Customer Reviews

LORD OF THE FAR ISLAND

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Lord of the Far Island" by Victoria Holt is an intriguing tale of romance and danger that is well worth the read. With a fascinating and mysterious hero and a feisty, lovable heroine, Holt has succeeded in creating a tale that will keep readers interested.
Ellen Kellaway has lived with her abrasive and uncaring aunt Agatha since her mother died when she was only 5 years old. Completely used to being the "Poor Relation", Ellen has always had a tough time, but nothing her cruel aunt (actually a distant cousin) does can crush her fiery spirit and her positive outlook on life.
However, as time passes and Ellen grows from a girl into a woman, her future becomes less and less appealing. At the age of 18, Agatha informs Ellen that she will soon have to make her own way in the world and that she has found her a post as a governess for the honourable Mrs. Oman Lemming, a horrid woman who makes Agatha look like a saint.
It seems to Ellen that there is no way to escape her unpleasant future, until the son of a wealthy and influential family proposes to her. Thrilled with the idea of escaping her terrible fate of working for Mrs. Oman Lemming, Ellen accepts the proposal. But due to an awful tragedy, the wedding never takes place, and Ellen's future looks bleaker than ever.
Then, out of the blue, a letter arrives from a distant relative on her father's side of the family, asking Ellen to come and stay with him. Ellen can't believe her luck and accepts the invitation from the mysterious Jago Kellaway.
Once Ellen arrives on the Far Island the story really gets going. Ellen is drawn to Jago, but she constantly feels as if he is hiding some side of himself. As time passes Ellen falls in love with the island and Jago. Everything seems to be coming up roses; until a trip to a friend of her deceased father reveals a shocking secret that Jago has been keeping from her.
Now Ellen must try to figure out if Jago is truly in love with her as he claims, or if his motives for getting close to her are far more sinister.
"Lord of the Far Island" is a well-written and exciting book with an ending that will shock readers - I never saw it coming! The relationship between Jago and Ellen is expertly rendered, and Holt does a fantastic job of showing the true to life emotions that Ellen feels when she finally finds her place in the world. This book will leave readers sated and satisfied and I most definitely recommend it.

Raised by a wealthy distant cousin after the death of her mother, Ellen Kellaway is forever reminded that she is the Poor Relation. Resigned to her eventual fate as a governess, she is suddenly taken by surprise when childhood friend Phillip Carrington declares his love and proposes a whirlwind marriage, much to the chagrin of Cousin Agatha who was counting on wealthy Phillip marrying her daughter Esmeralda. Curiously, Phillip's family is thrilled with the match to a girl with nary a penny to her name. Fate takes a sudden turn before the marriage can happen, and out of the blue appears a distant relative from her father's side of the family offering her a home on Far Island off the coast of Cornwall. Ellen loves the island and the Castle the Kellaways built hundreds of years ago (dungeons and all), and she soon finds herself falling in love with the island's owner, Jag Kellaway.

In true Holt fashion, Ellen soon finds herself in the midst of a mystery and things begin to go bump in the night. What is it about her father that none of the villagers wish to talk about? Why did her mother pack up and leave him when Ellen was little more than a toddler? What about the drawings her mother left behind, including one of the room she's been seeing in her dreams for years? Who is the mysterious girl Silva raised on the Island and presumed dead? Is Ellen just accident prone or is someone trying to do her in? If so, why?

While I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to Holt fans, it just doesn't quite come up to a four star read. Perhaps it's because she took too long setting up Ellen's background and romance with Phillip and then realized at the end she had to hurry up and wrap-things-up-before-the-book-gets-too-long. It is a good book and a perfect comfort book for cuddling up with on a rainy afternoon; it's just not a great one.

Ellen never expected to marry anyone of importance. She was shocked and pleased to find herself engaged to the son of one of England's wealthiest families. Her hopes are dashed when he is found murdered. About this time, she comes into contact with her father's family and travels to their island estate off the coast of Cornwall. There, she learns of her family she's never known, and a mysterious sister that died, or did she?

This novel has all the makings of a gothic novel: a mysterious castle, unknown pasts, secret passageways, and of course, romance!

This book is much deeper than a romance. Victoria Holt examines the psychological side of finding ones family. She cleverly keeps you reading and falling more and more enchanted with dear Ellen, a girl who is so innocent with such a dark past. How will she escape the Island she was in love with? I loved this book and found myself here looking for more Victoria Holt books when I had finished reading it, a little less than 1 hour ago.

