The Founding [Import] [Paperback]

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Futura (1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708817289
• ISBN-13: 978-0708817285
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,514,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent beginning..., February 8, 2002

By 

"aschneid1" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Founding (Morland Dynasty) (Paperback)

"The Founding," set during the War of the Roses, is the first book of the prolific Moreland family saga. The story opens with the marriage of the ambitious young Eleanor Courteney to Robert Moreland, son of a wealthy York wool merchant. Eleanor, having lived among nobility for most of her life, believes the match is beneath her station and desperately opposes it. The first half of the book revolves around Eleanor's struggle to come to terms with her marriage. As the novel progresses, the family is swept up, for better or for worse, by the tumultuous political tides of the war.
"The Founding" was an enjoyable read, full of colorful descriptions of everyday life during mid-to late fifteenth century England. The author effectively blends her fictional creations with historical events by giving her characters minor roles in the royal households and in significant battles of the war. In doing so, these characters' adventures seem plausible in light of known historical events. The author has also included a family chart, which this reader found extremely helpful for keeping track of the prodigious Moreland family.
I have only a few minor criticisms (the reason for the four star rating). The large gaps in time that occur between chapters can be disorienting for the reader. I also thought the book would have been more satisfying had the author given her characters more depth, rather than emphasizing the same character traits repeatedly.
Despite these criticisms, I felt the book was highly entertaining and am eagerly looking forward to continuing with this saga.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars could be worse, August 31, 2005

By 

A. LEJEUNE "scarlettdoll" (Prairieville, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Founding (Morland Dynasty) (Paperback)

This book lays the foundation for Harrod-Eagles 20+ series of the Morland dynasty. I won't go into the plot details as it's already been said by many other reviewers; I'll just list what I found to be the good and the bad of this book.

What I disliked was how the author only mentions one facet of each character's personality. Eleanor, the main character, is repeatedly characterized as being a strong, imposing, dutiful woman. She is described as such over and over again. And the other characters are treated the same. By about the tenth time it's mentioned how strong-willed Eleanor is, you want to scream. The only real exception to this is the daughter, Isabella. She goes through circumstances which force a dramatic personality change in her and so she gets to be a slightly rounder character. But everyone else is more or less flat and one-dimensional.

The other negative comment I have is the history involved in these stories. Having accurate history is less important than having good character development but some of Harrod-Eagles claims leave you wondering just where she got her information. She has the princes in the tower being killed after Richard III in this first book, and then states in the second book that the Princes were shipped out of England and probably died in obscurity in a cottage in France! And, in her foreword to the second book, she says that Henry VIII had only two mistresses in his lifetime! Such inaccuracies tend to irritate me as a history buff but if you can overlook that, then this book isn't so bad (aside from the lack of good characterization).

The good thing about this series is that they are light, easy reads for when you're in the mood to go back in time but don't want to be bogged down in something deep and dark. The story is entertaining enough, even with those flaws, that you can quickly go through it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morland Must, October 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Founding (Paperback)

This is the first book in the Morland Dynasty series. It begins in 1434 with the marriage of Robert Morland, son of a Yorkshire woolmerchant, and Eleanor Courtney, a young Dorset maiden. It heralds the beginning of a great family. Under the craftful eye of Eleanor, the woolmerchant she maried soon becomes a very successful clothier. This series follows the Morland family from the War of the Roses to the present day. A MUST!