Thanks Naomi and Emma, I'll add them to the list.

Dee

Emma, yes I'm sure Invitation to the Waltz is pre WW1 because in 'Weather in the Streets' which takes up Olivia's story 10 years later, Rollo's older brother Guy is described as an Edwardian dream child and as having died 'going over the top, at the head of his men' The family is described as having given him the standard treatment - collecting his poems and letters etc very WW1.

Naomi R

PS Would anything by Ivy Compton Burnett be any use. Very odd stuff but some of it might be set at the right sort of time.

Yes, that does make sense. Years since I read it, but it's a terrific book. I loved Dusty Answer as an angsty teenager, but I should go back to her grown-up stuff. The Echoing Grove is beautifully structured.

Emma

I recently discovered this book (below) which might be of help. I got it from my local library rather than fork out loads for a copy:

"A Man's Place: Masculinity and the Middle-class Home in Victorian England" by John Tosh

ISBN = 0300123620

Hope that helps



Julia