morning

Morning by Julian Fane  (Reynal & Company, 1957)

A fictionalized memoir about a young boy growing up as a member of the English landed gentry at a country estate in 1938 – 1939.  The writing is lovely, sensitive and crystal clear.  Each chapter relates a different incident of some sort of misbehavior or moral shortfall.  The world of the house and its inhabitants — the boy’s distant but loving parents, his beloved Nanny and nursery maid, his adored and reviled older brother — are all completely and clearly evoked through Vere’s young eyes.  A delightful, softly heartbreaking book.