The Children Of Charlecote

How do you entice readers into a book where the story seems slight but where the writing vividly recreates scenes of family life in a large mansion just before the First War? The story is coloured by the vividness of fond, poignant memories of the children's lives despite the harshness of their father and the constant hint of loss - a lost past, lost happiness, lost house, lost people. This is hauntingly sad.