Vivians

In her autobiographical trilogy - A London Child of the 1870s, A London Girl of the 1880s, and A London Home in the 1890s - Molly Hughes vividly recalled the scenes and events of her childhood and early adult years. In Vivians she goes back a generation to tell the story of her mother, Mary Vivian, and her beloved Aunt Tony, the elder daughters of a manager of Cornish tin mines.Mary was the charmer of the family. Beautiful, intelligent and mischievous, fearless in the hunting field and outspoken in the drawing-room, she became the belle of the district. Tony was plainer and less impulsive, but her warmth and strength of character endeared her to everyone she met.Vivians records the details of their daily life and their adventurous journeys to Paris, to the fjords of Norway, and to Spain, where Mary narrowly escaped capture by bandits. It also has a romantic tale to tell - of Tony's love affair, which ended so tragically, and of Mary's disastrous first marriage before she settled down happily with Molly's father. There is more than enough in this picture of life in mid-nineteenth-century Cornwall to charm any reader.