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Rogue Herries - by Hugh Walpole Written in the [early 1900s] by Hugh Walpole - an author who has sadly fallen out of familiarity in the US - this book was a vivid and engaging journey. A friend at work recommended this author and, particularly, this book and I am very grateful that he did! It explores the troubled life of Francis Herries, the main character, as well establishing a wide family tree and a family history, setting the stage for sequels to this epic of which there are 5. While I cannot know how things were in [1917] I suspect I was not meant to empathize as strongly as I did with the main character, but felt a tremendous affiliation with his unpopular world views and his struggles which were almost entirely of his own accidental devising. This was the right book at the right time for me, and I got a tremendous amount from it. Walpole is known for his extraordinarily rich descriptive ability, and when he sets a scene you really can see it just as he intended. The book is lengthy enough to allow for character development of our mains, but he takes pains to even lend interest and detail to the smallest character we meet. While many passages of the book may be classified as a drama or a family history piece, he is no slouch with action and a good amount of it is peppered throughout. One of the best books I've read, though it connected with me so well I can only suggest that your mileage may vary, but it is still worth a try.