Chatterton Square

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As the narrative progresses, Mr Blackett becomes increasingly baffled by Bertha’s behaviour, particularly her responses to his pronouncements. I've read Chatterton Square, but your review reminds me of how much I enjoyed it, so I am going to do a re-read.

His three daughters Flora, Rhoda and Mary are repressed and his long suffering wife Bertha is trapped in a marriage she has regretted since her honeymoon in Florence.The nine or ten years which separate it from its immediate predecessor also separate today’s world from a world almost as lost as Atlantis. While many Britons – Mr Blackett included – consider the avoidance of war as a victory, others – including the Frasers, Piers and Miss Spanner – see Chamberlain’s actions as treacherous.

H. Young is the story of two families, the Frasers and the Blacketts, who live in the eponymous Chatterton Square in Radstowe, a thinly disguised version of Bristol. One of the things I love about Ms Young's novels is the way her writing can transport you to a particular place and time - in this case a residential square in Radstow (Bristol) before the start of WW2.Otto in ‘The Caravaners’ (he was a total jerk and was oblivious to that, but his wife, Edelgard, was not [just as Bertha was aware her husband was a jerk]) and Wemyss in ‘Vera’ (he was evil personified). I'm much better off as I am and I'm coming to the conclusion that the happiest people are the ones who have missed everything they thought they wanted. As for your last point – of the books I’ve read so far, the one with least sense of wartime in it is the Christie.