In the early 1900s two brothers lived at opposite ends of a small country town some 30 miles north-west of London. Their forebears had made money through brewing and West Indian sugar estates and they themselves were successful, one as a headmaster and the other as a coffee merchant. Different in many ways, Charles and Edward Greene were alike in fathering six children. Charles and his family lived at the "School House" and Edward at the "Hall". The 12 cousins, "a remarkable tribe", were tall, much married, highly intelligent and, either through shyness or a coldness of disposition, naturally reserved. Their long and diverse lives are the subject of a magnificent group biography by Jeremy Lewis, best known for his fine life of Cyril Connolly.
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