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?