Experience A Sensible Life Curated By Mary Wesley Format Digital Edition

went into this book sure that I would like it, it sure sounded like the kind of book I would love, Instead, I found it slow moving, pointless, and filled with unsympathic characters downright annoying, I found Flora fascinating, but everything I learned about her, I had to learn through characters that I disliked intensely, By the end, I really dreaded finishing the book, Another great Wesley read. She is fearless, writes well and her stories never ever are predictable or dull, Felt a bit melancholy by the end, but then a

book spanning someone's life is bound to be a bit on the sad side, Mostly enjoyed, it's always a shame when someone s dreams don't match up to the realities, Very well written. Flora Trevelyan is a tenyearold misfit, despised by her selfish and indolent parents, and left to wander the streets of a small French town whilst her parents prepare to depart for life in colonial India.
There she befriends the locals, acquires an extensive vocabulary of French foul language and encounters the privileged lifestyle of the elegant, middleclass British families holidaying ins France,

Introduced for the first time to kindly, civilised and, above all, caring people Flora falls helplessly and hopelessly in love with not one but three young men.


Over the next forty years Flora will grow from an awkward schoolgirl into a stunning beauty and explore, consummate and finally resolve each of these affairs, I have a few of Mary Wesley's novels that I want to read again, A Sensible Life is not one of her best though it is a tender and witty novel of how one finds their way to adulthood, There didn't seem a need for a climax but it was a gentle story of friendship, family and love,



It's hard to give ato books that are kind of depressing, but it's very realistic, So much wasted time and energy, People should learn to do better, I love Mary Wesley's books, I read them all in Danish a long time ago, Coming of age story about a young girl named Flora, who is ignored by her parents, while she is staying at a villa with other upper crust English vacationers.
I couldn't seem to get into this book or the characters driving the narrative, For the best part of this book, I was enthralled by the depiction of the time and place, I was a little disappointed by the ending which seemed unmotivated by the trajectories of the characters to prior to that point, Thats ok, though. I still loved this book, and look forward to reading more Mary Wesley, An enjoyable flick through some pages of Flora's sensible life, though I am not sure why she should have her story told, There are some great sketches in here, I liked our periodic visits to the devoted, but utterly selfish Trevelyans in India, I greatly enjoyed our stay at Coppermalt for a slice of Downton Abbey meets Brideshead, However I am not sure whether our 'heroes' Flora, Cosmo, Blanco, Felix are ever quite up to the job of leading the story, and it is the second row of characters Milly, Angus, Joyce, Vita etc who really made this a good read.
What I really love about Mary Wesley's books is the authentic World War settings, They have such a ring of truth about them, I also enjoyed watching Flora grow: a neglected tenyearold, a quiet fifteenyearold and then a beautiful and selfsufficient seventeenyearold, I respected her choice to run away and make her own way through the world instead of allowing herself to be married off by her ghastly parents, Picked it up at a train station, Giving iteven though it took a couple of chapters to get in to, But once I was I missed the characters when I wasnt reading, they werent that likeable but I wanted to know what they were doing, Tenderly written and laugh out loud funny, Will defo find more of Mary Wesley This book was lovely, I loved the English backdrop and lushness of it, The audiobook has elegant music at the beginning and ending of the story, Enjoyed it thoroughly. Anna Massey's narration brilliant./Popsugar: copertina senza immagini o grafica nella mia edizione italiana, che ha perduto la sovraccoperta molti anni fa, . .
Una bimba di dieci anni cresce, portando nel cuore i momenti gioiosi passati sbirciando nella vita degli altri, innamorata dei ragazzi grandi dell'allegra e chiassosa compagnia di allora.

E anche se negli anni si riveleranno una delusione, lontani dall'immagine idealizzata, ciononostante il loro ricordo riscalda un'esistenza tranquilla,
La bambina "diversa" si nasconde nella normalità e vive la sua vita sensata,
Le atmosfere, i dialoghi, tutto viene raccontato con efficacia, attraversando la vita borghese inglese dalal,
Un libro che scorre veloce verso l'epilogo, un po' da romanzo rosa, ma in fondo Flora se l'è pure guadagnato, che male c'è This was holiday reading for me, chosen as a fast read as I found it in the holiday rental! Mary Wesley writes well and is careful to research her locations and historical background.
The story carried me along and has that bitter sweet quality of novels set in the interwar years, Great novel!
Although on the surface it may appear to be a frivolous romance, the depth is hidden on Flora's gradual understanding of life and, above all, love.

