Book Talk
10 February 2005
Please ignore the obscenely late timing of this post! When I finish a good book, I just can’t get it out of my head. So instead of stewing in bed, unable to sleep because I was thinking about my latest novel, I decided to blog about it! 
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Tonight, I finished Wideacre by Philippa Gregory, the tragic story of the beautiful and cunning Beatrice Lacey and her obsession with her ancestral estate Wideacre.
As the story unfolds, the reader is introduced to a young Beatrice who is constantly at her father’s side as he tends their vast country estate. Not only is Beatrice adored by her father and the villagers alike, she is instinctively connected to the land.
However, her dreams of living out a contented life on her beloved estate are dashed one day when the ugly truth rears its head: Though she is far better equipped to run Wideacre than her brother, because of the social restrictions of her day (18th century England), she will never inherit it. In fact, she is one day expected to marry and leave her adored home. At that moment, her heart hardens and she begins scheming to claim Wideacre as her own.
During the five years that consist of the bulk of the Wideacre story, Beatrice’s calculating mind knows no limit. Her obsession with her ancestral estate takes her to the heights of passion, the depths of sin, and the brink of madness. And though her obsession with Wideacre finally destroys her, she leaves behind two children to follow in her footsteps.
Truthfully, I haven’t been so enthralled by a novel for quite sometime. I found Beatrice a fascinating character and I couldn’t help but turn the page to find out what depths she would sink to next. I enjoyed the complex plot that, like all good tragedies, was based on deception and a tangled web of lies. And when Beatrice’s secrets are finally revealed things were not tied up too neatly and I was left wanting more… I can’t wait to read the other books in the trilogy!
