I began reading this right after I finished book one, Habits of the house. This story begins about a year after that first one ends, so things have shifted somewhat in the world of the Dilbernes. This book traces the continuing story of Lord Dilberne and his family -- wife Isobel, hovering around the royals as they prepare for the coronation; son Arthur and his wife Minnie, preparing for the arrival of their first baby; and daughter Rosina, continuing to exercise her unfashionable intellect, delving into theosophy. It also introduces Adela, daughter of his Lordship's estranged brother, whose tiny, sheltered life is turned upside-down by tragedy, and finds herself swept up into the powers of the persuasive, and wholly without the natural reserves of understanding and world-wisdom to resist. The two stories inch toward each other (enticingly) throughout this novel with sometimes-frustrating speed (or lack thereof), with a sense of inevitability, but also a thread of doubt. Fay Weldon continues to weave a portrait of English high society at the end of the Victorian era, the edge of modernity, the polite conflicts between the aristocracy and the working class, and every character embodies some aspect of that social construct. Fascinating and entertaining! I want to dive back in and finish the trilogy immediately, but my library holds are piling up. I look forward to seeing how the story ends. ( )

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/02/review-long-live-king-by-fay-weldon.html ( )

I simply could not summon the interest to finish this novel. I listened to the first of the series on audiobook with marginal interest (it wasn't a very good novel, but I listened for lack of any other audiobook at the time) and then picked up this sequel at the library. It's not unreadable, it's just that there are so many better novels currently more worthy of my valuable reading time. So off it goes back to the library for someone else who will enjoy it more. ( )

The year is 1901, King Edward VII is soon to have his official coronation, and the Dilberne family is in a kerfuffle. Robert Dilberne is good friend of the King and so caught up in preparations for the coronation, as is his wife, Lady Isobel. Their daughter in law Minnie is pregnant, ready to do her duty by providing an heir, and daughter Rosina is still being a political agitator. Meanwhile, sixteen year old, suddenly orphaned Adela, niece to Lord Dilberne, tired of having her fate arranged by others, takes her life into her own hands and goes on an adventure. And three invitations to the coronation have become an object of much contention and confusion.

This trilogy (which began with last years Habits of the House) is sort of like Seinfeld: the show about nothing. Very little seems to take place, but everybody is practicing their own little schemes and things that seem small take on great importance. Nobody is really a villain; nobody is really a hero. They are just people- wealthy people, for the most part but not all- being people at a time when great changes were taking place. But the books are written so well that I can’t put them down, and I eagerly await the third book. ( )