Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This monumental trilogy by the Nobel Prize-winning author chronicles the lives of three generations of an upper-middle-class London family obsessed with money and respectability. The Forsyte Saga enormously influenced views held by Americans and Europeans of Victorian and Edwardian life and it remains an excellent contribution to social history and literary art.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Author's Preface (p. iii)
• Forsyte Family Tree (p. x)
• Book I. The Man of Property
• Part I
• I 'At Home' at Old Jolyon's (p. 1)
• II Old Jolyon Goes to the Opera (p. 15)
• III Dinner at Swithin's (p. 27)
• IV Projection of the House (p. 38)
• V A Forsyte Menage (p. 46)
• VI James at Large (p. 51)
• VII Old Jolyon's Peccadillo (p. 58)
• VIII Plans of the House (p. 65)
• IX Death of Aunt Ann (p. 71)
• Part II
• I Progress of the House (p. 78)
• II June's Treat (p. 84)
• III Drive with Swithin (p. 90)
• IV James Goes to See for Himself (p. 98)
• V Soames and Bosinney Correspond (p. 106)
• VI Old Jolyon at the Zoo (p. 118)
• VII Afternoon at Timothy's (p. 123)
• VIII Dance at Roger's (p. 133)
• IX Evening at Richmond (p. 139)
• X Diagnosis of a Forsyte (p. 148)
• XI Bosinney on Parole (p. 155)
• XII June Pays Some Calls (p. 159)
• XIII Perfection of the House (p. 166)
• XIV Soames Sits on the Stairs (p. 172)
• Part III
• I Mrs. Macander's Evidence (p. 175)
• II Night in the Park (p. 184)
• III Meeting at the Botanical (p. 187)
• IV Voyage into the Inferno (p. 198)
• V The Trial (p. 206)
• VI Soames Breaks the News (p. 213)
• VII June's Victory (p. 221)
• VIII Bosinney's Departure (p. 227)
• IX Irene's Return (p. 234)
• Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte (p. 238)
• Book II. In Chancery
• Part I
• I At Timothy's (p. 277)
• II Exit a Man of the World (p. 284)
• III Soames Prepares to Take Steps (p. 293)
• IV Soho (p. 297)
• V James Sees Visions (p. 302)
• VI No-Longer-Young Jolyon at Home (p. 306)
• VII The Colt and the Filly (p. 314)
• VIII Jolyon Prosecutes Trusteeship (p. 318)
• IX Val Hears the News (p. 324)
• X Soames Entertains the Future (p. 330)
• XI And Visits the Past (p. 334)
• XII On Forsyte 'Change (p. 338)
• XIII Jolyon Finds Out Where He Is (p. 346)
• XIV Soames Discovers What He Wants (p. 351)
• Part II
• I The Third Generation (p. 353)
• II Soames Puts It to the Touch (p. 360)
• III Visit to Irene (p. 367)
• IV Where Forsytes Fear to Tread (p. 371)
• V Jolly Sits in Judgment (p. 377)
• VI Jolyon in Two Minds (p. 383)
• VII Dartie Versus Dartie (p. 387)
• VIII The Challenge (p. 395)
• IX Dinner at James's (p. 398)
• X Death of the Dog Balthasar (p. 403)
• XI Timothy Stays the Rot (p. 406)
• XII Progress of the Case (p. 411)
• XIII 'Here We Are Again!' (p. 415)
• XIV Outlandish Night (p. 423)
• Part III
• I Soames in Paris (p. 425)
• II In the Web (p. 430)
• III Richmond Park (p. 432)
• IV Over the River (p. 437)
• V Soames Acts (p. 438)
• VI A Summer Day (p. 440)
• VII A Summer Night (p. 446)
• VIII James in Waiting (p. 448)
• IX Out of the Web (p. 451)
• X Passing of an Age (p. 457)
• XI Suspended Animation (p. 465)
• XII Birth of a Forsyte (p. 470)
• XIII James is Told (p. 475)
• XIV His (p. 478)
• Interlude: Awakening (p. 481)
• Book III. To Let
• Part I
• I Encounter (p. 499)
• II Fine Fleur Forsyte (p. 512)
• III At Robin Hill (p. 517)
• IV The Mausoleum (p. 523)
• V The Native Heath (p. 530)
• VI Jon (p. 537)
• VII Fleur (p. 540)
• VIII Idyll on Grass (p. 545)
• IX Goya (p. 548)
• X Trio (p. 556)
• XI Duet (p. 560)
• XII Caprice (p. 565)
• Part II
• I Mother and Son (p. 572)
• II Fathers and Daughters (p. 576)
• III Meetings (p. 587)
• IV In Green Street (p. 594)
• V Purely Forsyte Affairs (p. 598)
• VI Soames's Private Life (p. 603)
• VII June Takes a Hand (p. 611)
• VIII The Bit Between the Teeth (p. 615)
• IX The Fat in the Fire (p. 620)
• X Decision (p. 626)
• XI Timothy Prophesies (p. 629)
• Part III
• I Old Jolyon Walks (p. 638)
• II Confession (p. 644)
• III Irene (p. 648)
• IV Soames Cogitates (p. 652)
• V The Fixed Idea (p. 657)
• VI Desperate (p. 660)
• VII Embassy (p. 666)
• VIII The Dark Tune (p. 672)
• IX Under the Oak-tree (p. 675)
• X Fleur's Wedding (p. 677)
• XI The Last of the Old Forsytes (p. 685)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This is the uniform title for Galsworthy's The Man of Property, In Chancery, and To Let, available as a Forsyte Saga threesome in several paperback editions, of which this one is the cheapest. Galsworthy wrote the The Man of Property in 1906, looking back from his Edwardian desk at a thriving upper-middle class London family in full Victorian flower. Character, the choices the Forsytes make in seeking to rule their destinies, the consequences that unfold , the power-or failure-of an individual to change, are at the heart of this saga, although the first novel stood alone until after World War I, when the prolific Galsworthy returned to the Forsytes for the subsequent five volumes, all published in the 1920s. My favorite saga.-Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

