''The Conscience of the Rich'' is the seventh published of

C. P. Snow Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclope ...

's series of novels

Strangers and Brothers ''Strangers and Brothers'' is a series of novels by C. P. Snow, published between 1940 and 1970. They deal with – among other things – questions of political and personal integrity, and the mechanics of exercising power. Plot All eleven ...

, but the third according to the internal chronology. It details the lives of Charles, Katherine and their father, Leonard March, a wealthy

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. Lewis Eliot narrates the story of the conflicting politics of wealth and pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. According to

Charles Brasch Charles Orwell Brasch (27 July 1909 – 20 May 1973) was a New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal ''Landfall'', and through his 20 years of editing the journal, had a significant im ...

, the family was based on the family of Mary Lucas, who had married out to Donald Lucas from her own wealthy, narrow and orthodox Jewish family. Brasch recognised a few touches which might have been drawn from his own Hallenstein and Michaelis family.

Reception

The contemporary book review in ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' summarized the book: "The market for the earlier books should clearly determine the demand for this new novel; it is leisurely, intelligent and incisive."

References

1958 British novels English novels British political novels Novels by C. P. Snow Macmillan Publishers books {{1950s-poli-novel-stub