‘Thrumpton Hall’ by Miranda Seymour
A memoir of life in the Nottinghamshire manor house that had so captivated her father.
By Martin Rubin, Special to The (L.A.) Times
July 12, 2008
“This enthralling book is not just another tale of restoring — and living in the decaying magnificence of — an English country estate. The story that Miranda Seymour unfolds against the background of Thrumpton Hall has enough drama — and psychodrama — to give playwright Harold Pinter a run for his money. There is comedy in her father’s house, but festering emotional wounds, slights and injuries invest it with the stuff of tragedy. . . .
“George Seymour fell in love with the Nottinghamshire house, where his diplomat parents parked him at the age of 2 when they were posted abroad. The handsome if somewhat dilapidated old pile, set in its own park, belonged to his aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Byron (yes, the poet’s family). These Byrons were childless, and eventually, after a lot of maneuvering, Seymour, newly married in his 20s, found himself the proud owner of his childhood paradise. But this was bleak postwar Britain, a time of punitive taxation and servant shortages, and so began a roller coaster of triumphs and disappointments that went on for nearly half a century until his death in 1994.”
For Martin’s full review, click here or visit www.latimes.com.