Yes, I’m having a bit of a binge on books from the B-C shelf. But I’m a bit bemused about whyever I bought this one with my hard-earned dollar. The blurb says that it’s a skilful weaving of Thirties ‘Society’ with the political events leading up to the war. And some of it is. But the sycophantic society stuff is nauseating…
I guess it depends where a reader is coming from. Someone at Goodreads was disappointed by the politics and wanted more of the society gossip. *chuckle* Maybe this book was de Courcy’s way of teaching a bit of British history to the sort of people who read celebrity gossip magazines and who fawn over the rich and famous? Whatever her intent, there is far too much about debutantes and the vast amount of money spent on their coming-out, but these sections are clearly signalled and the impatient reader can skip them. I certainly did.
The bits that I was interested in were the background on Chamberlain, his rivalry with Churchill, the unpreparedness of Britain for war, the complex negotiations with potential allies especially Russia, and the juxtaposition of bad news with the hapless politician in receipt of it having to keep a stiff upper lip at some ball or dinner. The chapter titled ‘Health and Panaceas’ was an insight into commonplace deadly diseases in the era before antibiotics and the National Health system. De Courcy says that most people really were better off at home rather than in hospital because they were probably immune to their own germs whereas cross-infection in hospitals was often terminal, as indicated by the anecdote about a woman who had a leg amputated after puerperal fever. Plastic surgery, (which would be in demand for pilots rescued from burning planes), was a nightmare: between each graft the patient had to wait until the resulting infection cleared up, making any procedure longer and more painful than can be imagined now. And this situation was not so long ago really… my parents were teenagers in 1939.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/08/01/1939-the-last-season-by-anne-de-courcy-bookr... ( )

While billed as a story of 1939's debs this is an interesting look at the social life of the upper class English woman before World War II changed all of their lives. They could see war looming on the horizon but their Coming out was quite important socially for all of them. A chance to find a husband, to shine, to take their place in society, that which was most of what they were groomed to be. A sad indictment on society and how it perceived these women to be little more than clothes hangers but perhaps it was a more honest time. ( )