About this title: Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the 18th century, she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780743249294ISBN:0743249291
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 0743249291 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780743249294ISBN:0743249291
Description: Grade: C. Catalog: Fiction Historical Synopsis: 648 pages. She lived in an 18th-century England where women were forbidden to inherit wealth or land. But Beatrice Lacey was an extrordinary woman.... read more
"There was lust, sex, greed and murder all within the first 50 pages! The characters - some difficult to relate to - were very real. The period was conveyed excellently; I hadn't thought about the plight of women/daughters and inheritance issues before this. This was the first book in a trilogy; can't wait to read what happens next!"
"I am perplexed by this book. I started to read it a few years ago, but for whatever reason, about halfway through, I laid it down and didn't look at it again until last month. I started over and read the whole thing.
It's a wonderfully told story. Gregory is amazing with detail, especially with all things nature (I felt like I was on Wideacre myself). There is no doubt that Gregory is a great author (I have read all of her Tudor books and reread a lot of them on a regular basis). Obviously I could put it down, since I tried to read it a few years ago, but once I committed, it moved along quickly enough.
I guess my only problem with it is that I didn't really like any of the characters. Beatrice, obviously, is cruel, selfish, desperate and a blatant psychopath. Beatrice's father, who she was supposed to love more than anyone in the world, is the closest to a likeable character in the entire book, and he doesn't make it much further than the first several chapters. Harry is a moron - ignorant, twisted and bafflingly stupid. Celia, although kind, is his perfect mate on the surface because she is just as stupid and gullible as he is (and why is that? she was abused - why does she trust so much!?), John is smart and wants to trust Beatrice, but his demons break him eventually. Beatrice's mother is cold and distant and lives in her own world of denial.
The reason I don't like any of the characters is that they are not believable. They are developed, to be sure, and consistent, but honestly - really? I am really supposed to believe that an educated MAN, like Harry, of that time period (when they were supposedly the superior gender) would fall prey to such horrendous schemes over and over and over again? I am really supposed to believe that John, a man of enormous fortune, upon realizing that his beloved wife had another man's child, her BROTHER'S child, and tried to pass it off as his own, wouldn't stop drinking long enough to pack his stuff and leave as soon as possible? Men had the power back then...he could have left.
This story's saving grace (and the reason I gave it three stars) is the way Gregory pulls the rope tighter and tighter, slowly, methodically, throughout the entire book, around Beatrice's neck. I love the way Beatrice's passion for the land, her one track mind - always focused on keeping that land, eventually destroyed what she was fighting so hard for in the first place. She got what she wanted in the end. Her land would go to her children, but in the sordid process the land was lost to her. She also, no doubt, wanted to die at the hands of Ralph, and it was poignant that she came full circle and was killed by the very person who sowed the original seeds of her misdeeds. I wish it would have been more though. So much story leading up to her comeuppance, and not much about it when we get to it.
Good story. Wouldn't read again. I wouldn't recommend it to the weak-stomached or anyone who likes their heroines to be the good guys."
"It took me a while to give something "non-tudor" a try, but I found I really enjoyed this book. I found some parts quite disturbing and the whole premise is a bit hard to swallow, but this remains my favorite novel by Philippa Gregory and of the wideacre trilogy. It's a good entertaining escape."
"This is the second book I read by Phillipa Gregorey. They are on the scale of "epic novels" almost - really well researched,which I love about it; good plot and character development; and gratuitous sex. Can't go wrong with any of those three characteristics! The first one I read was The Other Boleyn Girl. Also a great read for the same reasons. The movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl was so bad, so lacking in development. It was like all they went after was the gratuitous sex. Disgusting, I tell you."
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