I've just finished reading The Glittering Hour and am completely bereft to have to leave Selina and Alice's stories behind. The characters and their stories in this exquisite book will stay with me for a very long time.

The Glittering Hour is told through two timelines. Selina Lennox's story, who as one of the Bright Young People in the 1920s, partied hard, shocking society at that time but determined to live life to the full after the horrors and loss of the First World War. We discover her hopes and dreams for her future and about the night she met Lawrence, the poor, talented artist who has such an impact on her life.

Through Alice's story in the 1930s, we see how the nine-year-old struggles to cope with life at her grandparents' cold, oppressive home while her mother and father are away travelling. How, to help Alice cope without her, Selina writes letters to her daughter sending her on a treasure hunt. With each letter and each clue Alice discovers more about her mother's past, her life before she was married and the people she loved and lost.

I've read many books but it's been a very long time since one has affected me as much as The Glittering Hour. This is a captivating, epic read, with enthralling characters whose stories kept me fascinated and broke my heart in equal measure. I can't recommend this book enough.

My thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this new novel for four years, after devouring Iona Grey’s brilliant, award winning debut novel ‘Letters to the Lost’. I was very excited at being chosen to review this novel which totally blew me away and exceeded all of my expectations.
This new novel is set in the intervening years between the two world wars and mainly at the family country house Blackwood or in London. ‘It Girl’ Selina Lennox is living the high life of swigging champagne, dancing the night away and of rebelling against and shocking her traditional parent’s generation. It is a time of outrageous costume parties, risk taking and gallivanting through the streets of London. She is one of ‘The Bright Young Things’ and lives life to the full, seeking adventure and game for anything. She marries only to follow the conventions of the day, for security and safety. Her daughter Alice is born and for Selina it is love at first sight. Selina and Alice have a strong bond, spend as much time together as they can and life is good.
When Alice is nine years old Selina accompanies her husband on a mammoth business trip across the world to his business interests in the far east, leaving Alice with ‘The Grands’ in their country estate and communicating by letters when they docked at different ports. Poor Alice is so homesick so Selina set a series of ingenious treasure hunts for her to solve, to give her something to distract her and engage her imagination. Reading these inspiring letters and following the clues helps Alice to pass her spare time away, her stern Governess takes her on instructive walks and Alice is overseen by her mother’s kind and nurturing once -maid and confidante. It is here that Alice learns of her own and her mother’s life stories and is introduced to Selina’s very special friend Lawrence Weston, once a struggling artist who painted portraits of the rich and famous to fund his love of photography.
I adored this captivating, tender and poignant story. I loved absolutely everything about it from the brilliant storytelling, engaging characters and timeline to the themes Iona Grey chose for her second novel. I loved the way the various threads of the stories were developed and richly brought to life. It is a heart-breaking novel, unique and imaginative with everyday life issues under a compassionate scrutiny only such a talented author could pull off. I loved the contrasts drawn between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’, between the different generations and the attention to the conventions and rules verses the raging and misbehaving younger generation. I loved the language and descriptions and thought the title of the novel was inspired. It had everything I most enjoy within its 400 pages and I give this novel a resounding 5* award and the advice that it is totally unmissable and truly magical.
I received this book through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Simon & Schuster UK in return for an honest review. Thank you most sincerely for my copy. As you can see I absolutely drank in every word. Bravo!

This book describes the issues facing society after the First World War in a very clear way,underlining the social problems faced as the existing social structure falls apart and young people challenge the assumptions about how they will live their lives. The atmosphere of the period is captured very effectively and the characters are well drawn from the new generation expecting success to those who feel entitled and no longer fit in. The lead character,the girl Alice is tremendously well drawn and the star if the book. It is not the easiest if reads as it could be emotional in parts and raises real doubts about the decisions taken in another time.

A beautiful book. I love the author’s descriptions of the antics of the bright young things of 1920s, and then the outcomes of that lifestyle. Poignant, beautiful and sad. The twin timeline of 1920s and 1930s works really well and I really enjoyed the way that the story was told, following Alice’s discovery of her mother’s younger life. Beautifully written, with captivating descriptions, and completely engaging- I really loved this book and felt that I was completely immersing myself in the roaring twenties. A must read!

I couldn’t wait to get hold of a copy of The Glittering Hour, having been utterly blown away by the brilliance of Grey’s debut novel, Letters to The Lost, and I was not disappointed.

An epic love story, The Glittering Hour switches between two timeframes: aristocratic champagne-swilling, party-goer Selina Lennox in the 1920s, and Selina’s nine year old daughter, Alice in the 1930s.

Alice is ensconced with her grandparents at their stately home, Beechcroft, desperately missing her mother who is in the Far East with her cold and distant business man husband. Through her letters, Selina engages Alice in a treasure hunt which leads the little girl all over the property in search of clues to Selina’s past.

Selina is a character with great depth who glitters on each page. In the past, she is mourning her beloved brother Howard who had died in the trenches; Selina knows all too well what it is to lose a person you love. So when a drunken escapade with her friends one night leads to a chance meeting with the handsome, and talented yet penniless artist, Lawrence Weston, will Selina be able to let him go?

Their connection is intense, but a suitable marriage is beckoning Selina. Her tight-lipped, emotional redundant family expect it of her. Without a beneficial marriage, Selina will simply be cut off.

In the 1930s, Alice’s treasure hunt culminates in a beautiful discovery, but just hours later, her entire world collapses.

It took me quite a long time to really get into this story, but once Selina’s life had collided with Lawrence’s, I could not turn the pages fast enough.

Emotionally fraught, evocative and redemptive, The Glittering Hour has been well worth the wait. What a superb novel - Iona Grey really is back with aplomb.

I first heard of Iona Grey when her first book ‘Letters to the Lost’ was published, she featured in a magazine article and it inspired me to buy a copy, it was not my usual read at all but I loved it and have kept looking out for her next book every since. ‘The Glittering Hour’ does not disappoint, it’s a beautifully written story carefully intertwining the lives of Selina in the mid nineteen twenties and that of her young daughter Alice a decade later. It captures the emotion of the times wonderfully and is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. It’s very well told in that it’s so easy to read between the lines of what appears to be happening and what is actually happening but so subtly done that events don’t have to be spelt out to you but aren’t a shock either - a difficult concept to explain without revealing too much but tremendously well written by the author to achieve this. The characters are well written and feel to be of that era, the essence of life in the twenties nicely captured - this is just a wonderful book and I have thoroughly enjoyed every page.