Flambards in Summer
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Flambards in Summer (1969) is the last book in the original Flambards trilogy by K. M. Peyton. Its ending would later be reversed in the 1981 book Flambards Divided.
The final novel in the Original Flambards trilogy opens in the middle of the First World War with Christina, now a widow returning to Flambards. Flambards has vastly deteriorated since she left with Will, the whole place now derepict and almost in ruin. As distraction from her grief over Will's death and the news that his brother Mark has been reported missing, presumed dead, Christina sets herself the tedious and difficult task of restoring the farm. She not only wishes to restore the house and grounds but also a resemblence of her old life, the people, horses and hounds. Finding out she is pregnant with Will's baby, Christina adopts Mark and Violet's six year old son 'Tizzy' Thomas, along with an original Flambards bitch called Marigold and a nervy five year old bay thoroughbred called Pheasant in an attempt to breathe life once more back into Flambards. Eventually she persuades Dick to come back to work on the farm and things slowly begin to go smoothly. That is, until the reappearance of Mark. Christina's joy quickly turns to anxiety and apprehension as Mark tells her that if she wishes to remain at Flambards, she must marry him. But Christina fears Mark will turn out like his father, and when she finds she has feelings for Dick, her confusion increases as she still loves Will... Flambards in Summer is just as compelling and compulsively readable as all K.M Peytons works, capturing the continuity in the rhythm of life, birth, death and love. Curiously, K.M Peyton was not satisfied with the ending and in the 80's wrote a fourth novel, Flambards Divided, in which the ending was reversed (good old Mark!).
