Wideacre: Book 1 (The Wideacre Trilogy)

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I tend towards liking PG's books more than hating them, even though I've felt there's a phoned-in quality to some of her more recent Tudor and Cousins' War efforts. I keep reading the dang things, and am known to say "well, she CAN write, you know. Wideacre, for example." Dennis Wheatley novels. I can’t defend them at all. Grandiose, repetitive, preposterous to the point of insanity, offensive in a thousand different ways – they’re like giant Donald Trump tweets.

So the final moments in the book were pretty intense. Richards confessions to all his evil deeds in childhood were never a mystery to the reader, but it definitely felt good to hear them voiced to Julia because she was a bit naive in everything Richard. Julia definitely made me angry on several occasions for being too stupid and gullible to realize that Richard was to blame. Especially the way she let him ruin her in the Summertime house. And how she allowed him to come between her and James. Holy crap that made me angry!!! Then when Julia was taken to Bath to rid her mind of the Sight (I was not happy with John or Celia for that), she slowly fell in love with James. I eventually wanted her and James to be together and not her with her brother. Unfortunately, Wikipedia spoiled it for me when I just wanted a plot summary after finishing "Wideacre" to make sure I understood that Ralph killed Beatrice and told me that Julia and Richard had a daughter together . I was wondering how that then was going to work when Julia was set to marry James? Well, Richard rapes Julia, breaks her wrist, and unfortunately for her but fortunately for Richard, he impregnates her. The Lacey's are a surprisingly fertile bunch. She asks him to marry her, and he agrees to gain complete control and ownership of Wideacre. So I guess Beatrice's idea of the joint heirs of Wideacre wasn't a good idea after all...I wonder if Beatrice would have approved of Richard's actions because like her, he did whatever possible to have full control of Wideacre. But even those harshest critics of the author’s dark-hearted characters commend Philippa Gregory for her incredible writing style. Like so many characters from Wideacre I felt so sorry for Meridon and the hardships she went through, but it made her a strong, independent person. She was able to experience so much more in life then the other characters in the first two books. Beatrice is the match which lights the fire that eventually burns the entire Lacey family to the ground. The Wideacre books chronicle her rise and eventual downfall.

Publication Order of Order Of Darkness Books

I didn't like at the end how she was repudiating the name of Sarah when earlier she had repudiated the name of Meridon. When she found "Wide" and took her birthname, Sarah, I thought to myself how Sarah is such a plain name compared to Meridon. But now I got used to it, and I'm not too fond of the idea of her denying the name her biological mother gave her... But being a woman means that Beatrice can never inherit Wideacre, not when her dense brother Harry is still in the picture. Of course, Beatrice has no intention of playing by the rules. And that's where my problem lies with this book. It's a trashy book with murders and incest and it's not trashy enough! For crying out loud, there's The Monk written by a young adult man long ago and it's more fun and ridiculous than anything Philippa Gregory is doing here. There's victorian erotica on project gutenberg that's more crazy than this. Like most Gregory books, she explores the restrictive world of the female sex. These women live in a world where the only skills and talents that are valued are 1) the ability to marry well, and 2) the ability to produce healthy male heirs. Nothing else really matters. Your family's fortune can increase or decrease with every marriage and birth. You feel the pressure. I did find myself actually wishing Beatrice would get her way during parts of the novel, which surprised me. While she is such a hateful creature, I felt Gregory did a really good job of making her someone I could root for. The more the story progressed, the less I felt that way, but there were times when I totally could get behind her.

A big surprise for this series. But, seriously, how stupid can you expect a character that was supposed to a smart-ass gypsy savvy about life in the dumps/streets etc to become in such a short time? This is what I didn't like about this whole series: the main characters were supposed to be smart, or at least strong in some capacities but eventually, they all prove extreme moments of stupidity where they seem to lose all their strentgh or capacity to reason. This is my first Philippa Gregory and it's her debut which is interesting. I love debuts by established genre fiction writers because even if they can become formulaic later on in their careers, debut is often creative and shows their passions. Enraged by the sight of her father's corpse, guilty, and afraid that if Ralph were ever caught he implicate her, Beatrice decides she cannot allow him to continue living on Wideacre. She lures him over a mantrap and leaves him for dead.Along with Richard and Julia, the Lacey clan are a demented bunch. Beatrice is like a virus that infects them all. And before long, they are lying, cheating, committing murder and engaging in incest all for the sake of a dream to secure Wideacre that Beatrice birthed. In the style of the two previous novels, very similar plot development and structure. But OMG, cannot believe this does not end with tragedy or death!!!!!!! Philipa Gregory delves into some rather disturbing waters as she brings the lives of the Lacey family to her readers. I hardly ever cry at books, but I do tend to fill up a bit over the fate of Anna and Vronsky in Anna Karenina.

So this story is all about Julia and Richard, the illegitimate bastard children of Beatrice and Harry Lacey. They do not know that they are brother and sister, and are brought up by Celia Lacey as cousins. During childhood Julia is a sweet and caring child, whose main ambition in life is to earn smiles from her mama. Richard on the other hand, shows disturbing signs of being cruel and sadistic person. He bullies his cousin Julia, and enjoys being able to smile and charm anyone he wants. Because I loved the beginning and disliked the end, I give "Wideacre" three stars. Not a bad read and I do intend to read the next two books in the series.A lot of people struggle with the Wideacre series because most of its protagonists are terrible human beings, and yet the author expects readers to root for them. Some people have gone so far as to say that they couldn’t finish the first novel and chose not to read the other books in the trilogy simply because they could not stand to watch Beatrice and her kin get away with so much evil. This is a "historical fiction" novel (I put it in quotes because the only historical things thus far were petticoats and carriages driven by horses.), a story of Scarlett O'Hara/Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil type of protagonist who is a) horny, b) loves her land and c) is a manipulative psychopath. Only one can be the favored child—only one can inherit the magical understanding between the land and the Lacey family that can make the Sussex village grow green again.