The Temple of Optimism [Hardcover]

James Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2000

Sir Anthony Apreece, a man accustomed to having his own way, covets the land of his young neighbour, the carefree Edward Horne. For his part Edward covets Daisy, Anthony's wife. On these deceptively simple foundations, James Fleming has built a tale rich with humour, guile, intrigue, and tenderness. The large cast of characters, high and humble alike, are drawn with penny-bright sureness; the narrative positively sings. And as Edward stirs to a slow realization of Sir Anthony's intentions, and falls deeper and deeper in love with Daisy, the suspense grows and the novel races exhilaratingly toward its gloriously unconventional conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Part historical novel, part revisionist tract, part smirking pastiche of the 19th-century domestic melodrama, this first novel from Scottish author Fleming has plenty of panache, but little punch. In 1788, Edward Horne, an eccentric, jocular young man, is persuaded by his ailing mother to leave the excitements of London and return to manage Winterbourne, his family's crumbling rural estate. Upon his arrival, his almost ridiculously pastoral hometown is sent into a minor frenzy of gossip and speculation. Edward is soon befriended by a wealthy landowner, Sir Anthony Apreece, whose avuncular charm conceals an insatiable rapacity and a killer instinct. A triangle of furious covetousness soon develops: Edward finds himself more and more taken with Apreece's pious, beautiful wife, Daisy, while Sir Anthony becomes increasingly desperate to add Winterbourne to his vast holdings. Fleming's prose pushes the melodrama in startlingly unconventional directions; in scene after scene, gentility devolves into near-violent hostility, exposing the greed and solipsism that lay beneath the 18th-century class system. The emotional and political complexity hinted at here, though, is undermined by Fleming's indiscriminate deployment of historical detail, much of which comes straight from British Cultural History 101. (The men in the novel read Tristram Shandy while the women read PamelaDjust one example of how Fleming refers to general trends of the era rather than dealing with specifics.) The most simplistic glossing of the past occurs at the novel's anachronistic denouement, which substitutes wishful thinking for principled revisionism.Finally, this novel is too riddled with compromise and ideological backtracking to attain a broad readershipDthough the author used to be a bookseller, and so could prove a valuable partner in promotional efforts. Fleming can divert, but fails to subvert. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Historical fiction with a real air of authenticity, this engrossing and suspenseful tale takes place in rural England during the late eighteenth century. Edward Horne, having left his childhood country home for the bright lights and carefree city life in London, returns to the family estate with the intention of selling it quickly and resuming his former life. Once back at Winterbourne, young Edward is captivated by the country life his father led until his untimely death by drowning when Edward was just a boy. He is equally captivated by the wife of his neighbor, a woman trapped in a very unhappy marriage to the land-hungry Sir Anthony Apreece. While Edward pursues his dangerous and illicit relationship with Daisy Apreece, ten years his senior, Sir Anthony is busy scheming to take over Winterbourne. Fleming's style is so befitting to the period and his use of the English language such a joy to experience that the story, with all its complexity, humor, and intrigue, becomes completely absorbing. Grace Fill
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Miramax Books; 1st edition (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786866764
• ISBN-13: 978-0786866762
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,850,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read the book not the reviews!, December 4, 2000

By 

Richard Creasey (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temple of Optimism (Hardcover)

Temple of Optimism is one of those books that puts a smile on your face as you read it. Its about England before the car came and, for better or worse, opened the country for all to see.

And its about people that fill your living room with a world that you know was real, because of the great mansions which inhabit the oh so English countryside, but which needs a real writer to breath life into. James Fleming weaves intrigue around those essentials of life: Land, love and money.

I got absorbed from the start, was engrossed during the middle and sped to the end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Laugh-aloud Pleasure, February 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Temple of Optimism (Hardcover)

Here is a Trollope-ian romp through Eighteenth Century England's country set, from landed gentry (the chief characters) to the well-drawn eccentricities of the local unlanded. The chapters dealing with the "villain's" dinner party are not to be missed. How come no one else writes this stuff this well?

5.0 out of 5 stars Original and beautiful, December 13, 2005

By 

pers "bookhound" (san diego, ca usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temple of Optimism (Hardcover)

Fleming's novel, The Temple of Optimism, begins in a rather odd, impressionistic fashion, but quickly adopts a more conventional narrative form. The characters are interesting, and yes, it is a love story, but what's wrong with that? No, it isn't Jane Austen but I wasn't expecting her. Nor was I expecting the originality of the vision, the basic fun of the good guy and the vigor of the bad guy. He convincingly puts philosophy in the mouth of his villain, and joy in his hero. Wonderful.