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The Favoured Child
 
 

The Favoured Child [Kindle Edition]

Philippa Gregory
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

Print List Price: £7.99
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Product Description

Review

Praise for ‘The Favoured Child’:

‘For sheer pace and percussive drama it will take a lot of beating.’
Sunday Times

Praise for ‘Wideacre’:

‘This is a story of violent love and unsettling passions. It will never let you rest for a page as you wait for the climax that must come for the people and the land.’
Maeve Binchy

‘Amid all the social upheaval strides Beatrice Lacey, who, for singlemindedness, tempestuousness, passion, amorality, sensuality and plain old-fashioned evil, knocks Scarlet O’Hara into short cotton socks.’
Evening Standard

Product Description

The second novel in the bestselling Wideacre Trilogy, a compulsive drama set in the eighteenth century. By Philippa Gregory, the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin’s Lover.

The Wideacre estate is bankrupt, the villagers are living in poverty and Wideacre Hall is a smoke-blackened ruin.

But in the Dower House two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the inheritance of Wideacre, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favoured child. Only one can inherit the magical understanding between the land and the Lacey family that can make the Sussex village grow green again. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey’s true heir.

Sweeping, passionate, unique: 'The Favoured Child' is the second novel in Philippa Gregory's bestselling trilogy which began with 'Wideacre' and concluded with 'Meridon'.


Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 2281 KB
  • Print Length: 625 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0743249305
  • Publisher: Harper (11 Nov 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005Z4QUPU
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #3,575 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Philippa Gregory
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By S. Barnes TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Bookish
Format:Paperback
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
An unexpected dud 20 Aug 2009
By HC1977
Format:Paperback
Florid and overblown, with predictable characterisation and plot twists that an 8-year-old could see coming a mile off, this novel isn't a patch on Gregory's other books. Julia Lacey, the narrator and - apparently - heroine, is an irritating sap, and the other characters are 2-D mock-ups straight from a GCSE student's creative writing paper. The epilogue feels tacked on, and any initial sympathy for Julia quickly evaporates, leaving the reader dying to get to the end just so they can read something else!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Warning: contains spoiler.
I am a fan of Gregory's, and love her work. I read this after finishing the prequel, Wideacre, and while I think that this was a truly gripping book, and better than Wideacre in... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jennifer
Feeling sorry for Julia!
This is the second book of the Wideacre series and this book continues to deal with the fallout of the train wreck that was Beatrice Lacy in the previous book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. M. Carragher
Great Book
I'll keep this short!!

This is the 2nd book in a trilogy. The first book is about a woman called Beatrice that would do whatever it took to try and keep her ownership of... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Miss RJ Alderman
the favoured child review
this book is fantastic, i highly recomend the other books to this trilogy. phillipa gregory is a genius in genral and i adore her books. Read more
Published 5 months ago by paigeelovesbooks
Love it
Love all of her books,this one is great too,just the thing for lying in the sun on holiday,bit off everything
Published 8 months ago by Julie
overwhelmingly sad
This second book in the series is just unremittingly sad- noone has a chance. It reminds me in some ways of "Cousin Kate" by Georgette Heyer although is much darker. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sarah
A must-read sequal to "Wildacre"
If you enjoyed Philippa Gregory's "Wilacre" then this sequel is a must-read! I have found this series addictive and read them one after the other anxious to know what happened... Read more
Published 17 months ago by C. L. Cooper
the favoured child
This book was good, but a bit drawn out in the middle. I wanted it to move on quicker, otherwise, quite a good read.
Published 18 months ago by christina
Ooohhh Myyyy Gaaawwwd!
If you thought it would get better with the next generation...Wrong!!
You need to read the first book in the trilogy to really get this book, and even then you will want to... Read more
Published 22 months ago by nattyloo
not good...unfortunately
When I stumbled over "the other Boleyn girl" a few years back I was delighted to discover Philippa Gregory. Read more
Published on 25 April 2010 by nona
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