Swan Song by John Galsworthy (1928)

Hurrah! Galsworthy returns to his role as an extraordinary storyteller in this concluding volume of The Modern Comedy trilogy. As it turns out, the first two novels mainly served as a set-up for this one. (A quite lengthy setup, to be sure.) So before this novel begins, we already know that the upper classes in post-war England were selfishly consumed with satisfying their own whims of the moment, without a concern for those less fortunate or for the future. We know that Fleur, the main character, is a true daughter of the times. She is married to an admirable man who adores her, yet she has enticed his best friend to fall in love with her, not because she loves him but just for the excitement of the situation. She enters into a spiteful name-calling fight with a social rival which results in a lawsuit for defamation, and when things turn out badly, she leaves husband and son for a trip around the world with her indulgent father.

As this chapter of the story begins, Fleur's first love returns to England after living in America. He and Fleur had been forced to part years earlier by family pressures, but he has since fallen in love with and married an American girl. In contrast, Fleur has never stopped wanting what she could not have, so she sets out to stalk and seduce him. She has no intention, however, of leaving her husband and comfortable life to run away with him if she is successful. Instead she envisions a secret affair, and even sets up a scenario that would make that possible. In the true spirit of the times, she wants to have her cake and eat it, too.

After the low-key plots of the two previous novels, this one is engrossing and energetic. The climax is a shade melodramatic, but it rounds things off nicely.

I recommend this trilogy to those readers with time and patience. It is an interesting look at England between the wars, written by a contemporary. It has insightful implications about the influence of heredity and upbringing. And even though it takes its time, it is a good story.