Meridon [Paperback]

Philippa Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wideacre Trilogy | Publication Date: June 17, 2003

Meridon knows she does not belong in the dirty, vagabond life of a gypsy bareback rider. The half-remembered vision of another life burns in her heart, even as her beloved sister, Dandy, risks everything for their future. Alone, Meridon follows the urgings of her dream, riding in the moonlight past the rusted gates, up the winding drive to a house -- clutching the golden clasp of the necklace that was her birthright -- home at last to Wideacre. The lost heir of one of England's great estates would take her place as its mistress....

Crowning the extraordinary trilogy that began with Wideacre and The Favored Child, Meridon is a rich, impassioned tapestry of a young woman's journey from dreams to glittering drawing rooms and elaborate deceits...from a simple hope to a deep and fulfilling love. Set in the savage contrasts of Georgian England -- a time alive with treachery, grandeur, and intrigue -- Meridon is Philippa Gregory's masterwork.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this elaborate tapestry of a young woman's life, the Lacey family trilogy ( Wideacre and The Favored Child ) comes to a satisfying conclusion. Meridon is the lost child whose legacy is the estate of Wideacre. She and her very different sister, Dandy, were abandoned as infants and raised in a gypsy encampment, learning horsetrading and other tricks of survival. They are indentured to a circus master whose traveling show is made successful by Meridon's equestrian flair and Dandy's seductive beauty on the trapeze. Meridon's escape from this world is fueled by pregnant Dandy's murder and her own obsessive dream of her ancestral home. After claiming Wideacre, Meridon succumbs for a while to the temptation of the "quality" social scene, but eventually she comes to her senses, and, in a tricky card game near the end of the saga, triumphs fully. The hard-won homecoming in this historical novel is richly developed and impassioned. Doubleday Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Val Hennessy London Daily Mail When it comes to writers of historical fiction, Philippa Gregory is in the very top league.

Pittsburgh Press Captivating.

Chattanooga News-Free Press Compelling, absorbing...an unforgettable page-turner.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; 1ST edition (June 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743249313
• ISBN-13: 978-0743249317
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Kenya in 1954, Philippa Gregory moved to England with her family and was educated in Bristol and at the National Council for the Training of Journalists course in Cardiff. She worked as a senior reporter on the Portsmouth News, and as a journalist and producer for BBC radio.

Philippa obtained a BA degree in history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and a PhD at Edinburgh University in 18th-century literature. Her first novel, Wideacre, was written as she completed her PhD and became an instant world wide bestseller. On its publication, she became a full-time writer, and now lives with her family on a small farm in the North of England.

Her knowledge of gothic 18th century novels led to Philippa writing Wideacre, which was followed by a haunting sequel, The Favoured Child, and the delightful happy ending of the trilogy: Meridon. This novel was listed in Feminist Book Fortnight and for the Romantic Novel of the Year at the same time - one of the many instances of Philippa's work appealing to very different readers.

The trilogy was followed by The Wise Woman, a dazzling, disturbing novel of dark powers and desires set against the rich tapestry of the Reformation, and by Fallen Skies, an evocative realistic story set after the First World War. Her novel A Respectable Trade took her back to the 18th century where her knowledge of the slave trade and her home town of Bristol produced a haunting novel of slave trading and its terrible human cost. This is the only modern novel to explore the tragedies of slavery in England itself, and features a group of kidnapped African people trying to find their freedom in the elegant houses of 18th century Clifton. Gregory adapted her book for a highly acclaimed BBC television production which won the prize for drama from the Commission for Racial Equality and was shortlisted for a BAFTA for the screenplay.

Next came two of Gregory's best-loved novels, Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth, based on the true-life story of father and son John Tradescant working in the upheaval of the English Civil War. In these works Gregory pioneered the genre which has become her own: fictional biography, the true story of a real person brought to life with painstaking research and passionate verve.

