The Ravenscar Dynasty [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Ravenscar Dynasty [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Product Details

Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (December 26, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312354606
ASIN: B001G7R7KW
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

By : Barbara Taylor Bradford
Price : $10.38
You Save : $15.57 (60%)

Customer Reviews

I have read everybook that Ms Bradford has written and loved each of them. My first impression of this book was that she was told to write a book, fill it with as many people as she could, add graphic sex scenes and it would sell!
The names alone can drive you crazy, some times the hero is Edward and sometimes he is Ned. Every chapter adds 3-to 5 new people. Their are so many people on both sides of these families we needed a list in the front to keep track and then you add all the people working all over the world at this company!
I found my self at chapter 23 still trying to figure out who all these people are and going back to check their place in this story. Reading this is like watching cement harden. At this point, I do not care what happens to them.
I feel most sorry for Ms Bradford's husband Robert who she says has lived wih these characters for over 25 years I am sure he is relieved to turn them all over to us.
Try again, we fans will still be awaiting your usual wonderful novel

In 1904, Richard Deravenel, his seventeen years old son Edmund, his brother Rick and his nephew Tom die in an inferno at a hotel in Carrarra, Italy. Another cousin Neville Watkins informs Richard's wife Cecily and their other offspring eighteen-year-old son Edward of the death of his relatives. Neville hides his suspicion from his Aunt Cecily, but tells his cousin Edward that he thinks they were murdered while looking into a business problem involving marble quarries. Edward and Neville forge a partnership to uncover the truth and also agree to take control of the Dervavenel business interests before vultures like their cousin Henry Grant, who they suspect is behind the tragedy, usurp control like his grandfather did six decades ago.
Over the next few years, Edward eventually marries widow Elizabeth Wyland but also keeps a mistress Jane Shaw. Elizabeth nags her spouse to take full control of the family business, but also turns irate when she thinks of Jane. However, as war on the continent seems imminent with England probably sucked in due to its alliances, a traitor from within the family taking advantage of a disaster jeopardizes the business.
For fans of the author and anyone who appreciates a pre WWI English family saga, THE RAVENSCAR DYNASTY is a fine historical tale. Though the tale spins into a soap opera at times due to Elizabeth's rants and rages, the key cast is fully developed especially the male rivals from the Yorkshire and Lancaster branches (though the former appears much more frequently) as they compete for control of the dynasty. Readers looking for early twentieth century dynastic epics will appreciate this fine entry though it contains no Harts.
Harriet Klausner