All My Worldly Goods [Hardcover]

Anne Weale (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Convention dictates that no loose strands mar the conclusion of a romance, a dictum successfully upended by veteran British author Weale ( Ecstasy ) in this story set variously in Boston, New York, England, Paris and Barbados. At a 300th-year family reunion Jane Graham, American heiress, meets and is powerfully attracted to her cousin Lord North Carylon, heir to both title and Longwarden, the family's English estate. North's sister, bestselling author Allegra Lomax, is intrigued by artist Andro Risconti. North and Allegra's mother, widowed Countess Penelope, discovers Mr. Ashford, a butler with far-ranging expertise. The Countess's niece Sarah is dedicated to horses and to Nick, a villager who had a stint in the Spanish Foreign Legion before returning to Longwarden. While there are no surprises about who gets together, the couplings are accomplished with panache and interspersed with such fascinating tips as how to clean a historic mansion or where to get sequins in Paris. The unresolved finale, with two characters pregnant, an important character only recently introduced and questions about the parentage of others left unanswered, seems this adept writer's promise of a sequel.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This absorbing family saga of four women is Weale's first hardcover novel. Jane, an orphaned American heiress, marries a distant English cousin, Lord North Carlyon, and lends her money to restore the stately but impoverished historic home of Longwarden. North's widowed mother, Pen, leads a solitary existence at Longwarden, immersing herself in her gardening after having survived an unhappy marriage. Allegra, North's sister, is a successful author of a book about her great-grandparents and their Longwarden life. Sarah, a 19-year-old cousin and a dedicated horsewoman, is another Longwarden resident. As each of these women seek love and fulfillment, they are influenced by each other and by the spirit of Flora Carlyon, the half-Chinese woman who arrived at their beloved Longwarden as a young bride in an earlier time. Strong female and male characters and a moving plot make this essential for public libraries.
- Joan Hinkemeyer, Englewood P.L., Col .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 542 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (December 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312039654
• ISBN-13: 978-0312039653
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare wisdom folded into a terrific, suspense-packed story, January 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: All My Worldly Goods (Hardcover)

Not since my early teens have I read a novel by a writer of "women's romance" fiction, and I came across this book by sheer accident. It is a treasure buried in its class of genre fiction. Though All My Worldly Goods is as far from preachy as it is possible for a book to be, it contains an important message for our day. All over the world, the computer revolution has created the phenomenon called Sudden Wealth Syndrome, a new sort of angst that comes with this dilemma for new millionaires and billionaires: how should they live their lives? Mostly, the debate on this question has centred on whether the new rich should practice or scorn conspicuous consumption: whether they should drive Mercedes SUVs or hide their money by choosing dull, mid-range sedans and dressing in L.L.Bean-wear. But how does wealth alter their obligations to their fellow human beings? How should they behave in society? The absorbing characters in this novel, most of whom belong to the English gentry and aristocracy, illustrate the ideals that inspired the finest members of the old nobility -- which included the absolute avoidance of all forms of pretentiousness and snobbery. The heroine, a young American beauty, is a model of calm good sense who easily fits Thomas Jefferson's and John Adam's idea of a natural aristocrat -- a person defined by "virtue and talents," as Jefferson put it. Anne Weale says in her book's dedication that it is a novel written for women. I'd make it compulsory reading for all victims of Sudden Wealth Syndrome. Ms. Weale is such a gifted storyteller that a more delightful form of treatment for the condition would be impossible to imagine.