Flambards in Summer

Flambards in Summer (1969) is the last book in the original Flambards trilogy by K. M. Peyton, though it was followed in 1981 by Flambards Divided.

Plot summary

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 greatly deteriorated since she left with Will, and is almost in ruins. As distraction from her grief over Will's death and the news that his brother Mark has been reported missing and 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 semblance of her old life, the people, horses and hounds.

Finding 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. Eventually she persuades Dick to come back to work on the farm and things slowly begin to go smoothly, 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 become like his father, and when she finds she has feelings for Dick, her confusion increases as she still loves Will.

K.M Peyton wrote a fourth novel, Flambards Divided, which completes the Flambards sequence of books.