I thoroughly enjoyed God Is an Englishman, so much so that even before I finished it, I went and got part two (Theirs Was the Kingdom). Although the business may seem to be the primary focus, Adam’s personal development is the true story. Adam also bucks convention and impulsively marries a runaway teen, the daughter of a true industrial revolution mill-owning brute. This book is about 30-something Adam Swann who breaks with family tradition to leave the British army and go into business in 1860s England.

I read this series when I was in high school - back in the day when I didn't mind series, or historical fiction, or war-themed stories. Surprised by how much of the book continues to be relevant to contemporary Britain and am glad I only read this one year into my London residency.I think most of us like honest and decent people to prevail, which - to varying degrees - seems to happen in his books, albeit with the slings and arrows which most poeple have to endure at times in their lives. But here you get a very interesting picture of England, both urban and rural, with cotton mills and railroads taking over everything and changing the face of the country. His second bit of fortune is his meeting with a station master who tells him the opportunity is in transporting goods where rails can't go.

There are many good things about this book, not least the personality of its author, which is stamped on every page. Since this novel was originally written in 1970, I assumed it would feel dated, but it really doesn’t.Adam Swann and the young wife he as good as abducted seem at first like cardboard characters, Adam only a symbol of honorable and aggressive business enterprise, Henrietta only a symbol of innocence, ignorance and frivolity.