The Wideacre Trilogy, books 2 and 3

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished these books and even now looking back on them, it's still easy to immerse myself in the story.  After I finished the first book, simply titled Wideacre, I was keen to get started on the next one.  I already told you that I read the start of the second book hungrily, trying to work out who was the lead character, and let me just say that book 2 - The Favoured Child was just as good.

As you'd expect it picks up the story from before but this time focuses on the two Lacey children and only one of them can be the favoured child, but which one is it?

Photo by Prasanna Kumar on Unsplash

Following the fire at Wideacre the remaining family live elsewhere on the estate and although the children believe themselves to be cousins, are brought up more like siblings. The cousin/sibling thing is important, and each of the children have similarities to their Lacey parents and you can feel life repeating itself, as it so often does.

There's friendship, loyalty, love, heartbreak, deception and sheer bloodymindedness in this book which once again I couldn't put down.  Towards the end of the book, the introduction piece becomes clearer and you have to wonder how and where it will all end.

Meridon, the final chapter

Once again I broke my rule of paying for kindle books, and immediately started on the final book. I was in for a surprise though as the setting was completely different and Meridon, the central character is a gypsy girl. 

This book was no less compelling, but it felt a bit left field, even though there were clear likenesses to the strong female characters in the previous book - red hair and riding skills.  I wasn't sure how this related to the story, but carried on reading as you've probably already realised I was hooked.

The plot turns and Meridon arrives in Wideacre, a place that's familiar to her even though she's never been there before. I found this part the most far fetched part of the books but I also recognised that the author needed to connect the stories.  

At times too, it felt like the main character was going to fizzle out - and maybe she does, or maybe not, that would be telling wouldn't it?

For me the story picked up again and even though I was willing her to make different choices, she didn't always!  

I'm still in that book hangover period where I can't quite manage to start another book as I'm still pondering what I might have done differently, either writing the book or as the main character. I haven't come up with anything concrete, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, and who knows, maybe the next book(s) I read will be just as compelling - but let's hope they don't all make me break my low-spend rule!

Have you read the Wideacre trilogy by Philippa Gregory?

What I've read lately: The Wideacre Trilogy, Philippa Gregory

Well that's not entirely true. I've just started the second book, and I'm hoping it will have me hooked as much as part one. That was simply titled, Wideacre, and was one of those books that kept my interest throughout; I was so keen to make progress that I'd dip into it even if I had five minutes to spare. That gave me comfort, which was odd really as after a short reading burst like this I'd often find myself re-reading a section. I was keen to make progress, but wanted to savour the story and not miss anything that would give me a clue to the ending. 

Photo credit: Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

I anticipated a bit of a reading fest while we were away, but it didn't quite work out that way. I did finish a book - The Pie Life - I'd been reading on my phone, and then Wideacre took over.  I thought the book that had me hooked was a long one at 646 pages, but I've just checked and it was only half the length of The Pie Life, so maybe that's why that one took me a while to get through. 

But back to Wideacre...

I like books with strong female characters, and Wideacre certainly has that with Miss Beatrice; she loves the Wideacre Estate and is devastated by her inability to inherit it, with it instead going to her younger brother. She knows the land and is heralded as the greatest farmer around. Set in Georgian England she fights and plots to ensure her bloodline inherits.  It's a gripping tale with plenty of well thought out characters, as you'd expect from one of Philippa Gregory's books. I've read her Tudor novels - and they get the same treatment from me - so I was pleased this also had me gripped.

There's dark secrets at Wideacre and as the first of the trilogy as you'd expect there are at least a couple of loose ends.  Beatrice does marry, and that adds further intrigue to the story, and my one criticism of the book is shortly after her marriage she celebrates her nineteenth birthday. I'd assumed by the time she married she was much older, and so I found myself skipping backwards to double-check it wasn't a mistake. It wasn't - of course - but I'd have liked a bit more of a clue to her age before that.

The second book starts, as you'd expect, with a piece that sets the scene and already I can't help but think there'll be similarities in the plot. I found myself reading this chapter hungrily, wanting to know whose voice it was.  I've learnt who, and I'm not going to share that, but I am going to recommend this series.

And to give you an idea of how much I wanted to continue the story, I've broken my own rule and paid £3.99 for the second book so I can continue the momentum!  I make no apology for getting my head stuck in a book, e-book or what, there's nothing like a good story, is there?

