Wideacre: A Novel

As long as she can remember, Beatrice Lacey has loved Wideacre, her family's estate in Sussex, with a passion bordering on obsession. Contrary to the social order of the day, it is Beatrice who rides out with her father every day, learning every nuance of the land and the people who work it, as well as how to care for it, rather than her older brother, Harry. Although she is not the heir, it is Beatrice who learns to love Wideacre with her entire being, so when she realizes it is her destiny to be married off and to leave the land that she loves, Beatrice's skill and care for the land turns dark as she plots and schemes for a way to anchor herself to Wideacre. Nothing, not even seduction or murder, are too high of a price to pay as she plots against even those she once loved. But as she commits more and more evil acts, will she bring about her own destruction, or even the destruction of the only thing she truly loves--Wideacre itself? The haunting and deliciously evil Beatrice grabbed my attention right from the beginning. As a woman with so few options to control her own destiny, to be so competent and to have such a fierce love for the land and its people, but to be so wholly disregarded and callously destined to be sent away with nary a thought to her own wishes seemed a tragedy. But as her behavior slid further and further from clever into atrocity, then into absolute evil, the tragedy was further compounded to see so many people suffer at her hand. While an excellent and entertaining historical romance, this book also provides an excellent indictment of the economic and social order of time and the agrarian revolution that led to the starvation of many of England's rural working poor. This book is a must read, and I am very much looking forward to reading Tbe Favored Child!

One of the best books I have ever read. Well rounded flawed antiheroine main character with incredibly vivid setting, explores a lot of themes in history that are still relevant today.

Loved this whole series