Never Were Such Times [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Nancy Livingston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1992

The story of a family's constant struggle for survival in the late-19th century. Chas, Albert and Polly grow up amid the love and security of their Suffolk village childhood, but are suddenly orphaned and forced upon their cold, miserly Aunt Sybilla. By the author of "The Far Side of the Hill".

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This generational saga about a lower-class English family between 1885 and 1920 has a strong appeal. Parlormaid Sybilla Unwin dooms herself to misery when she marries handsome layabout Enoch Porrit, whose interest lies only in her inheritance of 12 pounds 10 shillings. When her brother and his wife die, she cajoles the local parish into paying her to keep their children. Driven away by Sybilla and Enoch's cruelty, the Unwin boys, Chas and Albert, run away to join the army and serve in India. Polly, their sister, is sent to train as a kitchen maid, and grows up to marry a much older man, Henry Durrant. Despite her married state, Sybilla fancies Henry, thus increasing the emnity between the Porrits and the Unwins. After returning to England, Chas flees to America to avoid a forced marriage and to make his fortune, while Albert marries the illegitimate daughter of a Welshwoman who came to London to escape being pilloried by her village. The family fortunes rise (although never very high) and fall, and eventually most of the characters find satisfaction and fulfillment. Livingston ( The Land of Our Dreams ) writes a vivid and lively historical novel about ordinary people affected by changing times.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Livingston returns to her concern for life among the lowly in turn-of-the-century Britain (The Far Side of the Hill, 1988; The Land of Our Dreams, 1989), again to plump for the primacy of simple virtues. Suffolk and London are the settings for this tale of hard times, cruelty, and injustice--with its sunny conclusion. Against all good advice, lusty housemaid Sybilla marries lazy lout Enoch Porrit, and then learns that there's no escape. This knowledge of lifelong servitude to a miserable union changes Sybilla from a pretty, lively girl, to a witch. Sybilla manipulates her way to a strange sort of independence, cheating and exploiting the helpless, and worse, brutalizing her brother's gentle, dependent orphans: two boys, Chas and Albert, who will at a tender age go to India with the army; and Polly, who will be hired out as a kitchen maid, then marry shy, courteous middle-aged Henry. There will also be a lover...and a baby. Eventually, Chas, escaping marriage, bolts for America; and Albert, kind and good, finds a true mate in Esther, a blossom in London's grime. Finally, though, the lost brothers will return; there'll be a sad death and welcome births; the good will be rewarded, and the wicked will rage in all those blind alleys. In spite of an extravagance in coincidence and heavy underlining of Good and Evil, Livingston offers a convincing energetic appreciation of the times and the poisoning wells of poverty--which fuels reader affection for all suffering innocents. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 763 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (February 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156054256X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560542568
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,820,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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