Planning some digital magazine reading with Readly

On Sunday I'm providing support vehicle services for MOH while he completes a 100 mile cycle around Essex. The ride starts near Kelvedon Hatch, which has a secret nuclear bunker - well perhaps not that secret as it's got a website.  But anyway, he needs to start by 9am and has to finish by 5pm when the course closes.

So that means an early start as we're easily an hour away from the start line, and of course the bike won't strap itself to the car beforehand. The weather forecast isn't looking great, it's much the same as now, so you see what I mean.

It also means a day hanging around in Essex for me and MOH has helpfully been sending me websites to things I might do, including the secret nuclear bunker and local National Trust properties. In all fairness it's likely I might do some of that, maybe even the secret nuclear bunker. I think he really wants to do that, but we'll see...

I am of course, capable of planning my own day and you'll not be surprised to know I've already had some ideas. You're right I could take my own bike and pootle about nearby, but as I can't get it back on the car myself it then becomes a bit of a liability. And if it rains, well there's no point being out in it if you don't need to be is there?

So I have other, more sedate plans.

I've recently re-discovered Readly, a digital way to read magazines. And well, you know how much I like magazines. So I thought I'd plan some reading for my day using the app, downloading magazines in advance (as I'm not sure what wifi access I'll have) that would be broadly supportive of MOH's activities. Bear with me, I did say broadly!

Stocking up on local information

I thought I might start my day of reading about the local area, so I've downloaded the July edition of Essex Life. If I was visiting almost any other county, I could download their magazine too, or more generally Country Life, or perhaps Country Living. Actually I'm going to download those too, as I do like Country Life and Country Living sounds an interesting read.

Upping my cycling game

So having discovered the local information perhaps I should be sympathetic to MOH's 100 mile challenge. To show support I could have a read of August's edition of Cycle Sport, which interestingly has an article on the Tour of California. We're hoping to go to the States next year and I wondered how easy it would be to get my cycling holiday fix in. Maybe I'll find out.  

Or there's Cycling Weekly I could try, but that sounds a bit of a commitment to keep, and might be above my more social cycling. I'm not sure many of the bikes featured in either of these magazines will have wicker baskets. Clearly in my opinion that's wrong and I'd love one day to do one of these sportives on my own bike, just to show them how wrong they are. I have to be a bit better before I actually sign up, until then I'll do some cycle reading.

Getting into the homes and garden mood

As part of my day will most likely be visiting at least one of the local National Trust properties, something like Period Homes & Interiors and Gardeners World would get me into the right mood. Or perhaps The English Garden whose July edition has a feature on the Romance of the Rose, which was by chance the flower of our recent holiday in the Loire Valley.

And if I'm feeling peckish

Well I'll need food at some point won't I? But I'm not sure quite when I should be reading the food magazines as I don't want to make myself hungry. There's plenty of favourites to choose from in this category including Good Food and Olive which I have paper subscriptions too. Or I could flick through Sainsbury's magazine or Eat in, or I could get tips and inspiration for the allotment in Grow your own.  Although most likely I'll be reading about all the things I should be doing, it seems we play catch up on our plot!

And if I've time

I could catch up with a flick through my favourite "women's interest" magazines like Prima, Woman & Home, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, oh boy how my tastes have changed!

By now I'm sure you've realised that there's plenty of choice in Readly, so let me tell you more about it. It's tagline is the ultimate magazine subscription and it offers unlimited access to over 1500 top titles and you can read as much as you like for just £7.99 a month.

It's a great way to trial new titles and magazines outside of your more normal genre. I mean, it's highly unlikely that I'll ever buy a paper version of a cycling magazine, but I'll be giving Cycle Sport a go on Sunday.  And yoyu can share your subscription with family on up to five devices - how great is that?

As I mentioned before I've used Readly, a good few years ago, so I was keen to see what had changed and the new titles it had. I've been impressed with it all over again, and I think being able to share a subscription with your family is fantastic. And if you're wondering why I stopped using it, my full time job and life took over and for me, it became the gym subscription I never used. I'm looking foward to sticking my nose in it again. It'd be fab to have you along too!

What do you like to read magazine-wise?  Is it already on Readly?

This is a collaborative post with Readly, but all opinions are my own.