The Wheel of Fortune

"The Wheel of Fortune" is a saga of epic proportions covering five generations of the Godwin family from 1913 to the late 1960’s. Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews... you will read about births, deaths, marriages, divorce, affairs and outrageous scandals. Howatch writes great dialogue, presents deeply complex realistic characters, and has no difficulty holding the readers’ interest with intrigue and drama.

The basic plot involves the never-ending power struggle to control the Godwin estate. The Godwins were landed gentry, owning vast acreage of several adjoining farms, a village of cottages leased to the farm laborers, and the magical estate called Oxmoon. Even though tradition in Wales was for the show more oldest living son to be the heir, that seldom occurred due to death, insanity, or infertility. As the children of each generation battle to inherit Oxmoon against the background of the Godwin family’s legendary scandals, one descendant compares his father and grand-father to Greek Tragedy, “sodomy, adultery, murder, robbery, madness and lust.” (Pg. 103). Ironically all the Godwins live in hypocrisy behind a delusional veil of decency and goodness - constantly reminding each other they are “doing the done thing”, and how important it is to “draw the line” for acceptable behavior. Unfortunately the line was usually drawn much too late... at all the wrong times, and for all the wrong reasons. Inevitable, chaos ensued.

Typical of Susan Howatch’s novels, the story is told in segments of years by different members of the family. Thus, just about the time you tire of hearing one characters point of view, everything shifts as another family member takes over as narrator. This is a wonderful writing technique as it allows the reader to view everything from various perspectives. After all, there is always more than one side to any story, especially if a family feud is involved.

At times you may think the plot is preposterous, but The Wheel of Fortune is in fact loosely based on the true life story of the Plantagenet dynasty: Edward of Woodstock and his son King Richard II, his nephew King Henry IV, and his grandson King Henry V.

The story has a philosophical element based on Boethius’ principle that life is like a spinning wheel where each person has the fate to potentially rise to success and fall to the depths of despair - completing the circle in time - sometimes repeating history where eventually the past, present, and future magically overlap. Howatch explains it perfectly, “time is like a circle, time goes round and round like a wheel, and that’s why one hears echos of the past continually... it’s because the past is present; you don’t have to look back down the straight line, you just look across the circle, and there are the echos of the past and the vision of the future, and they’re all present, all now, all forever.” (Pg. 331). In other words, the Godwin family is forever haunted by the sins of past generations and propelled by their ancestor’s grandiose dreams of the future.

As with any good multi generation epic tale, "The Wheel of Fortune" brings forth a melancholy and nostalgic frame of mind. Each generation faces it’s own challenges, each person struggling in their own wheel of life, and in the end leaving behind nothing more than a few memorable stories, photographs, and if they are lucky, some kind of lasting legacy... like the estate of Oxmoon. "The Wheel of Fortune" certainly is a stark reminder of the vastness of eternity and the minuscule length... just a mere speck in time, of one humans mortality. And though we often think our actions will not affect others, "The Wheel of Fortune" shows us the rippling effect of consequences filtered across the space of time. show less

I didn't expect to like Howatch's pre "church of England" books as much as I did. I was totally absorbed and loved living in this world for all 1171 pages. It was very interesting to see the same themes that became so prominent in the later works already showing up here: people who feel they must be replicas of their parents but cannot be, the rippling events of moral choices, fathers and sons, a sense of supernatural force making psychological struggle fraught with suspense. Awesome book! Why isn't this a mini-series?

Susan Howatch is a master at writing people. This book, along with her two other epics (Penmarric and Cashelmara) are told in a straight forward chronological way. What makes them different is that each of the six parts is told by a different character in the story. When you get to the end of the first part of "Wheel of Fortune", you feel like you have a grip on who all the characters are. Then the narrative switches and you realize that you didn't understand this character at all. Howatch leaves the reader with the knowledge that it is impossible to truly understand anyone other than ourselves.

The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch is a 2012 Open Road Media publication- (Originally published in 1985 by Fawcett)

This ENORMOUS tome is a generational family saga centered around the Godwin family and their manor home Oxmoor.

The story begins in 1913- and carries the reader all the up to 1970. The first narrator is Robert Godwin – a man obsessed with both winning and bringing the Oxmoor estate back from the brink of ruin- which was a result of his grandmother’s scandalous affair.

Yet Robert is not without his own grand passions- he is also obsessed with his cousin, Ginverva. Through shocking revelations, he eventually wins Ginerva over his mother’s stringent objections and the couple marry- and eventually start a family of show more their own.

From here the story is told in parts by various members of the family- all in first the person narrative- throughout the coming years, and decades- as they engage in scandal, obsession, competition, classism, and even murder- all while holding fast to the imposing Oxmoor mansion…

Whew! Okay, this story is quasi-based, on- or is a retelling of- the history of John of Gault, Richard II, and the Bolingbrokes. This could be fun to research someday- but after completing a 1000 pages on the Godwin’s, that will have to be a project for another day.

If you like a long- and I do mean- LOOONNNGGG- family saga packed with every kind of scandal you can think of, filled with incredibly flawed characters, grand passions, heartbreaks, bitterness, guilt, adultery, cover-ups, and a possible murder mystery- then you’ve come to the right place!!

Unfortunately, as action packed as all this sounds the novel truly dragged on, especially in the midsection and I think it could have trimmed down significantly, or it should, at the very least, have been broken up into segments, perhaps like a trilogy, instead of one, huge, doorstop- sized tome.

At times the saga was incredibly absorbing, and at other times, I had to put the book aside for long periods because I lost interest.

The last portion of the book was interesting- but I thought it got a bit weird- with all the psychoanalysis- but the mystery was compelling, if a big convoluted.

I often associate Susan Howatch with Gothic novels popular in the 70s, but she wrote more books like this one, which I’d categorize as European literature, historical fiction, and Family Saga- rather than anything Gothic. The big old Oxmoor estate is the only thing ‘Gothic’ about this one, in my opinion. I loved 'Cashelmara', but this one was a real struggle for me, at times. I liked it, overall, but I can’t say I loved it.

That said, I was fortunate enough to come across three hardcover books by Howatch recently, to add to my scant collection of her books, and am looking forward to reading more of her work in the future…

When I can clear my schedule for one of her marathons, that is.

3.25 stars show less

An unexpected pleasure from the Little Free Library. At first I thought differently because the initial characters were unlikeable but I was soon caught up in the complex personalities, secrets, false assumptions, and varied perspectives across generations. There were several nights of lost sleep when I couldn't put it down.

Don't let the slow start put you off, this book plunges into a complex and complicated family and morphs into a book that can't be put down. Knowing it is based on actual royalty and the line of the Black Prince makes it all the more fascinating. There isn't a two dimensional character in the book, including those who have minor roles. I cannot believe Horwatch escaped my attention or so long, but I am looking forward to reading her entire canon of work.

Wheel of fortune is a modern telling of the lives of the Plantagenets: Edward The Black Prince through Henry V, taking place between 1913 and the 1970's. While the book itself is quite hefty at almost 1200 pages, it was very quick read; mostly because I had to force myself to put it down. I have to say that Harry was my favorite character even though nothing ever really seemed to work out for him. The book is separated into six different parts each reading like a diary entry in the 1st person. I loved seeing the different characters from so many different view points. What made the book the most interesting was how the author gave each character their own voice, even the ones who weren't the six major characters all had their own show more distinct personalities.
I would definitely put The Wheel of Fortune on par with any of the best Historical Fiction I've ever read, and I would compare it with Penman's Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy, which I loved. show less