Wideacre Trilogy Box Set: Wideacre, The Favored Child, Meridon [Paperback]

Philippa Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2006

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

Philippa Gregory

The Wideacre Trilogy

WIDEACRE

Beatrice Lacey, strong-minded and beautiful, refuses to conform to the social customs of her time. Destined to lose her family name and beloved Wideacre estate once she is married, Beatrice will use any means:--seduction, betrayal, even murder--to protect her ancestral heritage. Yet even as Beatrice's scheming seems about to yield her dream, she is haunted by the one person who knows the extent of her plans...and her capacity for evil.

THE FAVORED CHILD

The Wideacre estate is bankrupt. The villagers are living in poverty, and Wideacre Hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House, two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the estate, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favored child. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey's true heir.

MERIDON

Meridon knows she does not belong in the dirty vagabond life of a bareback rider in a traveling show. The half-remembered vision of another life drives her son, 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 is her birthright--home at last to Wideacre.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Touchstone (November 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141654142X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416541424
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 4.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,345 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

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommend reading this trilogy if you are a Gregory fan, March 13, 2007

By 

R. Harrison (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wideacre Trilogy Box Set: Wideacre, The Favored Child, Meridon (Paperback)

I have to start out by saying that I didn't like this trilogy as much as I liked the 5 novels centering around Henry VIII's court and his daughters, but that is an unfair comparison I suppose. The fact that those novels are, at least loosely, "based on a true story" is probably what made them so rivoting for me. That being said, the plot of these 3 novels is every bit as involved and suspenseful. The only thing I did not like as much about these novels was the wordy descriptions of the countryside and the lay of the land on Wideacre. As I read through these books, I started to say in my head, "Ok! I get it! Wideacre is the most beautiful place on earth and very magical regardless of the season..blah blah blah. Can we get on with the actual plot please?!". I hate to admit this, but there were times when I actually would skip an entire paragraph or two once I was tired of hearing about the same stream and crop of trees for the 10th time. Don't get me wrong, I understand the value of describing the environment in detail so that you can really feel that you are "there", but the same environment many, many times over becomes tedious after a while.

That was the only thing negative that I have to say about these 3 books. I suppose that is a personal preference rather than an actual negative aspect of the writing, though.

Once you get past that, the plots are very dramatic and the women who are the centers of these stories are each very unique and very interesting in their own way. The common theme between this trilogy and her Tudor novels is the struggle of women to control their own destiny. If you liked that about those books, you will probably like these. I still highly recommend these novels, just try not to compare them to the Tudor novels. It's not really fair, in my opinion =).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Careful of your expectations, September 9, 2008

By 

M. Jacobsen "I am not young enough to know ev... (Through the Looking Glass) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wideacre Trilogy Box Set: Wideacre, The Favored Child, Meridon (Paperback)

I read this trilogy probably for the same reason most of you are considering buying it: because I had read another Phillipa Gregory book (in my case, 'The Other Boleyn Girl,' and once I read a book I really like, I try to read other books by that same author.

With that said, I'll issue a word of warning. The Wideacre books are not like Gregory's books on the Tudor era. Set in England during the Georgian period, the trilogy centers around the Lacey family and their property, which is called 'Wideacre.' Gregory tried to create a very strong female protagonist, Beatrice, a girl who is frustrated by her gender limitations during this time period and uses her wits and wiles to make up for female limitations.

Beatrice is not, though, a sympathetic character. In the beginning, most people would empathize with Beatrice and feel her frustrations. But as the series continues, the drastic actions (up to, and including, the act of incest) loses the reader's sympathy.

The descriptions of the lengths Beatrice will go to in order to secure her land, Wideacre, ended up being just plain disturbing to me. By the end of 'The Favoured Child,' the second book, I no longer had any interest in Beatrice's trials and tribulations...in fact, I was hoping she failed miserably, but didn't want to read further to find out.

I think it's wonderful when an author can change style and subject matter with ease, so I applaud Ms. Gregory for her range, but I also think it's good for readers to know when some of their books differ so completely from others (that's why we have Amazon, I suppose!).

If you enjoyed Ms. Gregory's Tudor books, stick to those. If you have the stomach for something grittier, give these a try and maybe you'll enjoy them more than I did. Happy reading!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What do you expect of Gregory??, May 24, 2008

By 

J. Henderson - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wideacre Trilogy Box Set: Wideacre, The Favored Child, Meridon (Paperback)

These really have to be read as a trilogy. Not, read half of the first, get disgusted, and say all three books are awful. I ALMOST put down the first one when the incest just got to be too much, but having nothing better to do that day, finished reading it anyway. Some of those scenes- wow, they are gross. I was leary about starting the second book.

But the first book really sets up the other two, and the incest is much milder in the second book, and non-existent in the third. I liked each book much better than the next, and ended up reading the trilogy in about 4 days. I'm giving a 5 star, not because I think this is some great literature, but because they held my interest, and were definate page-turners. The characters were painted with a broad brush, but after reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I found them no more distasteful than Gregory's portrayal of Anne Boleyn. There's incest in that one two, just that in Wideacre, we're given a blow by blow description. Meridon, the last book of the trilogy, is as good as The Queens Fool, my favorite Gregory book.