They are not notably interest ing or likable people; but they are real, and Adam in par ticular seems just the sort of self‐confident, intelligent gam bler who, no doubt, created many of the business empires of the last century. These are great opportunities for local mini-adventure vignettes, like the depot manager who catches an escaped lion, or the welshmen who provides the wagons that get the pump to a submerged mine. He and his spirited wife, Henrietta, with whom he originally has a rocky relationship, build a dynasty of employees and family. How many high school students think of Moby Dick with little more than bitterness at the lengthy asides about whale parts and the business of whaling? His wife, Henrietta, grows and matures and eventually comes into her own to fulfill a critical role.

As I mentioned before, the whole book takes place in the 1860s, so there are some fascinating explorations of the historical/economic phenomenon that were taking place at the time.I believe they are important in giving you a real feel for the time and place, adding geographical variety as well as interesting personalities. From there, Adam hand picks the managers for each region of England/Wales, and we get to know each one of them personally with their quirks, ambitions, weaknesses, and strengths. The company's name was suggested by Henrietta Rawlinson, daughter of a local mill owner, who will become his beloved wife.

The marriage storyline is interesting and while weird does give a lot of time to the female perspective (as well as a second female character, one of his lieutenants with romantic tension). Would've been better with fewer ruminations about England's gifted males(and some females) and overall wonderfulness.Although difficult to take seriously, “God Is an Englishman” provides a good bird's‐eye view of Victorian England and contains numer ous snippets of social history —glimpses of the spreading blight of industrialization, of a plush London brothel, of the plight of the homeless children of London, of the cruel treat ment of chimney sweeps. I say almost elegiac because, having charted the decline of organised Christianity and the loss of the deference traditionally shown to the Church of England and the monarch as its head, Moreton then manages, in his final chapters, to find signs of resurrection. He recognised that all Brits essentially operate to serve the comfort and ease of the “Upper English” but that a visitor who stayed for years might not notice that England is genuinely one of the world’s most working class nations.