Victoria Holt had something of a monopoly on gothic romances in the vein of "Jane Eyre" -- lots of secrets, sexy yet sinister men, and big rambling mansions and castles.

And she's in good form in "Lord of the Far Island," which wraps the usual gothic-romance conventions around a murder mystery. The lack of trust between the allegedly so-in-love heroine and her sexy cousin is rather offputting (especially since this isn't treated as a big deal afterwards), but Holt knew how to spin a darkly atmospheric, alluring story in remote Cornwall.

Poor relation Ellen Kellaway has been treated nastily by sanctimonious Cousin Agatha for years... until the day when uberwealthy Philip Carrington proposed to her, enraging Agatha (who wanted her own daughter to marry Philip). But then he's found dead just before their wedding.

Fortunately Ellen is saved from being a poor governess by a letter from Jago Kellaway, a cousin who lives in an ancient castle on the Cornish coast. It turns out that her relatives are essentially the local rulers of a region known as the Far Island and its nearby village, and Ellen finds that she not only has a bunch of relatives and some half-forgotten memories there. She also encounters a mysterious man she met at the Carrington mansion -- he's none other than Jago himself.

Unfortunately, this isn't exactly an ideal homecoming -- the small cluster of cousins starts to get riddled with jealousy, hostility, and a bit of sexual tension, even as Ellen finds out some unsettling details about her tragic half-mad sister Silva. When someone tries to drown her in a sabotaged boat, Ellen begins to wonder if Jago or one of her other relatives is trying to get her out of the way. And how is this connected to Philip's death?

"Lord of the Far Island" is pretty much half murder mystery, half gothic thriller. While the Carrington subplot just seems like a Tragic Backstory for the heroine at first, it soon becomes deeply entwined in Ellen's troubles on Far Island. And it's got plenty of eerie atmosphere draped over it -- dark superstitions and legends, soothsayers, wild seas, the haunted Cornish coast and an ancient family castle on a distant island. Gotta love that.

While it takes awhile for the main plot to get going, Holt does a pretty good job twining together the two main plots of the story, and spicing up a seemingly straightforward storyline with lots of clues and sinister stuff from the past. Her obvious love for Cornwall shines through her loving descriptions ("The winter sun shone on the thin layer of ice") and she has a knack for writing period dialogue that isn't stuffy or verbose.

The biggest problem with the book is the relationship between Ellen and Jago -- he's hot, alluring, weird and claims to be a minor relative of the devil (an old family legend). Theirs is supposed to be passionate Troo Luv... yet Ellen obviously doesn't trust him much, and even thinks he's trying to kill her at one point. Fortunately other than that, Ellen is a likably ordinary heroine who is trying to work her way through a dangerous situation, and is getting more scared with every page.

"Lord of the Far Island" straddles the fence between murder mystery and gothic romance, and soaks itself in Cornwall's atmosphere. If you can ignore the trust issues between the heroine and her sexy cousin, it's a delicious read.

I just finished Lord of the Far Island last night, and it was a great read, classic Victoria Holt. While her newest works before her death are okay, they seem to lack the fire her early books, such as this, On the Night of the Seventh Moon, and The India Fan have. LOTFI was a little slow at first, but once Ellen arrives on the island, it began to pick up. The story twisted and turned, and the ending was a surprise! I had never anticipated what would happen!

Ellen Kellaway, orphaned at a young age, lives with her cousin Agatha and her family Ellen has constantly been told that she's the Poor Relation and that therefore the best she can hope for is a post as a governess or companion. When she receives a marriage proposal from the son of a wealthy London family, Ellen's life seems set to improve. But the death of her fiancée leads to an invitation that Ellen can't refuse, and she goes to Cornwall to stay with her guardian, Jago. True to Victoria Holt form, her guardian's invitation leads to much danger for our heroine.

Victoria Holt's novels tend to be rather formulaic, which is why they work so well--for the most part. The downside is that her novels are rather predictable--if you've read anything else by her, you'll know that things turn out rather well for Ellen in the end. There's a lot less suspense in this novel than in some of Holt's other novels, and the romance occurs rather too quickly to be believable to me. For most of the novel, Ellen doesn't trust Jago much, but when she discovers that he's not what she thought he was, she realizes she's in love with him? It didn't make much sense to me. Also, I never know if this is supposed to be historical fiction (Ellen wears a bonnet and they ride in hansom cabs) or if it's contemporary setting (Ellen has complete freedom to go about on her own, especially when she obtains the key to the house she and Philip are interested in and goes there by herself).