The flowering of this new style was undoubtedly The Other Boleyn Girl, a runaway best-seller which stormed the US market and then went worldwide telling the story of the little-known sister to Anne Boleyn. Now published in 26 countries with more than a million copies in print in the US alone, this is becoming a classic historical novel, winning the Parker Pen Novel of the Year award 2002, and the Romantic Times fictional biography award. The Other Boleyn Girl was adapted for the BBC as a single television drama and a film is now in production starring Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn, Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

A regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, with short stories, features and reviews, Philippa is also a frequent broadcaster and a regular contestant on Round Britain Quiz for BBC Radio 4 and the Tudor expert for Channel 4's Time Team.

She lives in the North of England with her husband and two children and in addition to interests that include riding, walking, skiing and gardening (an interest born from research into the Tradescant family for her novel, Virgin Earth), she also runs a small charity building wells in school gardens in The Gambia. Fifty-six wells have been built by UK donors to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful finish, August 17, 2003

By 

L. Wiatr "Cygne" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meridon (Paperback)

Having read the first two novels in this trilogy, I was not quite sure what to expect from this one. While the first two novels emphasize the growth of Beatrice and Julia on Wideacre, Meridon spends the majority of this book away from her land, having grown up without any knowledge of her roots.
Yet, despite the fact that Wideacre as a place appears in this book relatively infrequently, Wideacre as a representative of the class struggle comes out much more strongly in this novel than the two previous ones. Meridon herself has lived on both sides of the track, and her unique experience gives her a completely different viewpoint from either of the two previous Laceys. Through the use of interesting side characters who each in their own way are struggling with money (the pursuit of it, why you need it, why you want it, and what to do with it once you have it), the at the time revolutionary ideas of spreading the wealth across the whole population are emphasized.
The only thing that I missed and wondered about was that there was no mention of Ralph in this book. Since he was so important in the first two books, I thought that he might make an appearance of some kind in this one... in any case, the character of Will Tyacke does well in illustrating that deep desire to help the poor.
All in all, I thought that this was an amazing finish to the trilogy, and a definite must-read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A spellbinding trilogy of characters I didn't like, June 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Meridon (Wideacre Trilogy) (Hardcover)

I have mixed feelings about the entire trilogy of books, although I enjoyed "Meridon" the most. It is a wonderfully written book, full of vivid imagery and well fleshed-out characters, and the estate of Wideacre is a living, breathing place. My biggest complaint is that I just didn't LIKE many of the characters, especially the main protagonists. With the exception of James Fortescue and Will Tyacke, Philippa Gregory paints an ugly picture of people and all their foibles. I often found myself disgusted with everyone, and there were many times when I would have quit reading if the writing itself weren't so darned GOOD. Despite my feelings about the people, though, I would probably recommend "Meridon" and its predecessors, "Wideacre" and "The Favored Child," as good pieces of literature.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An end to a wonderful trilogy, April 10, 2006

By 

K. Huff (Radnor, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meridon (Paperback)

The third book in the Wideacre trilogy, Merdon follows the story of Meridon, daughter to Julia Lacey and heir to the Wideacre fortune. In the climactic conclusion of The Favored Child, Meridon (called Sarah at birth) is given away to gypsies. The first sixteen years of her life are spent with her sister Dandy, a vain conceited girl who Meridon loves more than anyone in the world.

It so happens that one day Meridon, noticed because of her adeptness with horses, enters into the circus act of Robert Gower. A man solely concerned with business, he has Meridon be the bareback rider in his show and Dandy is one of the trapeeze artists. Dandy has her eye on Robert Gower's son, but is forbidden to get near him since Robert has high expectations for Jack. Dandy's lofty expectations lead to tragedy in the ring and Meridon escapes.

She eventually finds herself in the place she often dreams about: the place she calls Wide. Once there she discovers that she is in fact the heir to the Lacey estate and that her mother's friend James Fortescue has been looking for her for many years. Now called Sarah, Maeridon battles with becoming one of the Quality and with having to marry a foolish, selfish young man--Percy Havering, heir to the Havering estate and distant relation of Sarah's grandmother. Sarah also meets Will Tyacke, a good friend who quickly becomes more than just that. The decision Srah makes at the end of the book is hardly surprising, given the lifestyle she was accustomed to living as a gypsy.

This was a good book, though it didn't have the same kind of atmosphere as the other two books in the trilogy. In some ways, in fact, it was anticlimactic. But it is well-written and sure to please those who love Philippa Gregory's books.