Some of the characters in the following architecture-related novels are an errant wife who falls in love with an architect, an elderly couple who are misunderstood by their relatives, a German architect who destroys his father’s lifework and an idealistic young man who refused to compromise his naïve concepts of the world.
Billiards at Half-Past Nine, by Heinrich Boll
This Nobel Prize winning author tells the story of the fictional Faehmel family in this 1962 novel. The Faehmels live somewhere in Germany during the first half of the 20th century and according to The Christian Science Monitor the plot can be summed up in one sentence: “What father Faehmel, a highly successful architect has built, his son Robert, also an architect but working as a demolition expert in World War II, destroys”.
Readers will enjoy the old-fashioned writing style as the author shows many changes in German architecture during several generations.
McGraw Hill, 1962 reprint ISBN 0-8446-6056-6
The Man of Property, by John Galsworthy
First published in 1906, this is the first volume in Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga and the story of Soames Forsyte, a typical member of the family that made Galsworthy famous. Soames considers his wife Irene to be “just another piece of property” until she falls in love with a young architect named Philip Bosinney. Soames devotes his wealth and time to punishing the lovers, and Philip is eventually killed in an “accident”.
William Heinemann, 1906 no ISBN issued
Only Yesterday, by Julian Gloag
A macabre tale of an English family that is headed by Oliver and May Darley. Oliver is an architect well into his eighties who has drawn up some idealistic plans for the future of his dream city made of glass buildings. May is a long-suffering wife with health challenges that have basically been ignored. When the couple is visited for a weekend by their son Rupert and his daughter Miranda, the plot begins to focus on the interplay between the generations. Touching and funny, it details the nitty-gritty of old age and the decisions that must be made by families.
Holt & Co, 1987 ISBN 0-586-08683-8
The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
This book has become a modern classic best-seller since its first appearance in 1943. Many volumes have been written about architect Howard Roark and the other memorable characters who populate the book. Roark’s refusal to comply with societal norms cause him to lose out on a successful career, and his idealism is legendary.
Although the book received many negative reviews at first, the Oxford Companion to American Literature Fifth Edition says the public has embraced Rand and her theory of “Objectivism, which lauds individualism and rational self-interest”
Bobbs-Merrill, 1943 no ISBN issued
The artistic allure of architecture and the straightforward engineering skills of architects have been around for generations. Novels about them continue to entertain and satisfy readers from all walks of life.
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