Strangers and Brothers Novels

An emotionally devastated widower is drawn to a married woman in this "impressive" novel set in wartime England (Kirkus Reviews). Lewis Eliot has lost his deeply troubled wife, Sheila, under tragic circumstances. While her suicide has shaken Lewis to his core, it has also put an end to a painful and difficult marriage. In the wake of Sheila's passing and Britain entering the Second World War, Lewis plunges into his civil service work. During this time, he meets Margaret and begins to feel his heart stirring-and sees the possibility of healing. But Margaret already has a husband, severely complicating the attraction they both feel, in this series of historical novels that the Telegraph called "Balzacian masterpieces of the age." "A master craftsman in fiction." -The New York Times "An extremely shrewd observer of men and society." -Commentary

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize: Two brothers find themselves at odds amid Britain's quest for an atomic weapon, in this vivid historical novel. As the Second World War begins to rage, Britain's brightest minds put their efforts into the development of atomic munitions, laboring away in a closely guarded research station in a Warwickshire village. Lewis Eliot, in a stint as a civil servant, gets his brother, Martin, a position there. But as tensions and debate swirl among the scientific community, the opportunity may turn into a full-blown crisis, in this gripping novel by a Booker Prize finalist whose wide-ranging career spanned the worlds of both science and government in mid-twentieth century Britain. "A master craftsman in fiction." -The New York Times "Together, the [Strangers and Brothers] sequence presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life." -Jeffrey Archer, The Guardian

This novel of 1950s Britain offers "a sound reading of the political, moral, ideological temper of the times; a substantial achievement" (Kirkus Reviews). An ambitious MP and cabinet minister, Roger Quaife has strong opinions about the nuclear arms race that's been escalating in the postwar era. Lewis Eliot agrees with him on the issue, despite the hostile reaction Quaife's position has received. But Quaife has also been having an extramarital affair-and when the threat of blackmail looms, Eliot is faced with a difficult choice, in this thought-provoking novel, part of a series that "presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life" (Jeffrey Archer, The Guardian). "A master craftsman in fiction." -The New York Times "An extremely shrewd observer of men and society." -Commentary

A gifted young academic in 1930s England falls prey to a dangerous mindset in this novel by "a master craftsman" (The New York Times). Roy Calvert is young, well-liked, and financially secure. He is also a brilliant scholar at Cambridge, engaged in translating ancient documents related to the Manichaean heresy. Yet despite these advantages and successes, he is prone to an unpredictable, inexplicable melancholy that neither love nor work can seem to overcome. It will pull Roy into the orbit of a rising historical darkness-and leave his friend, Lewis Eliot, to witness the frightening struggle between Calvert and his demons . . . Praise for the Strangers and Brothers Novels "Mr. Snow has established himself . . . in an eminent and conspicuous position among contemporary English novelists." -New Statesman

With England on the brink of disruptive social change, a man revisits his past-and confronts a monstrous crime-in this novel of "clarity and perceptiveness" (The Atlantic). In his late middle age, semi-retired Lewis Eliot, accompanied by his teenage son, journeys to the provincial town where he spent his poverty-stricken boyhood-and where his father is now dying. The London of the 1960s is changing, and this visit is a reminder of the passage of time and the world left behind. But Eliot's reflections are disrupted when he reunites with his now-elderly mentor, George Passant, and becomes involved in a horrifying child-murder case in which Passant's niece stands accused. And as Eliot sees his old friend through the trial, troubling questions arise about responsibility, the root causes of evil, and how, as the painter Goya once observed, the sleep of reason produces monsters. "[The Strangers and Brothers series] invites comparison not only with Proust but with the other notable multi‐volume novel about modern Britain, Anthony Powell's The Music of Time." -The New York Times "Lewis Eliot throughout the series has been a most engaging person. . . . Snow is at his best when writing about people under pressure: he makes the struggle for power of engrossing interest." -The Atlantic "[Snow] looks at the social condition so that he can see better the human condition." -Queen's Quarterly

A young man resolves to rise above his humble beginnings in the series praised as a "masterwork . . . a panorama of middle and upper-middle class English society" (The New York Times). Nine-year-old Lewis Eliot learns that his father is bankrupt in the summer of 1914. This family crisis-and the tragedy that follows-shape his future, but with fierce willpower, he diligently studies and eventually finds a promising law career in London. However, that very determination to succeed against difficult odds may prove Eliot's undoing as he courts and marries a troubled, wealthy woman, raising questions of social class, marriage, and the nature of ambition. "Snow depicted a milieu of which he was an intimate and exhilarating part. [The Strangers and Brothers novels are] precisely, often poetically written books . . . strong on plot and narrative and nuances of power politics." -The New York Times "A sensitive evocation of the early background of Lewis Eliot, Snow's narrator, and with the first stages of the career that is to take him through so many different layers of English society. . . . [The novel] gives a remarkable impression of the world of the law." -Commentary

