Wideacre, by Phillippa Gregory

Phillippa Gregory is the author of slightly fluffy historical novels like The Other Boleyn Girl. I usually find her books to be a few steps above Danielle Steele and a few notches below Sharon Kay Penman. Wideacre is her first novel, and it's a doozy, inspiring Amazon.com reviews such as "disgusting and unbelieveable," "just really, really BAD," "sadly, the first of Gregory's deplorable trilogy," and "pure trash, but..."

All those things are true, but it's the "but..." from the last review that kept me reading. To sum up the plot without giving too much away, the novel's main character is Beatrice Lacey, daughter of the Wideacre estate. Beatrice loves everything about Wideacre, and suffers a nasty shock in her early teens when she finally figures out that her older brother Harry will inherit instead of her. (That would be one of those unbelieveable things, yes.) She then resolves to do anything to preserve Wideacre for herself. Other than Wideacre and its running, the thing that consumes most of Beatrice's mind is sex. So things get rather interesting, rather quickly.

The last half of the book has all of the characteristics of books I really hate reading - all the wheels are in motion, and the reader is strung along as the characters are driven to their inevitable ruin. The first half of these books are usually very good, though - they suck you in and force you to stick around through the crap. Everything just crumbles, crumbles, crumbles, and there's nothing that can be done to stop it. (For me, the best example of this kind of plot is The Crimson Petal and the White. I still want to throw things when I think about that book.)

The saving grace of Wideacre, amid all the impending doom and conniving sex, is that Phillippa Gregory is a really good writer. The characters are perfectly presented, and you can almost smell the fields and woods that make up the estate. Even as I grew tired of the downward slide of the plot, the book was never boring. The scenes move right along with plenty of drama and tension, and that kept me reading until the end.

Wideacre is the first novel in a trilogy about the estate and its heirs - the following volumes are The Favoured Child and Meridion. I'm not sure if I'll be reading either of these, but they'll stay on my list of things to check out. Higher up on my list are Phillippa Gregory's later novels, especially those in the Henry VIII era.

In summary: Steer clear if you are easily shocked, but buy the paperback used if you're in the mood for some well-written trash.