After enjoying Gregory’s “The Constant Princess,” I decided to go back and read her works in chronological order. While many of her later works are based on the lives of true historical figures, the characters in this first book of a trilogy are original.

From the time she could sit alone on a horse, young Beatrice Lacey has grown to love and learned everything there is to know about the land of her father’s estate, Wideacre. To her young and naïve eyes, her father is grooming her to someday run the estate, and it is a shock when she realizes that she, just as all other ladies of Quality, must eventually marry and leave the estate. This is the story of the severe and unbelievable lengths Beatrice goes to in order to secure her place at Wideacre forever, only to bring about its eventual ruin.

This is Gregory’s first work, and she clearly has some talent in writing. However, by far the biggest flaw in this book is that most of the characters, the heroine(?) in particular, are extremely unlikable and have few redeeming qualities. Beatrice, although ambitious and perhaps admirable initially, I soon felt only contempt for. Harry and Celia are both blind and weak. The treatment of the one character the reader can sympathize with, Dr. MacAndrew, is painfully dreadful. I’ve grown fond of Ms. Gregory, so despite its flaws, I’ll finish the series.

The beginning and middle is okay, but the ending is anticlimatic and predictable. The author foreshadowed the ending all throughout the last part of the book so it’s kind of a let down.

The 2nd book is better. I’m on the 3rd book now.

Weird, weird book, but it draws you in somehow (despite its many flaws!).