The Favoured Child [Kindle Edition]

Mysticism, romance, turbulence, rivalry, passion - a gripping historical novel. It is a shock to discover such a great author that I've been missing out on! What a great writer Philippa Gregory is.

The Favoured Child is a sequel to a book called Wideacre, but can equally as well be read on its own. I was over halfway through the book before I realised that I was reading the second book in a series. The story is set in late-eighteenth-century England, on a run-down landed estate on the South Downs, called Wideacre. The estate suffers from a legacy left by the previous Lacey landowner, Beatrice, who perished along with her beloved Wideacre Hall in a suspicious fire a few years previously. The estate is now bankrupt, the village poverty stricken, resentments are felt throughout the estate and this is the inheritance of the next two Lacey heirs, cousins Julia and Richard. The cousins have been growing up together under the protection of Julia's mother and family, in the shadow of the blackened ruins of the Hall, and with little money and just each other for company - friends, rivals and secretly betrothed since childhood, their relationship is a tempestuous one. Although they are to inherit jointly, there is an old saying in the village that only one can be the favoured child, only one of them can have the mystical relationship with the land traditionally passed down to each generation, a connection with the land that can bring fertility and prosperity back to the Wideacre estate; in truth only one of them can be the true Lacey heir.

I picked up this novel on a whim and am so glad I did. I used to read quite a lot of historical fiction and then gave them up when I found the plots were becoming quite thin and reedy, or too similar to each other. But now I've discovered Philippa Gregory I shall definitely be reading some more of her novels. There is nothing predictable about The Favoured Child. The historical background is superb (without being overly detailed) - the history does not intrude on the novel, it just adds to its richness and sense of drama. I'm looking forward to reading the final book of the trilogy, Meridon.

Having been introduced to Philippa Gregory via the brilliant and compelling 'Other Boleyn Girl' I was keen to get my hands on as many of her other books as possible. So far so good until I started reading the Wildacre trilogy. The first title in the series was gripping albeit dominated by unlikeable characters and miserable plotlines of incest and murder! I began 'The Favoured Child' in the hope that with the villains of the first book out of the way it would be a little more light-hearted and hopeful. Nope, still thoroughly depressing! My biggest issue is how Julia, the 'heroine' of the story keeps harping on about how much she loves Richard despite the fact he is a bully, rapist and serial killer. I liked her much more in the Bath chapters and was hoping that she would develop into a stronger and more powerful force in Wildacre. Instead I became increasingly more irritated with her as the book went on.

The Wildacre Trilogy was written much earlier in PG's career and I would recommend sticking with her more recent books, particularly those based around the Tudors. I am as yet undecided about reading the third Wildacre novel, only because I want to know how it all ends.

When I stumbled over "the other Boleyn girl" a few years back I was delighted to discover Philippa Gregory. I gulped that book up in a few days and read the whole Henry 8th series in one go. Since i have dipped into some of her earlier work and also recently bought a few of her newer ones ("the white queen" and others) but have been very disappointed. Her newer work retain her flowing prose but have become slightly dull. The earlier stuff is pretty terrible though. The Favoured child initially caught my interest but it is veeeeery long and about one third into the book i was struggling. The story is unbelievable and inconsistent throughout. The prose is unsure and there are too many repetitions of phrases and even long sections. It was lightly entertaining but stick to the Henry the 8th stuff and you will get Gregory at her best