The House At Harcourt by Anita Burgh

Synopsis :

 It is 1859.  At the tender age of three, Eliza Forester is left motherless when her father orders his wife from the house, accusing her of infidelity.  he keeps the child not out of love, but to spite his wife, whose name is never mentioned at the beautiful Jacobean house and estate near Exeter where they live.  Eliza grows up believing her mother is dead.

 Her happiest times are spent with Ruby and Jerome, the children of tenant farmers on her father's estate.  When, at sixteen, Eliza's innocent friendship with Jerome turns to love, her father, furious, forces her to make what could be the greatest mistake of her life.

 This is the story of a woman who loses everything - the man she loves, her inheritance, her child and very nearly, her sanity - due to envy and greed of those who should love, not hate her.  But Eliza Forester is determined to lose neither her confidence nor her soul.

I can't say I totally agree with the above synopsis.  It's taken from the back cover of the book.  It isn't wrong but yet the synopsis isn't right either.  For one, I don't think her father kept her with him to spite her mother but more because she is his daughter although at times he doubts it and her very presents seems to torture him..all in all, I think he is quite sadistic in nature.

Eliza also didn't really spend that much time with Ruby and Jerome as a child. She only did so in her teens cos as a child, she sends more time with her governess, Ms Fanny as well as her Uncle Charles who is the husband to her father's sister.

Uncle or Sir Charles was painted as a father fine gentleman but halfway through the author seems to change her mind about him and portray him to be rather of a charismatic rogue.  For a while there, I actually thought Sir Charles might be Eliza's father.

I really dont' know where the author is going as towards the end Eliza's mother too was made out to be a selfish woman who cares about herself more than her child and towards the end Eliza's father seems to have a change of heart about her presence so yes, it's all very confusing.

I can't say I like The House At Harcourt very much.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Original Work of Fiction - A Battle Lost and Won

A battle lost and won I’ve loved and lost I’ve loved and won Such is the conclusion I came to in my battle in this simple but  complicated feelings called love. Going back in time to more than twenty odd years ago seems like a lifetime away  but yet, feels also just like yesterday I’ve loved hard and deep and when I let go of that love, I thought my world ended Well, I was wrong.   My world didn’t end.  It was a chapter of my life that came to an end and since then I  have written many more chapters. But time and again, I find myself revisiting that time The time when I thought I’ve loved and lost I was twenty four and he was thirty one I was young and naïve and he was the man of the world I was intrigued by him, he was captivated by me The girl who drank Jack Daniels and knew about war aircrafts  and read about espionages. He introduced me to stuff unknown to me and taught me golf and how to have confidence in myself The girl
Read more

Silver Tears (Faye's Revenge #2) by Camilla Lackberg

Image
  Synopsis : She's had to fight for it every step of the way, but Faye finally has the life she believes she deserves: she is rich, the business she built has become a global brand, and she has carefully hidden away her small family in Italy, where Jack, her ex-husband, can no longer harm them. She even has the wherewithal to occasionally turn a business trip to Rome into a steamy tryst.  But when several major investors--women Faye had trusted implicitly--suddenly sell off their shares in the company, and the police officer who helped search for her daughter discovers the dark secret of Faye's childhood, and she learns that Jack is no longer locked behind bars, Faye has no choice but to return to Stockholm. Not only does she have to fight again to keep her family safe, but now, at long last, she is forced to face the truth about her past. In this bold, mesmerizing story of seduction, deceit, and female power, a woman's secret cannot stay buried forever.   This is what I sa
Read more