Still, Holt is a good writer--there are a number of really good twists in the plot, and she paces things well. There are a lot of questions about Ellen's family that are answered satisfactorily in the end, though the author wrapped things up too quickly for me. There's a very magical feeling about the tone of this novel that I enjoyed as well. It seems that Cornwall is a place that fuels a lot of writers' imaginations, and Lord of the Far Island is no exception, since it's very evocative of the place. I had a lot of fun reading this novel, since it's the perfect kind of book to read during the summertime. If you're new to reading Victoria Holt's novels, I'd suggest reading Mistress of Mellyn before this one.

I do not know why my review on the older edition of this book didn't show up (I told Amazon but you know....) so here goes.

Raised by a wealthy distant cousin after the death of her mother, Ellen Kellaway is forever reminded that she is the Poor Relation. Resigned to her eventual fate as a governess, she is suddenly taken by surprise when childhood friend Phillip Carrington declares his love and proposes a whirlwind marriage, much to the chagrin of Cousin Agatha who was counting on wealthy Phillip marrying her daughter Esmeralda. Curiously, Phillip's family is thrilled with the match to a girl with nary a penny to her name. Fate takes a sudden turn before the marriage can happen, and out of the blue appears a distant relative from her father's side of the family offering her a home on Far Island off the coast of Cornwall. Ellen loves the island and the Castle the Kellaways built hundreds of years ago (dungeons and all), and she soon finds herself falling in love with the island's owner, Jag Kellaway.

In true Holt fashion, Ellen soon finds herself in the midst of a mystery and things begin to go bump in the night. What is it about her father that none of the villagers wish to talk about? Why did her mother pack up and leave him when Ellen was little more than a toddler? What about the drawings her mother left behind, including one of the room she's been seeing in her dreams for years? Who is the mysterious girl Silva raised on the Island and presumed dead? Is Ellen just accident prone or is someone trying to do her in? If so, why?

While I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to Holt fans, it just doesn't quite come up to a four star read. Perhaps it's because she took too long setting up Ellen's background and romance with Phillip and then realized at the end she had to hurry up and wrap-things-up-before-the-book-gets-too-long. It is a good book and a perfect comfort book for cuddling up with on a rainy afternoon; it's just not a great one.

When she was five years old her mother died so Ellen Kellaway moved in with her wealthy adult third cousins William and Agatha Loring and their daughter Esmeralda. Cousin Agatha never conceals for one moment she resents the poor relative living with her and cannot wait to toss Ellen out of the house. That moment occurs when Ellen turns eighteen as Agatha informs her charity ends now. She is directed to accept a position as governess to Cousin Agatha's friend, the Honorable Mrs. Oman Lemming, which is as unappealing as remaining in the current household where she is unwanted. Her handsome childhood friend Phillip Carrington proposes and Ellen accept. A tragedy prevents their nuptials as apparently he commits suicide though Ellen cannot believe he was so filled with despair as to shoot himself.

Adapting once gain to her dismal fate, Ellen receives a letter from Jago Kellaway, who claims to be her guardian and the Lord of The Far Island, inviting her to meet her family at their ancestral home. Without a look back, Ellen travels to Kellaways Island, off Cornwall. Jago and Ellen are attracted to one another, but she believes he is concealing something sinister. She begins to fall in love with him as she begins to uncover his dark secrets that he hides from her.

This reprint of a 1975 gothic romance remains an exciting tale with a final spin that will stun the audience although a coda denouement helps explain what happened. The story line is in two parts: London and the Far Island with the first hundred pages setting up the remaining two hundred plus pages. The action is a bit slow until Ellen goes to Far Island when the story line switches gears. Fans will enjoy Victoria Holt's fine tale that holds up nicely three and a half decades after it was first released.

Harriet Klausner

This was my third Victoria Holt novel and I instantly liked her style.

"Bride of Pendorric", "Mistress of Mellyn" and "Devil on Horseback" were similarly satisfying reads, but for me the "Daughters of England" series of books (ca. 20 volumes) is unsurpassed. Victoria Holt wrote "Daughters of England" under her Philippa Carr pseudonym. Volume one (Miracle at St. Bruno's) starts in the 1500's (the closing of the monasteries) and follows the same family through many generations into the 20th century. The first 5 or 6 sequels are especially good!