Wideacre

Description

Editorial Reviews Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly Gregory's full-blown first novel is a marvelously assured period piece, an English gothic with narrative verve. Beatrice Lacey loves nothing more than the family estate, Wideacrenot her bluff, hearty father, her weak brother, Harry, or her mother, who can't quite believe mounting evidence that damns her passionate daughter. Foiled in her hunger to own the estate by the 18th century laws of entail, Beatrice plots her father's death, knowing she can twist Harry in any direction she chooses, for her brother harbors a dark, perverted secret. Their incestuous tangle is not broken even by Harry's marriage. And while a bounteous harvest multiplies, no one gainsays the young squire and his sister, the true master of Wideacre. Beatrice marries also, managing to hide the paternity of two children sired by Harry until her increasing greed squeezes the land and its people dry, and the seeds of destruction she has sown come to their awful fruition. Gregory effortlessly breathes color and life into a tale of obsession built around a ruthless, fascinating woman. Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate; major ad/promo.

First Sentence

Wideacre Hall faces due south and the sun shines all day on the yellow stone till it is warm and powdery to the touch.

Description

Beatrice Lacey, strong-minded and amoral, refuses to conform to the limited life of a lady of the eighteenth century. Destined to lose her family name and beloved Wideacre estate on marriage, she decides to take her destiny into her own hands. Seduction, betrayal, even murder--Beatrice's passion is without apology or conscience. "She is a Lacey of Wideacre," her father warns,"and whatever she does, however she behaves, will always be fitting." Yet even as Beatrice's scheming seems about to triumph, she is haunted by the one person who knows the extent of her plans...and her capacity for evil.

Subjects

Genres

• Fiction

Series Statement

• Wideacre Trilogy

Links

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Other Editions

• WideacrePaperbackSimon and Schuster2003-07-01
• Wideacre.1987-01-01
• WideacreSimon and Schuster1987-01-01
• WideacreViking1987-01-01
• WideacrePaperbackPocket Books1988-01-02