Dark Palace

Over the pre-Christmas weeks, there was the usual flurry of lists of best reads of 2011. One title appearing highly recommended on several reliable lists was a new Frank Moorhouse – the third in his series on the League of Nations. I bought the the first one (Grand Days) about fifteen years ago; and the second one (Dark Palace) when it was released in 2000. ‘Dark Palace’ won the Miles Franklin that year. There was a huge fuss because, while it is about an Australian, it is not actually set in Australia and that was really pushing the boundaries of the award criteria – and you know how the luvvies work themselves into a state about things like that!

They are HUGE (both over 700 pages) and very earnest seeming from the blurbs - show more you know, the sort of thing one thinks one should read - eventually. They've both been sitting on Mt TBR awaiting an appropriate moment.

The recommendations - and a sense that I should read at least one ‘worthy’ thing over the Christmas break instead of all escapist fantasy and mindless crime thrillers - prompted me to bite the bullet. I selected a larger handbag on Thursday 29 December, hefted ‘Grand Days’ into it; and headed off into town for a round of personal wellbeing appointments - the hairdresser, the optometrist etc.

Well, despite its weight, I couldn’t put the bloody thing down. I was so enthralled I didn’t even get grumpy at being kept waiting long past scheduled appointment times. I finished it at 3am on New Years Eve; and promptly searched out the second on Mt TBR. It took sheer willpower not to start it there and then and turn the light off. I waited until 10am on New Years Day, and then immersed myself once again in the world of Edith Campbell Berry in the between-wars period in Geneva. The work of the League of Nations continues as the cloud of WW2 rolls across Europe.

I finished this one in two days - two solid days, I have to admit, with very little else getting done around the house. The end of the book was a real cliff hanger and I've already ordered the third volume. show less

This is a continuation of Grand Days. While this volume won the Miles Franklin Award and is probably the better book, I find that I enjoyed the writing in the first book more.
Read in Samoa Apr 2003

An enjoyable read but I liked the 1st book more. Now #3, Cold Light.

Fiction. Concerns the League of Nations in the 1930s and 1940s. Better than its prequel Grand Days, a good read.