Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

Sweeping trilogy, drawing on Greek myth, that offers a compelling picture of the inter-war period. Worth reading for its detail and depiction of class, elitism and politics but a bit too much of its time in attitude and style to stand out. Worth reading alongside more celebrated depictions of the era.

Why is Isabel Colegate not better known? I'm so glad this novel seems to be getting her much-deserved and very overdue praise. The book of the summer.

An anthology of the three King novels, Colegate is an intelligent author but her works feel a little dated

I found the narrative quite jumpy and difficult to follow and persevered as much as I could. I may go back to it later but for now I'm afraid I'll have to leave Orlando behind.

Long overdue regard for this novelist of fine sensibilities. This is slow not fast fiction and all the better for it. Characters developed and nuanced over a long period. It’s not so much what happens but how it unfolds. A masterclass in delicate, thoughtful literature.

I have been meaning to read 'The Shooting Party' for ages, so I was intrigued by this one when I saw it was coming out. It's a trilogy in one volume. It tells the story of Orlando King who was brought up by a university lecturer after he found one of his students in tears, having found she was pregnant. He was then brought up on a private island, but moves to England in 1930 at the age of 21, where he starts to move through high society.
I love to read novels written or set between the wars, and I did enjoy this, but the writing style was rather hard to get into. There are few breaks and often a complete change of scene is only indicated. By a new paragraph. Also his daughter is mentioned from the beginning, before he has even met her future mother.
I'm still keen to read The Shooting Party, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this one.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the published for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest opinion*

It's good to see this being re-published and (hopefully) being wider read. Colegate is a great writer, and with this trilogy she explores class and society pre- and post-WW2. The parallels to Sophocles' plays were interesting enough as a background structure. Time off between the books is perhaps best, rather than reading them one after the other, and the books are very much of their time, but an interesting trilogy that deserves attention.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I quite liked this one.
I was fascinated by the descriptions of the historical periods and I think that the plot was interesting but it misses the pathos and the greatness of Sophocles's tragedies that inspired it.
Nonetheless it's a well written and interesting read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I really enjoyed, “The Shooting Party,” by Isabel Colegate, so I was keen to read this novel by the author. “Orlando King,” was, initially, a trilogy and has been re-published in one volume.

Orlando King was brought up by a lecturer at Cambridge, who, having discovered one of his students in tears, discovered she was pregnant and offered to bring up the child. He then retired to a small, isolated island and Orlando was raised by King, and his cook, housekeeper, secretary, batman, and much more, Sid. He leaves the island for London in 1930, when he is twenty one and we follow his life through this novel.

I much preferred the beginning of this book, with Orlando King as the up and coming young man in the 1930’s. It is an interesting, political era, obviously, and we have King becoming involved in society, politics and the aristocracy. The writing is a little dis-jointed, though, as Orlando King’s daughter, Agatha, is mentioned from the very beginning and, to be honest, it took me quite a while to settle into the writing style. Of course, an author does not necessarily write in the same way for each novel, but I certainly found the writing style in this more difficult. Also, I preferred the beginning of the book much more than the middle – set mostly in Tuscany – and with a completely different feel, and the final novel, where Agatha is very much centre stage.

This work is based on a Greek tragedy and it is an interesting read. Sadly, though, if I am being honest, I found it more interesting than really enjoyable and I did struggle somewhat in the middle to keep reading. I wonder whether, had I read just the first novel in the trilogy first, I might have been keener to read on? Perhaps I will try this again, at a later date, and take a break between the different books. It is, I feel, worth another try. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, viaNetGalley, for review.

The premise and modern take of Colgate's trilogy on the Sophocles' plays are absolutely promising, sady, however, the executions felt somwhat lackluster.

