The best books about Britain before World War II that show the truth of daily life

A sweeping novel that seems at first to be suffused with the glamour of its characters and their lives; their vast estates, ancient family names, immense privilege. And then, as you read more, it becomes deeper and sadder. The struggle of good people to escape forces that are much stronger than they are. The failures of love and communication that lead to alienation and heartache. The story of a family, of the individuals within that family, and of the bleak ending of an era of ease and privilege. The writing is beautiful, and the characters will stay with you forever.

This is a history of the decade that was published in 1973. What it lacks in the perspective of greater hindsight, it gains in the energy and immediacy that Cockburn brings to the subject. It feels vivid and urgent, and conveys the sense of fear and alarm of that time very well. Parts are almost an eyewitness account. In my reading of history books that deal with the time, this stood out as being accessible and lively. 

This is a children's book – the story of the three Fossil children, their peculiar upbringing, and the ups and downs of their lives at stage school – but it is a wonderful read at any age. Brilliantly infused with the texture of daily life in 1930s London, it creates a really specific and compelling atmosphere. The food they ate, the cost of clothes, transport, the make-up of their household, even the quality of the air they breathed, is all described, as part of a warm and engrossing tale. Nothing I've read quite transports you to that time in the way that this does. 

The first half of this book is a deep immersion into the shockingly bleak living conditions of 1930s working-class families in the impoverished industrial north of England, then in the grip of the Great Depression. As an Irish person – and given the historic nature of the relationship between the two countries, in which Britain has always been the dominant and powerful one – it was genuinely eye-opening to me to understand how hard life was for ordinary English people.

Orwell’s writing was undertaken from the vantage point of his own experience. He spent months living with families in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and his descriptions of their lives are detailed and very vivid. The second half is an essay about the development of his own political conscience – interesting, but not essential in the way the first half is. 

I was tempted to put Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier here, but in the end, this won out, because it is less rarefied, and therefore more telling of the time. This is the first appearance of Miss Marple; gentle, even frail, spinster lady, with a keen eye, keen ear, profound knowledge of the human heart, and an impressive sense of moral rectitude. Christie’s judgments of people are psychologically astute, and her faithful rendering of middle-class 1930s life is a godsend to writers of historical fiction. The way she knits her characters and plots in and around small details like train timetables and servants’ half-days – as well as big issues like lust, jealousy, and the expectations of women’s lives, means her books are total page-turners, and valuable social records, all at once.