A brush with death may finally bring a father and son together, in the conclusion to the award-winning, decades-spanning series. Sir Lewis Eliot has made his way from a deprived childhood to knighthood, but when he experiences cardiac arrest during surgery, his thoughts turn to the meaning of it all. As he considers a life spent in the realms of law, government, and academia, he can't refrain from passing judgment on himself. Yet amid his melancholy musings about age and infirmity, Eliot finds his characteristic optimism has not deserted him-and looks to the future in the form of his adult son, who is part of a new generation he struggles to understand, but who remains as beloved as the day he was born . . . "As with [John] Galsworthy, Snow's respectable achievement has been to make honest drama out of the undramatic stuff of compromise." -Time "A master craftsman in fiction." -The New York Times

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize: An "engrossing" novel of power, politics, and academic rivalry in 1930s England (The New York Times). In 1937, the dark cloud of Nazi Germany hangs over Europe. Meanwhile, barrister Lewis Eliot is comfortably settled at Cambridge College, which is currently astir thanks to the imminent death of an ailing master. Little does the dying master know that two men are already jockeying for his position. Eliot and his crowd are in Jago's corner against his rival, Crawford, who holds a principled stand against Hitler but is lacking in social skills. The political maneuvering grows ever fiercer, and even in these hallowed halls of learning, the hunger for power can overwhelm all common sense. "A faithful portrayal of English college life." -Kirkus Reviews "The Masters not only portrays a power structure in microcosm but is tantalizingly told-perhaps the most engrossing academic novel in English." -The New York Times "Lucid, compelling . . . generous in its fullness." -New Statesman

An academic is accused of fraud in this novel set in 1950s England by "an extremely shrewd observer of men and society" (Commentary). At Lewis Eliot's Cambridge college, Dr. Donald Howard is not well liked. Some believe his research to be subpar, and his far-left politics off-putting. So no one much mourns when Howard is fired for committing academic fraud. Eliot, though, is disturbed when new information seems to throw doubt on the don's guilt, dividing the fellows against each other and compelling Eliot to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice. This suspenseful story is by the Booker Prize finalist and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Award for Fiction. "Lionel Trilling has spoken of the job the contemporary novelist does of 'telling us the way things are': The Affair is only the latest evidence to confirm that this is a job at which C. P. Snow excels." -Commentary "A master craftsman." -The New York Times

A wise, moving novel about a mentor and his protégé: "The central character . . . is immensely appealing . . . a peculiarly haunting and sympathetic figure." -The New York Times In late 1920s England, Lewis Eliot is building a career in law and has found a mentor in George Passant. The quirky small-town solicitor's clerk has much wisdom to share from his years of experience-during which he has also managed to hold on to his idealism. Eliot is just one of the many young devotees drawn to Passant, hoping for guidance from the man who's always ready to extend a loan or a listening ear. However, the young men will have to learn to fly on their own-and come to Passant's aid themselves-in this absorbing novel by "an extremely shrewd observer of men and society" (Commentary). "An enlightened discussion of questions of conscience and conduct and commitment. . . . Filled with the concerns which are so fundamentally and essentially a part of this writer's work and have attracted a firm following." -Kirkus Reviews Originally published under the title Strangers and Brothers

An emotional gulf forms between a young Jewish barrister and his father in a "wise, beautifully controlled and deeply moving novel" set in prewar England (The New York Times Book Review). The scion of a wealthy Anglo-Jewish family, Charles March, is expected to fulfill the ambitions his father has for him. The young man, a friend of Lewis Eliot, shows great promise as a barrister. But an abrupt career change-and marriage to a woman deemed both unworthy and untrustworthy-drives a wedge between father and son, ultimately putting the family's good name at risk. "Snow is rare among contemporary novelists in the quiet conviction with which he expresses love between brother and sister, son and father, husband and wife." -The New York Times Book Review "Leisurely, intelligent and incisive." -Kirkus Reviews "Together, the [Strangers and Brothers] sequence presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life." -Jeffrey Archer, The Guardian