Customer Reviews

The Turnbulls

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This is a melodrama that opens in Victorian London. One drunken night, John Turnbull, an immature and careless youth, gets suckered into marriage with a barmaid. He's naturally forced to break his engagement to his outwardly reserved but inwardly seething cousin, Eugenia, and sets off in disgrace for New York to build a fortune. Meanwhile he wallows in his unhappy and unequal marriage to the pathetic but sweet natured ex-barmaid, Lilybelle. Eugenia, determined to have some part in John's life, marries another man (John's nemesis) and follows John to New York, eventually ending up as his secret mistress. The story carries over into the next generation, John's three daughters and Eugenia's son, and evolves into a clumsy version of "King Lear".

Unfortunately, this is one of Taylor Caldwell's worst novels. Generally speaking, she was not a writer who was happy to use one adjective when she could use three, and this quality is the book's most apparent flaw. I strongly believe THE TURNBULLS is an adolescent writing effort by Ms. Caldwell which she attempted to update; unsuccessfully. The characters, their situations and their emotional lives are so overblown and without sincerity. I finished this, just barely, with a sigh of relief.