Bloated beginning of a new Bradford saga about English
tycoons.Departing from the Harte series, which rode so profitably
upon the coattails of A Woman of Substance (1979), this launch is
strictly for Bradford devotees. The story opens in 1904 at
Ravenscar, ancestral manor of Edward Deravenel, scion of an
aristocratic Yorkshire family that lost control of Deravenels, a
trading company dating from the Norman Conquest with worldwide
outposts in mining, exporting, agriculture-and soon, oil. For
60-odd years, the Deravenel Grants, the Lancashire branch of the
family, have dominated the firm, where Edward's father, Richard,
toils as an undercompensated executive. When Richard and his
brother-in-law Rick, along with Edward's brother and cousin, perish
in a mysterious fire near Deravenels Tuscan marble quarry, Edward
and his cousin Neville investigate, convinced the Grants had their
relatives killed. The Tuscan murders can't be traced to the Grants,
nor can power-behind-the-throne Margot, wife of demented Chairman
Henry Grant, be implicated in the ensuing mayhem. Edward is beset
by thugs as he leaves his mistress Lily's house in London, and Lily
dies after a rampaging stallion upsets her carriage. Since Edward's
faction never lacks the wherewithal to topple the Grants, needing
only to marshal the evidence of mismanagement, embezzlement and
Henry's mental incapacity, the murders-including a poisoning
committed at Edward's behest-seem beside the point, as do the
perfunctory sex scenes between irresistible Edward and his
ladyloves, and spitfire French temptress Margot and her company
stooges. Dogged attention to detail of the dress, decor and grazing
habits of the well-to-do make for a ponderous pace. Despite umpteen
novels (Just Rewards, Jan. 2006, etc.), Bradford lacks finesse at
getting her characters in and out of rooms. A rote exercise in
blockbuster-building. (Kirkus Reviews)
The Ravenscar Dynasty, introducing the house of DeRavenel, launches
Barbara Taylor Bradford's epic new series spanning a century.
Ravenscar: A house, a legacy and a dynasty. On a bitterly cold day
in 1904, the DeRavenel family's future changes for ever. When
Cecily DeRavenel tells her 18-year-old son Edward of the death of
his father, brother and cousins in a fire, a part of him dies as
well. Edward is comforted by his cousin Neville Watkins, who is
suspicious of the deaths. The two men vow to seek the truth, avenge
the deaths and take control of the business empire usurped from
Edward's great uncle sixty years before. And so begins an epic saga
about an astonishing family, set in extraordinary times. Handsome,
charismatic and a notorious womaniser, Edward battles his cousin,
Henry Grant, for control of the family empire. Elizabeth Wyland, a
young widow and a great beauty, stands by his side, and they are
secretly married. She is power hungry, and ambitious. But Edward
also has a mistress: Jane Shaw, a constant in his life. And as
Elizabeth's jealousy damages their marriage, Edward's only solace
is his work and Jane. Edward's position as the glamorous head of
the DeRavenels is fatally rocked when betrayal comes from within.
Soon, catastrophe threatens to destroy the family and the
business... Power and money, passion and adultery, ambition and
treachery - all illuminate a dramatic saga set against the backdrop
of the Edwardian Era and the Belle Epoque, just before the First
World War.
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