An Important Family
by Dorothy Eden
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The saga of an English family in New Zealand and the secret that haunts them, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The American Heiress.For Kate O’Connor, desperate to escape her tragic past in England, the opportunity to immigrate to New Zealand with Sir John Devenish and his wife and daughter is a chance to start over.
Exhilarated by this wild, primitive place on the other side of the world, Kate’s happiness is marred by a love she knows is taboo. When a sudden and show more suspicious death throws her life into turmoil, she begins to uncover the real reason the Devenish family left England.
From a grand townhouse in London to a sheep farm in New Zealand, An Important Family, which was hailed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “a compulsive page turner,” is the story of a country in the midst of colonization—a transformation that parallels Kate O’Connor’s own rite of passage into womanhood as she finds her future in a magnificent new land. show less
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I have to say that this is the first book by Dorothy Eden with which I've been disappointed. The story was saved only by the descriptions of the New Zealand landscape and weather and by how some of the other settlers had carved out lives for themselves.
What withered my enthusiasm for this book on its tender young vine was the cast of characters. To be blunt, too many of the cast were either completely unlikable or thought solely with their reproductive organs... or both. Definitely not my kind of cast! Of course, since no two people ever read the same book, your mileage may vary-- and I certainly hope it does.
What withered my enthusiasm for this book on its tender young vine was the cast of characters. To be blunt, too many of the cast were either completely unlikable or thought solely with their reproductive organs... or both. Definitely not my kind of cast! Of course, since no two people ever read the same book, your mileage may vary-- and I certainly hope it does.
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68+ Works 2,520 Members
Dorothy Eden was born in Canterbury Plains, New Zealand on April 3, 1912. She worked as a legal secretary before moving to London, England in 1954 to become a full-time writer. She is best known for her writings in the historical, suspense, and Gothic genres. Her first novel, The Singing Shadows, was published in 1940. During her lifetime, she show more wrote more than 40 novels including Let Us Prey, The Vines of Yarrabee, Melbury Square, The Shadow Wife, An Afternoon Walk, The Salamanca Drum, and An Important Family. She also contributed to several magazines including Redbook and Good Housekeeping. She died of cancer on March 4, 1982 at the age of 69. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Det nya landet
- Important places
- New Zealand
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
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- Rating
- (2.57)
- Languages
- English, Swedish
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
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