Wideacre (The Wideacre Trilogy, Book 1)

Description

Philippa Gregory's first novel and first in the bestselling Wideacre trilogy. A compelling tale of passion and intrigue set in the eighteenth century. From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover. 'If it was the way of the world that girls left home, then the world would have to change. I would never change.' Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the eighteenth century she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others. Sexual and wilful, she believes that the only way to achieve control over Wideacre is through a series of horrible crimes, and no-one escapes the consequences of her need to possess the land. Sweeping, passionate, unique: 'Wideacre' is the novel which brought Philippa Gregory to bestselling fame and is the first of the trilogy which continued with 'The Favoured Child' and concluded with 'Meridon'.

Philippa Gregory is an established writer and broadcaster for radio and television. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. She lives in the North of England with her family.

'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 'Written from instinct, not out of calculation, and it shows.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times