The Man of Property

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In this first novel of the Forsyte Saga, after introducing us to the impressive array of Forsytes headed by the formidable Aunt Ann, Galsworthy moves into the main action of the saga by detailing Soames Forsyte's desire to own things, including his beautiful wife, Irene Forsyte (nee Heron). He is jealous of her friendships and wants her to be his alone. He concocts a plan to move her to the country, to Robin Hill and a house he had built, away from everyone she knows and cares about. She resists his grasping intentions, falls in love with the architect Philip Bosinney who has been engaged by Soames to build the house and has an affair with him. However, Bosinney is the fiance of her friend June Forsyte, the daughter of Soames's cousin 'Young' Jolyon. There is no happy ending: Irene leaves Soames after he asserts what he perceives to be his ultimate right on his property - he rapes Irene (as a husband was entitled to do under English Law until 1991), and Bosinney dies under the wheels of an omnibus after being driven frantic by the news of Irene's rape by Soames