At age 28, after a gentlemanly education at Harrow and Oxford, and a training at law, Galsworthy settled into simultaneous careers as a novelist and a playwright. The Silver Box, Galsworthy's first successful drama, was staged in 1906, the year he published the first volume of what was to become The Forsyte Saga.

His one-word titles - Justice (1910), Strife (1909), Loyalties (1922)---suggest the nature of Galsworthy's artistic ambition: to generalize a social indictment, keeping faith with the objective methods of naturalism. In each, Galsworthy favors an austere irony and unresolvable situations, and balanced moral positions are displayed in the cabinetwork of "well-made" playwrighting. Reputed to have led to reforms in its time, his realism today seems contrived to produce aesthetic distance and a sense of resignation that is precisely what contemporary political dramatists strain hardest to avoid. Not surprisingly, critics have come away from revivals with the sense that (especially in his spare language) Galsworthy anticipates Harold Pinter rather than more socially engaged playwrights.

Galsworthy wrote novels and plays alternately throughout his life. His masterwork, The Forsyte Saga, begun in 1906 and finished in 1928, and consisting of six separate novels and two linking interludes, is the most famous example of the sequence novel in English literature. It is a study of the property sense, the possessive spirit, in different individuals and generations of English middle-class society. He also completed a second trilogy dealing with the Forsyte family, called A Modern Comedy (1928). His last trilogy, a study of the Charwell family, is called End of the Chapter (1933).

Galsworthy's later years brought him many honors, including the presidency of P.E.N. and honorary degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and several other universities. After World War I, he was offered a knighthood, which he refused. He did, however, accept the Order of Merit in 1929, and in 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was, however, too ill to attend the Nobel ceremony and died within two months of receiving the award.

Although his posthumous reputation had waned, the centenary of his death, in 1967, brought a re-creation of The Forsyte Saga on British and American television in serial form. Interest in him skyrocketed, and the Forsyte novels again became bestsellers. With new popularity came fresh critical analysis. Pamela Hansford Johnson called The Forsyte Saga "a work of profound social insight and patchy psychological insight" (N.Y. Times). His critical writings include The Inn of Tranquility: Studies and Essays (1911) and Author and Critic.

(Bowker Author Biography)