Having read and enjoyed Isabel Colgate’s beautifully written ‘The Shooting Party’ in the early 1980s, for whatever reason I haven’t picked up any of her other novels since. The reissued ‘Orlando King’ was originally published as a trilogy – ‘Orlando King’, 1968, ‘Orlando at the Brazen Threshold’, 1971 and ‘Agatha’, 1973. It is a lengthy read and not an altogether satisfactory one.
The overriding theme in ‘Orlando King’ appears to be an obsession with social class. However, the ways in which it is explored lacks Waugh’s wit or Orwell’s gravitas. In fact, much of the time, the author appears to embrace its existence in a manner that most contemporary readers will find alienating. For example, Orlando finds attractive a woman who is described as having ‘a quick twitch of a sniff, affecting one side of her face only, a sort of parlour-maid’s sniff.’ This seems fatuous and snobbish and does not appear to be written from the viewpoint of anyone other than the author.
Colegate’s story focuses on the 1930s and the 1950s. World events in the 30s such as the Spanish civil war and the rise of the Nazi party are explored through Orlando’s increasingly successful political life. However, the narrative in the last third of the novel has a more domestic feel, concentrating on his daughter, Agatha. The author has clearly taken Sophocles’ Theban plays as a template and sometimes her storytelling feels constrained because of this straitjacket.
There are many published novels, literary and otherwise, which focus on the first half of the twentieth century, giving us memorable stories about how people cope with adversity, battle against prejudice and earn their place in the world. In contrast, the author’s outmoded preoccupation with social positioning makes ‘Orlando King’ a curio rather than a celebrated classic.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK and ANZ) for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Orlando King by Isabel Colegate is actually a trilogy: Orlando King, Orlando on the Brazen Threshold and Agatha, originally published between 1968 and 1973 and now reissued as one book. I must admit I’d never heard of Isabel Colegate before but she was a prolific 20th century novelist, now seemingly forgotten. Perhaps I am bias but it seems to me that there are more forgotten 20th century female authors than male (Rosamond Lehman, Barbara Pym, Penelope Fitzgerald until recently – to name a few) so I try to read as many as I come across.

Orlando King is based on Sophocles’ Theban plays, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, with the first book set in the 1930s England, the second in Tuscany in 1951 and the last back in England in 1956.

Brought up on an island in France, young, handsome and charming Orlando arrives in England in 1931 and dazzles everyone around him, becoming a politician with a promising career ahead of him. He marries into the aristocracy and moves in lofty circles where some of his friends are attracted to fascism and appeasement is the official government policy. In the second book, we see Orlando living quietly in Tuscany after the war, restoring a couple of run down old farm houses and spending time with his daughter Agatha who has come for an extended visit. The third book focuses on Agatha as she navigates marriage, motherhood and relationships with her family.

I enjoyed the first book the most, I thought setting the book in the turbulent 1930s worked very well, allowing Colegate to explore various political ideas of the time – socialism and Spanish civil war, fascism, appeasement vs. stopping Hitler. Class and social status also play a very important role. Almost everyone in the large cast of characters is obsessed with class and where they stand on the social ladder.

The second book is quieter, somewhat more introspective with lots of lovely passages about the Tuscan landscape. A set piece London house party scene offers a contrast, not only with the life in Italian countryside but also as a generational divide between pre and post-war youth. To be honest, this particular party scene felt somewhat jarring and out of place, written as a means of introducing new characters who we later see again in Italy and in the third book. This out of place feeling unfortunately continued in the third book. I didn’t feel I got to know or understand Agatha, it felt as if Colegate forced scenes for Agatha to fit the narrative and speeches of Antigone rather than develop the character independently. The overall plot felt overworked and I thought the third book somewhat disappointing. Still, Orlando King is an interesting portrait of English politics and society in the 1930s and 1950s. Lots of glamour, high society and drama.

My thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Orlando King.

Colegate's ' The Shooting Party' has long been on my TBR so I was keen to get a taster of her writing from this - sadly, this feels like a B-list title. In an interesting premise, it's a trilogy based on Sophocles' Oedipus trio of tragedies where Orlando King is Oedipus Rex and the book charts his rise to power then his fall, before the focus switches to his daughter Agatha (Antigone - yes, the Antigone whose title play underpins Home Fire). Unfortunately, it sometimes feels like incidents and story arcs are shoehorned in to fit the originals rather than developing organically. And the writing tends to be unsophisticated in style, with too much telling and not enough showing.

The panoramic view of England between the wars is nicely evoked with an especial focus on class ('They're lower class. I'm just common.'), politics and elitism. All the same, this can't really compete with more literary works that play in the same space (Waugh is the obvious corollary), and can be superficial as events whirl by without much depth. Good as a gossipy, soapy read, but I was hoping for something more substantial. One to take on holiday, perhaps?