Meadowlands: A World War I Family Saga

Summary (from the publisher): The comfortable, upper-class lives of the aristocratic Barsham family are set to change forever with the onset of World War I.

August, 1914. The silver wedding celebrations of Sir George Barsham, MP, and his wife, Lady Adelaide, are overshadowed by the declaration of war with Germany. Over the following months, as the male estate workers head for the Front and the maids disappear to work in the newly-opened munitions factory, the Barsham family s comfortable, aristocratic lifestyle is set to change forever.
Determined to do his bit for King and country, James Barsham enlists as an officer and heads for Flanders, leaving Lady Adelaide s maid Polly devastated. To Lady Adelaide s dismay, her younger daughter Millie learns to drive an ambulance: a most unladylike skill. Meanwhile Millie's sister Gina finds fulfilment in helping the local wives and children, left destitute while their husbands are away fighting.

During the course of the war, with devastating loses, the strength of character of the four Barsham siblings will be tested as never before. They will encounter hardship, danger, heartache and unexpected love.

 

Review: I received an advance copy of this novel from NetGalley.

 

Meadowlands tells the story of the aristocratic Barsham family as they navigate the changing world of England during WWI. The family is composed of Sir George and his wife Lady Adelaide, daughters Millie and Gina and twin sons Ned and James. Although all four children strive to find different ways to contribute to the war effort, their parents are less than exemplary.

 

I was utterly disappointed in this book. It was wholly unoriginal and reads like a cheap knockoff, desperately trying to ride the coattails of Downton Abbey fame. Time passes erratically, characters lack emotional depth and believability, and the plot is unoriginal and unbelievable. I likely would not have made the effort to finish this book had I not felt honor bound to provide a review in exchange for the free copy I received.

 

In particular, I was exasperated by the author's attempt to make all the parent figures in this book positively wretched. This includes Lady Adelaide, Lord George, and house servant Polly's father. When his daughter Gina takes an interest in providing for poor families whose husbands have gone off to the war by offering a soup kitchen for the families' starving children, her father Lord George responds with, "I'd advise you not to worry your pretty little head about it." Likewise, Lady Adelaide is annoyed that the war has interrupted her social life. It seems unbelievable that she would so very detached that she wouldn't even realize her daughter had joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment. "'She came and said goodbye to you before she caught the train, Mother. Don't you remember?' 'Ah, yes, of course. Come to think of it, I did think her goodbye was a bit effusive for a shopping trip.'" Later, Lady Adelaide responds to a doctor's efforts to treat the poor with, "He would finish [his rounds] a good deal earlier if he didn't visit the poor. [...] It isn't as if they can pay him."

 

Polly's father was particularly barbaric, locking his daughter away in an asylum and referring to her as "the little slut."  Yet for some reason Polly continues to refer to him as "her beloved father." I was also particularly distressed that while Polly is saved from a short life of hard labor in the asylum, the other characters seem to feel no concern for the other women who are wrongly imprisoned in its walls. I also had a hard time believing that Polly would be accepted as a member of the family, after originally serving for many years as a servant. That seems overly optimistic and progressive for the early years of the 1900s.

 

Stars: 2