In Chancery

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What to expect

John Galsworthy’s epic Forsyte Saga follows the fortunes of the venerable Forsyte family, a moneyed clan whose values are ever at war with its passions. In Chancery, the second novel in the trilogy, follows the events of A Man of Property.

After suffering the death of her lover and abuse from her husband, Soames, Irene Forsyte finally leaves her marriage for good. Though socially disgraced by her affair, she forms a bond with Old Jolyon, a father of the Forsyte clan who had grown distant from the family after reconciling with one of his outcast sons. The young Jolyon had been disinherited after divorcing his wife to marry a penniless foreign governess.

Now, with the death of both his beloved wife and his father, the younger Jolyon finds himself drawn in sympathy to Irene, so dear to Old Jolyon in his final days. Their shared troubles blossom into a romance, to the horror of Soames Forsyte.

Critics Review

  • “A social satire of epic proportions and one that does not suffer by comparison with Thackeray’s Vanity Fair…the whole comedy of manners, convincing both in its fidelity to life and as a work of art.”

    New York Times
  • “Galsworthy has produced some of his best and most memorable pages…To reread these episodes slowly and watchfully is to gain a very high notion of the art that wrought them. It is both rich and austere. The stuff is magnificent; the arrangement is severe—noble draperies falling in few, simple, inevitable folds.”

    Nation, Vol. 112
  • “A somber, compelling story equal to anything Galsworthy has yet produced.”

    Los Angeles School Journal, Vol. 4
  • “A book of extraordinary interest. It is a faithful picture of Victorianism on its deathbed. In showing us the preceding war and the preceding generation it shows u our own with sinister clearness. The canvas is large and crowded, and we feel that, at last, Mr. Galsworthy has a task that is worthy of his powers. For the ease and mastery of narration and the effortless beauty and distinction of style, no praise can be too high.”

    Bookman, Vol. 59
  • “Galsworthy, as always, is the master of a smooth and colorful style. His technic in managing his large cast is admirable, and interest in his wide-range story seldom flags.”

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