Some thoughts on "In Chancery" and "To Let" I have just finished reading “To Let” by John Galsworthy. I loved it, yes, but the second book “In Chancery” is my favourite. I have cried so much over it. It’s a funny thing though that I estimate a book by the amount of tears I shed over it. Whatever others may say or think, I do sympathize with Soames Forsyte though I cannot approve of some of the things he has done, like the one when he ‘forcibly reasserted his rights over her’, over Irene. I suppose my attitude towards the relationship between Soames and Irene has changed in the course of reading the books. No one is to blame here. It is just one mistake that ruined their lives. He is the way he is, and there is nothing one can change, as well as she is the way she is, and, though she has tried, she cannot force herself to love him. Nothing is worse than an unhappy marriage. And what a blessing it is that today we can marry and divorce whoever we please. If the laws had been different then, there would have been much less pain in people’s lives. I got quite fond of Soames when I was reading “In Chancery” because of the way he treated his family. How he always paid visits to his aunts, his parents! But the act of his which struck me most is when he lied to his father in extremis telling him that Annette gave birth to a boy when in fact it was a girl. He knew that there was nothing else in the world that his father wanted to hear more. I assume this deed to be a testimony of his kind heart. He is not a bad person. He just wanted the only thing he couldn’t have; went the whole hog to get it, but failed. Again, nobody is to blame here. Some things just happen. We can’t control our feelings, far less whom we love and hate. Only they both suffered so much! However, I assume in the end she forgave him, and I am so glad about it. We need to let the Past go. While reading “To Let”, I was hoping that the feud would come to an end and their children would reconcile these two branches of one family. I was so sad it didn’t happen. Though Fleur’s nature and conduct showed that nothing good would come of it. She shouldn’t have lied to John. Now they are both condemned to a life without each other. How come there is no happy ending? It makes me so sad! I definitely need to take a break and read some magical story where the couple is terribly happy in the end.