherly well intentioned anger, threw God is an Englishman at me. It was love at first read. Then I found Diana. I fell in love with her. I was Jan. In many ways, I still am.

This story is a timeless love story which reads like it is autobiographical. Richly beautiful detail showing life between the wars, growing up. A boy meets a girl. Nothing is perfect, and yet to change things would be to lessen them. This is among my favorite of all stories, and it is disappointing it is not available on Kindle.