Annabel Dilke

I liked this book, but would have liked it more if it had been better.
This might seem like a nonsensical statement, but not in this case, because I think I know some of the ways it could have been better.
I had never heard of this author--Annabel Dilke-- before. Her husband was Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident assassinated with ricin in 1978.
The story opens in the early 2000s, with elderly Felicity Chandler reminiscing about her earlier life, then jumps back 40 years, when the Chandlers show more were still living the life of British aristocrats in their ancestral home, Edgerton, and their 18 year old daughter, Alice, is about to be married to her childhood friend, Edward Farquhar. Although Edward is her social equal, theirs is not exactly a love match. Edward certainly loves Alice, but she's "settling." Her real love is a caddish horse-trader named Marcus (evidently the term "horse-trader" has the same double meaning in England as where I come from)
Her older sister Eve is bound for Oxford. there are also two younger siblings, Hugh and Kathy. We are often reminded how much less attractive Eve is than Alice, and how much less successful with men. But Eve does manage to attract a boyfriend named Marcus at Oxford, a sort of bohemian and left-leaning type whose private observations on his visits to Edgerton are something like those of a travel writer in an exotic land.
Harry, the father, has a money-management problem. Cutting back on his lifestyle isnt and option, but work doesn't seem to be an option, either. When his elderly mother, Beatrice dies, the guardrails are completely down. His apparent affair with an underage girl is evidently what leads to the Chandlers" ultimate downfall, though it isn't really spelled out. It happens gradually, the all at once, as the saying goes. by the end of the book, Harry is increasingly unlikable. I also get the sense that the author is taking a certain amount of pleasure in the sufferings of the Chandlers, which I don't like. I contrast this to We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. Although that one is about a middle-class American family, it is also a story of a family's unraveling with emphasis on the father's failings. But that story is ultimately one of healing and redemption.
Another thing that bothered me about the book is the lack of fleshing out of some fairly important characters--mostly Sebastian, Marcus, Harry's hired man, Stevens, and Stevens' daughter Pamela. I realize that it's 380 pages long already, but it wouldnt have taken too much, I don't think. She could have at least given Sebastian and Marcus last names, and clarified some other details. Too much was just hinted at.
Modern readers may also have some problems with Pamela, who's portrayed as a Lolita-like temptress(to the extent she's described at all). I don't know if Edgerton world had a phrase for "statutory rape" in the 1960s, but we do.
Finally, it seemed odd for a novel set mostly in 1960s England to have little or no references to World War II. Even in 1980 when I was there, the war was still fresh in adults' minds. In real life, Harry, Stevens, Felicity's lover Johnny, Lord Farquhar and maybe even Felicity herself, would have served, or had a reason not to have, and it would have been mentioned at least once or twice. Homes like Edgerton and Mossbury(the Farquhar's place) were sometimes pressed into service.( at least they were in Brideshead Revisited.) yet it's never mentioned.
Dont get me wrong--The Inheritance is a page-turner. It's just sad to see so many missed opportunities in a novel. show less

Edgerton is "the inheritance" of the title, a magnificent estate that has been in the Chandler family for 400 years. The present master is Harry Chandler, charming, handsome, and a serial philanderer. His wife, Felicity, does her best to ignore his behavior and carry on, but when Harry senses she is at the breaking point, he ends the affair and reels Felicity back in. Of course, this dysfuntional behavior has an effect on their four children. That is the main thrust of the story. Also, being show more so busy romancing the neighbor ladies doesn't leave much time for managing Edgerton, putting the children's inheritance in jeopardy. I really enjoyed this book, particularly the ending where there is a big surprise for the family and the readers and it also wraps up where all the characters are 30 years later. show less

There were a few funny scenes in this book and I did enjoy reading it. But I also found it rather sad because it reminded me a little of a family that I do know, and how some families are so afraid of being true to themselves and honest with each other that they end up hurting themselves.

I just couldn't get into this. Neither the writing nor the story seemed particularly compelling to me, and after a hundred pages, I just decided there were other books I would rather read. Just not for me, I suppose.