The life and times of several generations of British families. A Tontine mixes a lottery with an annuity where surviving annuitants get ever-larger annual payments as the pool of participants die off. Eventually excitement mounts, even in the popular press, as the pool of entrants narrows down and great wealth is at stake.
Betting people are drawn to the contest, backing one or another of the entrants in hopes of winning some money for themselves. The scope of the novel does suggest Charles Dickens in its interest in characters and social mores. The setting is 18th Century (after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo) but the action continues into the 19th Century.
Costain, a master of the block-buster epic novel, wrote this in the early 1950's and it was published in 1955. Through the lens of the lives of entrants from various age groups, the reader is taken through the events of tumultuous times and vicariously participates in the lives of varied and interesting characters. Costain gives the reader a strong beginning through the story of shrewd businessman, Samuel Carboy.
We visit his counting house and import business in London and walk its streets with him. When he learns of the new Tontine, he determines to make some money by reorganizing it to be far more legitimate than the sponsors have in mind. The intrigue begins! Britain's financial empire is developing and we see entrants seeking to make there fortunes in Brazil or Argentina or on the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. We follow soldiers into the wars of the times. We follow young ladies as they make their ways through life.
England