A Dubious Legacy [Paperback]

Mary Wesley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0140173277 | ISBN-13: 978-0140173277 | Publication Date: November 1, 1993 | Edition: first

On a midsummer weekend in 1954 James and Matthew, two rather priggish young Englishmen, take their girls, Barbara and Antonia, away for a brief holiday at a friend's home in order to propose marriage. But no one is prepared for what unfolds--and will spin itself out over the next 40 years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There is more than one legacy in British author Wesley's ( A Sensible Life ) darkly comic, wise and irresistible new novel of manners. Henry Tillotson's legacy from his dying father is an injunction to help an English divorcee in WW II Egypt. Henry does more than that: he impulsively marries Margaret, to his lifelong regret. For when he returns with her to his country home, she takes to her bed out of pure spite and tries her best to make his life miserable. In an effort to achieve some conviviality, Henry invites two friends, James and Matthew, for a weekend party; each man brings a companion and each proposes marriage. Both women accept, motivated by pragmatism and a need for security. What happens to their marriages, and that of Henry and Margaret, makes up the remainder of the plot. Two couples have children and grandchildren; these are the second legacy, and part of a delicious secret. As usual, Wesley's picture of the British upper middle class is breezy and irreverent; the dialogue is witty and often astonishingly impertinent (one thinks that the English can be shockingly tactless); the plot is laced with irony; the characters--major and minor--are depicted with a master's deft hand. But it is in Margaret, whose monstrously selfish, malicious, eccentric behavior exceeds all rational bounds, that Wesley has created her most memorable character. Readers will root for her comeuppance, and will cheer when it arrives.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Wesley's world is one of speculation about relationships, gossip, and innuendo. She explores forces that unite and divide friends and lovers. In 1944, Henry Tillotson brings his bride Margaret to his country house, where she takes to her bed and remains in self-indulgent isolation. Ten years later, two younger friends of Henry bring their girlfriends for the weekend. In the years that follow, the two couples marry and return regularly, their mundane lives punctuated by Margaret's eccentric boudoir conversations or scandalous ventures into their company. Henry dies in 1990, attended by his friends' (or his?) daughters, and the reader's visits to Wesley's well-realized world draw to an end with his departure. For readers who appreciate nuances of language and emotion and the incongruities of life, Wesley's book will be a treat.
- Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); first edition (November 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140173277
• ISBN-13: 978-0140173277
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,756,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent novel, July 1, 2000

By 

Lila J. Olix (Chula Vista, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Dubious Legacy (Paperback)

A Dubious Legacy is the second book written by Mary Wesley that I have read, and her writing entrances me. This book spans the period of 1944 through 1990 and focuses on the lives of the participants at what appears to be a straightforward dinner party. As the evening progresses, unexpected and unusual things occur. The book goes on to tell the story of the effect these events have on the lives of those present at this dinner party.

By slowly telling the story, uncovering information bit by bit, the writer creates a feeling of suspense. I was reluctant to put the book down, and felt slightly uneasy until I was able to finish it. I enjoyed the unusual characters the writer was able to create and felt that they were right at home in the setting of this novel. Mary Wesley also allows the reader to feel that they intimately know the characters by the end of the story. Somehow she is able to accomplish this with a minimal amount of detail.

I totally enjoyed this book and I have no qualms about recommending it to readers who enjoy the genre of comedy of manners. I am eager to read other books written by this author.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing commedy of manners, December 26, 2002

By 

Ladyce West "Ladyce West" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Dubious Legacy (Paperback)

This was my introduction to Mary Wesley. I liked this book very much and I intend to read Wesley's other books. A Dubious Legacy kept my interest, my attention and was responsible for the discreet smile I presented throughout its reading. For, indeed, the doings of three couples through several decades in mid 20th century -- the subject under scrutiny in this comedy of manners -- was portrayed with humorous detachment and unwavering perspicacity. Ms Wesley is very good at placing her characters within the axioms of each decade's mores and develops insightful cameos of each era's preoccupations.
This is a short novel, a succinct book, developed in a fast tempo, keeping all along a mystery we hope to unveil. The central characters look at first as banal as they can be, but soon we realize appearances are misleading. These six upper middle class friends in the English country side are the source of great social commentary made by an ironic and warm narrator, a painter as it were, using few incisive strokes. The result is great fun and speedy reading, a book which I would recommend to anyone wishing to be intrigued and entertained.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging but..., August 21, 2010

By 

Cockatoo (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dubious Legacy (Bookworms Library) (Paperback)

Yes it was engaging but still strangely unsatisfying. Mary Wesley's novels always intrigue but the characters in this one annoyed me. I much prefered Harnessing Peacocks, the Vacillations of Poppy Carew and the Camomile Lawn.