Bookbot

Edith TrilogySeries

This trilogy chronicles the life journey of a woman navigating tumultuous times between wartime and postwar eras. It follows her romantic relationships, career triumphs and setbacks, and her search for identity in a rapidly changing world. The series captures an atmosphere of idealism alongside darker societal undercurrents, exploring themes of love, loss, and personal growth. Readers will immerse themselves in rich historical detail and experience intense emotional journeys.

Dark Palace
Grand Days

Recommended Reading Order

  1. 1

    Grand Days

    • 736 pages
    • 26 hours of reading

    Meet Edith Campbell Berry, the woman all Australian women would like to be. On a train from Paris to Geneva, Edith Campbell Berry meets Major Ambrose Westwood in the dining car, makes his acquaintance over a lunch of six courses, and allows him to kiss her passionately. Their early intimacy binds them together once they reach Geneva and their posts at the newly created League of Nations. There, a heady idealism prevails over Edith and her young colleagues, and nothing seems beyond their grasp, certainly not world peace. The exuberance of the times carries over into Geneva nights: Edith is drawn into a dark and glamorous underworld where, coaxed by Ambrose, she becomes more and more sexually adventurous. Reading Grand Days is a rare experience: it is vivid and wise, full of shocks of recognition and revelation. The final effect of the book is intoxicating and unplaceably original

    Grand Days
  2. 2

    Dark Palace

    • 704 pages
    • 25 hours of reading
    4.4(15)Add rating

    Winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Five years have passed since Edith Campbell Berry's triumphant arrival at the League of Nations in Geneva, determined to right the wrongs of the world. The idealism of those early Grand Dayshas been eroded by a sense foreboding as the world moves ever closer to another war. Edith's life too, has changed- her marriage and her work are no longer the anchors in her life - she is restless, unsure, feeling the weight of history upon her and her world. As her certainties crumble, Edith is once again joined by Ambrose Westwood, her old friend and lover. Their reunion is joyful, and her old anxiety about their unconventional relationship is replaced by a feeling that all things are possible - at least in her private life. But World War II advances inexorably, and Edith, Ambrose and their fellow officers must come to terms with the knowledge that their best efforts - and those of the well-meaning world - are simply useless against the forces of the time. Moving, wise and utterly engrossing, this is a profound and enriching novel. Grand Daysand Dark Palaceconfirm Frank Moorhouse as one of our greatest writers - a master of tone and timing, an elegant and exuberant stylist, and an unerring chronicler of the human spirit.

    Dark Palace