A romping good read (Wideacre - Philippa Gregory)

Member Name: sunshine-smile

Product:	Wideacre - Philippa Gregory
Date:	13/09/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: entertaining and interesting for fans of historical fiction

Disadvantages: the main character lost my sympathy somewhat

Widacre is a book I would describe as a romping good read! At over 600 pages, I was initially daunted by fears I may lose interest. But in Wideacre, Philippa Gregory has created such a convincing, captivating world that I had no trouble sticking with it throughout its lengthy course.

Widacre is set in the eighteenth century, but unlike the author's later novels it focuses on a totally fictional character in the shape of Beatrice Lacey. Beatrice first appears in the book as an innocent young child. By the end of the book something of a transformation has taken place! Beatrice's problem is that she loves her family's ancestral home, Wideacre Hall, and all the land around it. But under the laws of the time, she will not be able to inherit it. Wideacre will go to her brother, as the male heir. As she grows up, Beatrice realizes that unless she takes drastic action, her fate will be to find herself married off to a suitable man who will take her away from Wideacre altogether. This is too awful for her to contemplate. So she embarks on a series of actions with the aim of ensuring she will never have to leave the place she feels so passionately about.

At the start of the book I liked Beatrice a lot. I'm sure that most women would have sympathy for her, as to our twenty-first century ears the legal position of our predecessors sounds so grossly unfair. But in the eighteenth century, what we would now call 'sex discrimination' was the norm for English society. It is quite shocking to read how women could own so little of their own, how they were married off, and how men held all the power. So it is unsurprising that Beatrice rebels. She is a strong-minded character, and in order to escape the restrictions of her situation she becomes ever more ruthless. She gets up to all manner of sexual antics to achieve her ends - though the sex in Wideacre is not graphically described. One way or another, she finds ways to stamp her will on those around her. And while I did understand her motivation, during the course of the book Beatrice began to go too far for my liking. As she became increasingly cruel and unprincipled my sympathy started to wane. I found myself wishing she would get her come-uppance. And by the end I did feel it was rather a shame that Philippa Gregory had gone so far down the road of making Beatrice such a detestable person.

However, overall I still enjoyed the book very much. One thing I must mention is the lovely descriptions of Wideacre Hall and its lands. I felt I really knew this place myself, the author brings it to life so beautifully. Wideacre is almost a living, breathing character in itself and I think this helps us to understand why Beatrice goes to such extremes to secure her place there.

Though it is a very long novel I raced through it because the pace of the story never slows. I will definitely go on to read the next book in the Wideacre trilogy, which is The Favoured Child. Yes I do have some misgivings about Beatrice, but that does not take away from the fact that Wideacre is a great read which I would certainly recommend to fans of historical fiction.

Summary: a thoroughly enjoyable book