Wideacre : A Novel (original 1987; edition 2003)

Oh dear, where to start with Philippa Gregory's Wideacre. As a real admirer of her work, I wanted to like this book, and I wanted to get drawn into another well researched and constructed work of historical fiction, but there were simply too many things working against it for me to rate this book.

The story of Beatrice Lacey and her dysfunctional family is set in the eighteenth century, but one could be forgiven for thinking it was the 1980s, so compelled was Gregory to transpose modern concepts and mores onto her main protagonist. She throws almost every melodramatic scenario at her characters, and it becomes quite wearing in the end. This creates an inherent tension between the beautiful descriptions and believable setting, and the outlandish and over-the-top behaviours and motivations of the characters. The incestuous relationships and unconvincing (and at times, clunky) scenarios meant that it was impossible to suspend my disbelief for long enough to enjoy the story. By mid-way I was starting to ask myself "why bother", and I had to push myself to read to the end. But in all honesty I don't think I was well rewarded for the effort of reading it, and along with a number of other readers, I reached the point where I simply didn't care enough to want to continue. I did stick it out, but I won't be reading the other books in the Wideacre series, and I know that Gregory can write so much better than this. Sorry to say, but I can't recommend this one.
© Koplowitz 2012 ( )

On Saturday, December 30, 2006 I wrote about this book:

This is such a great read. I bought this in Scotland and immediately started reading it. Loved all of it.
I am reading book 2 now, The Favoured Child. Glad there are 2 more books of this series cause I did not want it to end.

4.5 stars and a 9 out of 10 on Bookcrossing ( )

I came across 'Wideacre' by chance in my local bookshop, due to a 3 for 2 offer on books. Having already heard of Philippa Gregory and enjoyed 'The Other Boleyn Girl', I thought it was worth a shot. I love how Gregory manages to combine historical fact into the rich and lively plot of the novel. Gregory's writing style flows nicely and I found the novel easy to get through, purely due to how fascinating the plot is. An excellent read, I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in historical fiction. ( )

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Where I got the book: my local library, because the one that was on my bookshelf disappeared years ago.

Ah, Philippa Gregory. One of the most read, and most reviled, of living historical novelists. Brickbats mostly take the form of stabs at her loose writing and her historical inaccuracies, although I can't say much about the latter as I'm no historian and as long as writers get things more or less in the right era, I'm usually OK.

I tend towards liking PG's books more than hating them, even though I've felt there's a phoned-in quality to some of her more recent Tudor and Cousins' War efforts. I keep reading the dang things, and am known to say "well, she CAN write, you know. Wideacre, for example."

So I decided to re-read Wideacre, 20 years after the original reading that turned me into a PG fan (if a rather critical one). My task: to judge whether PG really is, in my opinion of course, or ever was a good writer.

The story: Beatrice Lacey is passionately fond of the Wideacre estate where she has grown up and of which her father is Squire. So fond of it that she commits incest, murder and fraud to ensure that she stays on the land rather than let ownership pass to her brother Harry. Fortunately for Beatrice Harry is a blubber-butt bundle of appetites and perverted passions, and therefore easily handled, although Beatrice's husband and sister-in-law prove a bit harder to fool. In attempting to secure Wideacre for her son, Beatrice overreaches herself and effectively ruins the land she loves, bringing starvation to the villagers who once adored her. But they have a champion in Ralph, the gamekeeper's son whom Beatrice has loved and maimed, and who is now known as the Culler and is coming to get his revenge...

Pretty turgid plot, huh? And matched by prose that generally stays within the limits of "vivid" and "compelling," although it does occasionally tip over into "purple." Quite a few sex scenes, although I was less EWWWW about them than usual as I really didn't find them gratuitous. They fit into the themes of fertility/fecundity, of power and control, and made me think of folklore icons such as the Cerne Abbas Giant. And the whole brother/sister sex thing reaches right back into ancient mythologies.

While Beatrice was in the ascendant I found the book to be a real page-turner. So much wickedness carried out with daring and assurance; I was loving to hate Beatrice throughout. The turning point, I think, comes when she marries John; ironically, it could be argued that her biggest mistake stems from her first genuine good relationship. After this point I found the action dragged somewhat as things started to go against Beatrice and the incredible life-force that seems to sustain her started to erode. The Ralph/Culler plot line never entirely worked for me somehow.

I can't help feeling that this book contains the germs of much of PG's later work, and perhaps that's why more recent books feel increasingly watered-down. But I really appreciated the absence of the white magic elements that PG so often incorporates into her books; using magic to push the plot along seems like cheating. If there is any "magic" in Wideacre it is shown as the beliefs of the country people and as a kind of natural force that Beatrice may momentarily embody but can never control.

I noticed a repetitiveness in the writing at times, especially toward the end where I think I read about 300 times that Beatrice's heart had grown cold. Way to belabor a point, PG. And the characters all tended to talk in the same rather melodramatic fashion at times of crisis. But, on the whole, it was a heck of a story and I've read much, much worse in histfic. My feeling is that PG should return to plumbing her imagination for fresh stories in historical settings, instead of handing us fictionalized history where she's constrained by those inconvenient things called facts. ( )