Peter Longley's book, The Cedars of Beckenham is set in 1930s Brtiain and beyond. 

Tonbridge School's Librarian, Elizabeth Hevey's review of this fascincating book can be read below:

In the tradition of John Galsworthy and Elizabeth Jane Howard comes this family saga - a moving and carefully constructed demonstration of the power of the chronicle to provide a very human lens to comprehend a broad but detailed overview of the 20th and early 21st century. The panoramic sweep of the novel uses an inspired ekphrastic twist to channel the fortunes and ultimately recognised connections of four families (the Montforts, the Dougdales, the Rubensteins and the Abuthnotts) by using an 1830s Biedermeier doll's path through the world to cleverly structure yet not compromise the scope of the book.

The novel has an initial focus on the interwar period and WW2 and on the huge personal and sociological impact this time in history had on class, globalisation, and attitudes. This period is explored with compassion and a delicate characterisation which allows a large cast to both reflect the historical events they are living through (in some cases, surviving) and remain well-drawn individuals with soul and heart. As the book moves more rapidly through the second half of the century to cover events as varied as the Suez Crisis, the death of Princess Diana, the fall of the Twin Towers and the invasion of Iraq, it retains the reader's attention to the evolution of the families by showing members' both progressive and traditional attitudes to unfolding events, a reminder of the personal being ever reflected in the political. An engrossing and encompassing novel.