come talk to me about Wideacre series

[hereidrawtheline]

I read Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory and loved it. I thought it was totally mental, different from other books I have read and just plain fascinating. There were so many surprises such as the relationships between the people but also how more and more the book turned into an instruction about how farming methods developed in the 18th century completely changed people's daily lives. Might sound dull but trust me it was not. There was drama galore.

The main character, Beatrice, was astonishing. I think I will always now have her as an archetypal woman in fiction.

I am about halfway through the sequel "The Favoured Child" and in a strange way am finding it harder to read. Wideacre was easily the more perverse book but in The Favoured Child the main character is so badly hurt and beaten down that its hard to read it without being really depressed about it. You so badly want her to tap into her inner strength and fight back against what is happening to her - and I suspect she will in the end but I havent got to that point yet.

There is one further book in the series called "Meridian".

Surely there must be loads of MNers out there who have read them? I am itching to talk about them to someone!! My DH would love them but he prefers listening to audio books and I cant find them to buy or DL.

I read them all a couple of years ago and loved them. Not great literature I guess but easy to read and engrossing.

I thought each book was slightly weaker than the last. Wideacre was definetly the best. They seemed to get increasingly depressing. I also didn't like the way Beatrice changed.

Yes I wanted Beatrice to pull herself back from the brink as well but you must admit her decline was magnificent! Also I think they are great literature! Not necessarily in the "classics, Tale of Two Cities" kind of way but the story of Wideacre is so gripping, well written, fast & evenly paced and also very thought provoking. What more can you want from a book? I do agree with you so far on them getting more depressing though I thought Wideacre wasnt actually that depressing, just like watching a really impressive train wreck. But The Favoured Child is actually depressing, no arguing that. It wouldnt be if Julia would just start kicking some Richard behind but as she isnt you are getting down!

It is still a fascinating social history, mixed in with the mysticism and emotion.

I read Wideacre. Like you say, fascinating social history, but I found the story a bit cliche.
I've read Phillipa Gregory's book on the Tudor/Elizabethan court (The Other Bolyn Girl etc etc) and personally found them more interesting.
It's not the finest literature, but a good read nonetheless

I read her other stuff too but I found Wideacre more interesting. While there are a lot of books about aristocratic women and their often tragic lives (and I love these books!) how many do you know of whose main character is someone as totally and utterly deprived as Beatrice? And unique. I mean there arent many women in Georgian England committing her list of crimes to claim the land she has a magical claim to. Beatrice starts out sympathetically - she gets screwed in a man's world. She makes a mistake. It leads on to a lie. Which leads on to another mistake. Until eventually she decides to throw in the towel of morality and be relentlessly cruel to get what she doesn't even truly want - her land destroyed.

Also although I have read a lot about the enclosures act and related topics I had no idea how people were affected by what were then modern farming techniques and much to my surprise I found it fascinating!

I will say though in The F.C. I am getting frustrated with Julia. Tell your mother the truth about Richard and fight back!

I read Meriden first, not realising it was the third in the trilogy. I loved it! then went backwards and read The Favoured Child. Also really liked this one. Haven't yet read Wideacre - think I've done it all wrong really.

However, I can totally and utterly recommend The Other Boleyn Girl, which is fantastic and one of my favourite ever novels. I am now reading another of hers!