The pace is slow at the begging, but it soon involves the reader in a whirlwind of emotions, By partone starts to be addicted, where she goes on meeting some of her past lovers unexpectedly throughout her life,
Its a beautiful journey from a lonely childhood to adulthood,
The ending really gets you,
Recommend it! I enjoyed reading this book, however three because when I can to write this review I couldn't remember what it was about, A sweet love story starting when two children meet, Interesting, readable, but way too many chance encounters, and characters who needed a slap upside the head, Not the stuff that I normally read, But I liked it. "Flora, sensing that nobody would be looking her way, risked looking up, All around fellow diners hushed, Across the table Hubert looked bland, Behind his master's chair the butler raised his eyes to the ceiling, General Leigh, face flushed red, said, ' What ' glaring at Miss Green, who in an almost inaudible voice was heard to repeat her remark, 'Ddon't you think the LLeague of NNations wonderful, General Leigh Wwhat do you think of it visavis BBaldwin'
'It is a club for Frogs and Wogs,' said Angus loudly.
'It bodes nothing but ill, it will bring disaster, That bugger Baldwin pretends to go along with it, but he secretly despises it, as I do openly, The League of socalled Nations is an international mafia of ill repute artfully concocted by political lounge lizards and communists at somebody else's expense, Who is going to pick up the bill for all their tommy rot and skulduggery, Miss Green Tell me that, "

Meet Flora Trevelyan, She's a young girl of, on vacation in France with her extremely laissezfaireto the point of negligentparents, Left to her own devices, she meets hotel staff, a village seamstress, various dogs, and other vacationers, In particular, she meets the Leigh family, and becomes friends with their son Cosmo and his friend Hubert, both of them aged, They are at first protective of her, and then over the years begin to love her, There's an even older boy, Felix, who is agedat the time of the French holiday, Wesley describes young love and infatuation well, . . but there is a creepy edge to it at the same time which put me off from the story somewhat,

At any rate, Flora's parents return to India where her father is a civil servant, Flora stays behind in boarding school, She continues to have intermittent contact with General Angus Leigh, his wife Milly, and their children, We see the overindulgent, but genuine love of the Leighs contrasted with Flora's family, There are many variations of life shown, but I'm unsure whether any of them are truly sensible!

Bottom line: Very few of the characters were likable, and the storyarc spanned so much time almost thirty years that it was difficult to become invested emotionally.
However, Wesley writes prose with enough skill to elevate the book slightly above average, Given./or a rating of "Above Average", Recommended as a library checkout for those who enjoy British/English literature,

Another quote: "Eventually asleep, she had nightmares and screamed because Matron, of all people, had turned into a marble bust which yet incomprehensibly and terrifyingly had arms, hands which held her in a throttling grip, shaking her awake.
'You stupid girl, look what you've done to your bedclothes, all tangled up and all over the floor, No wonder you are shivering, '
'Sorry, Matron, I was'
'I'll get you a hot drink, Doctor will be here in the morning, '
'Is he marble'
'What d'you mean, marble Been dreaming you dwelt in marble halls' Matron straightened the sheets and blankets,
'Marble arms'
'Not arms, halls, I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls , is how it goes, I'm not totally uneducated, my girl, '
'And I am not your girl!'

Stuff I learned: Here's a link to an article about boarding schools in England sitelink ourkids. net/school/briefh
And here's a less flattering article about how boarding school may have contributed to some of Flora's neurosis, sitelink ibblaw. co. uk/insights/blo Hated it. I would like to drown these characters, A story told over many years with the central characters remaining, Loved the way there is a thread throughout but you are kept guessing right until the end as to how and who it is really about, Brilliantly a little quirky, Mary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist, She reportedly worked in MIduring World War II, During her career, she became one of Britains most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, includingbest sellers in the lastyears of her life, She wrote three childrens books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal bothand Haphazard House, before publishing adult fiction, Since her first adult novel was published only in, when she was, she may be regarded as a late bloomer, The publication of Jumping the Queue inwas the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesleys life, Fromto, she wrote and delivered seven novels, While she aged fromtoshe still showed the focus and Mary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist, She reportedly worked in MIduring World War II, During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, includingbest sellers in the lastyears of her life, She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal bothand Haphazard House, before publishing adult fiction, Since her first adult novel was published only in, when she was, she may be regarded as a late bloomer, The publication of Jumping the Queue inwas the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life, Fromto, she wrote and delivered seven novels, While she aged fromtoshe still showed the focus and drive of a young person, Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II.
After The Camomile Lawncame Harnessing Peacocksand as TV film in, The Vacillations of Poppy Carewand filmed in, Not That Sort of Girl, Second Fiddle, A Sensible Life, A Dubious Legacy, An Imaginative Experienceand Part of the Furniture.
A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in, Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it, From sitelink Mary Wesley sitelink,