- Mass Market Paperback: 509 pages
- Publisher: Corgi (6 Aug 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552139173
- ISBN-13: 978-0552139175
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.6 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Behind Alexia Langley stood the legacy of three remarkable and indomitable women. There was Charlotte who had survived the Afghan war in Victorian times - Alexandra who had bravely carved a life for herself on a Cornish farm - and Cara, who was Alexia's mother and who was tough and resourceful and a terrific worker on all kinds of committees. The trouble was that Alexia, with the example of three wonderful women behind her, wasn't brave or extraordinary at all. She was nervous and shy and wasn't particularly good at anything except cooking. She was totally unsuited for the free-wheeling world of the 60s, and when Martin Angus made a bee-line for her she let herself fall wildly and gratefully in love. At last someone really liked her, in spite of what she was. It took just over a year for her to discover his betrayal - for her to realise that from now on she had to fight, for herself, her future, and the future of her child. With a legacy of her own, a crumbling castle in Scotland, she began to build a new life, shared at first only with little Carly, then at last with someone she could trust. It was Carly, her small daughter, who was to bring the legacy of love full circle - back to Afghanistan - where the story had begun so many years before
About the Author
Caroline Harvey is the pseudonym of Joanna Trollope, the highly acclaimed author of bestselling contemporary novels. The Choir, A Village Affair, A Passionate Man, The Rector’s Wife, The Men and the Girls, A Spanish Lover, The Best of Friends, Next of Kin, Other People’s Children, Marrying the Mistress, Girl from the South and Second Honeymoon are all published by Black Swan. She has also written a study of women in the British Empire, Britannia’s Daughters. As Caroline Harvey she has written several historical novels including Legacy of Love, Parson Harding’s Daughter, The Steps of the Sun, Leaves from the Valley, The Brass Dolphin, City of Gems and The Taverners’ Place, which are all published by Corgi Books. Joanna Trollope was born in Gloucestershire, where she still lives. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is in two halves, telling the story of a mother and her daughter and is a continuation of Legacy of Love. In the first half, Alexa is a child of the sixties, living with rather neglectful parents in a stuffy house in London. Her mother works tirelessly for the underpriveledged in Lambeth and her father is a doctor in a London teaching hospital. Always an underachiever, her heart is at Bishopstrow House in Cornwall with her maternal uncle James and his wife Mary. Here she can really be herself. The story starts when she leaves school. She has a job with two rather bohemian ladies in Chelsea who run a curtain making business in their basement. Here Alexa begins to find that she has great organisational ability and, as a result, the business starts to boom. At the same time she is swept off her feet by young medical student Martin Angus. The couple marry but within a short time Martin leaves her for an old flame who is expecting his child. Unknown to him, Alexa is also pregnant. When the time comes for the baby to be born, Alexa returns to Bishopstrow and in due course Carly is born. James makes Alexa a present of a decaying scottish castle, Berwick, which used to be the family home but has been a neglected boys shool for many years. Alexa arrives at Berwick with Carly, several suitcases, a sewing machine and enough money to tide her over for a short while. After a somewhat shakey start, Alexa turns Berwick into a highly successful award winning hotel, one of the first of its kind in Scotland. She also meets and falls in love with her neighbour, taciturn scot Duncan. The first half of the book comes to a marvellously thrilling climax when true love conquers all.
In the second half of the book, Carly is now grown up and leaves the castle to make her own way. This first takes her to London and then to Afghanistan, where she feels close to her great great grandmother who travelled in the country as a young woman. The book describes her travels and the trials and tribulations of a rather rebellious young woman out in the world for the first time. The story of her great great grandmother is told in A Legacy of Love and the spirit of this book and the second half of Second Legacy are very similar.
The second half of the book is completely different in style and content from the first half and demonstrates the author's skill as a writer. The first part is very similar to a cosy Rosamunde Pilcher novel but the second part is much more like a true Joanna Trollope, which is not surprising, since Caroline Harvey is her pen name. I have read the first half of the book countless times and count is as one of my all time favourite modern novels.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Absolutely loved this book, it takes you from Scotland to London and Afghanistan. It is about a family of women from the 1800's to the 1960's. How each one has lived and is still living their lives. Armchair comfortable, and yet you didn't want it to end.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Vicarious Travel and A Generational Saga
30 Sep 2002
Format:Paperback
A generational study of following one's heart, beginning with the mother coming of age in the 60s and the daughter in the 80s. With very different perspectives and the usual mother/daughter drama, this is a very richly readable book that reminds me a lot of Pilcher and Binchy. The dialogue is a little muted, but this is intellectual (as in "use your imagination") non-bodice ripper kind of romance. An amazing weaving into a very enjoyable book that will take the reader from the Cornish Coast, to swinging London, to Scotland and ... then on to Afghanistan. The timing of this book makes the story all the more interesting in light of current events.
There is another generational novel entitled LEGACY OF LOVE which, if you are a more orderly person than I, you may wish to read first. Apparently that book leads up to this one, though I have to say this one stood quite well on its own. I do intend to read the earlier book, for I truly enjoyed this author.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Well worth the time to read this excellent book
2 Oct 2001
Format:Hardcover
London swings like a pendulum in the sixties, but Alexa Langley feels more like a fish out of water. Unlike her successful parents who thrive in the mod climate, Alexa feels shy and unworthy. Everyone concludes that Alexa is a classic underachiever who could do better. Even in marriage she fails though betrayal by her spouse is a more apt description. Alexa finally flees London with her infant Carly for a family owned Scottish castle that has been neglected for years. Will Alexa find the inner strength that flows in the blood of her female ancestors or is she the skipped generation?
In 1988, Carly finds an extraordinary journal that describes the adventures of her great great grandmother in Afghanistan (see A LEGACY OF LOVE). Unable to resist, Carly retraces the steps of her ancestor while not knowing what she seeks or what she will find as she treks across the war-scared landscape.
A SECOND LEGACY is actually two novellas in one book. Caroline Harvey, better known as Joanna Trollope, (both names appear on the title page - duh) provides her audience with the tales of two women. The story lines are similar yet quite different. Alexa's tale is a character study of someone struggling to find contentment and her self worth. Carly's plot centers on finding a place in the world too, but is more of a romantic suspense drama. Still each story engages the reader who feel empathy towards the heroines and shows why this writer is a highly regarded best selling author.
Harriet Klausner
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Not like Joanna Trollope's other books
10 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover
I just found this dissapointing. But then I am a big fan of Joanna Trollope writting as herself. This book was just to lite for me. A romance, a family story, but without the zing that her other books have that makes them something more than just a fun read.
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