The Tontine

I began reading this book when I was 8 or 9 years old - too young to keep up with all the details - and returned to it off and on for literally decades. Sometimes even making index cards of family trees and such. I finally finished it the summer of 1998 sitting in the car in front of my parents' hou......more

Liked it (7 out of 10), but not enough to read the second volume. A smart look at England just after Napoleon's Waterloo defeat, as the Industrial Revolution dawned. In fact one part of the story involves Napoleon's brother Joseph, once King of Naples and King of Spain, when he lived in Bordentown,......more

The first thing I learned was what a tontine was. I had never heard of such an arrangement before. The story was interesting and the characters well drawn. The threads of the story were deftly woven. There is romance, generosity, greed . . indeed the whole range of human emotions. It takes two books......more

Read this for book club. Had never heard of it but it was a wonderful romp of a story taking place in England in the 19th century. I certainly don't know why it's out of print today.......more

This what historical fiction is supposed to be like and never is. Someone mentioned in review that this book is something that Charles Dickens would have written. For me it has special place because it was copyrighted the same year I was born.......more