The Favored Child
A Novel
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- 19,99 €
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- 19,99 €
Publisher Description
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and “queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) Philippa Gregory comes the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestseller Wideacre as the once-great Lacey estate is restored to its former grandeur—though not without cost.
The Wideacre estate is bankrupt. The villagers are living in poverty and formerly stunning hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House nearby, two children are being raised in protected innocence.
Equal claimants to the estate, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favored 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. Sensual, gripping, and mystical, The Favored Child irresistibly sweeps the reader into a world of secrets, betrayals, and power in this revolutionary period of English history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This impassioned sequel to the page-turning Wideacre carries the fortunes of the Lacey family, now decaying country gentry, into the late 18th century. The great house lies in ruins, after a calamity that also destroyed beautiful, vicious Beatrice Lacey. Heirs Julia and Richard are betrothed cousins, but each vies to be the legendary ``favored child'' who shall own Wideacre. Julia's trance-like dreams, which unite her to the dead Beatrice and hint at the past's dark secrets, enable her to save Acre village from disaster. Worried by her ``gift,'' Julia's family hopes she can be ``cured'' in Bath, but there she meets James Fortescue, who is far kinder than the petulant Richard. Julia's growing assertiveness and recognition of Richard's tyranny keep the reader rooting for her. Rich with rural English scenes--the hovels of the poor whom Julia aids, the fields she manages, the woods where she races her beloved horse--Gregory's galloping plot leads to a savage but satisfying conclusion that piques anticipation for the trilogy's conclusion. Doubleday Book Club main selection.
