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Summary
Summary
At the age of thirty-three, Edward Deravenel, having survived harrowing years of betrayal, threats from ruthless enemies, countless lovers, and a war that ravaged his country, is finally king of his company. It's 1918, an influenza pandemic is sweeping the country, and Edward has a family and a business to protect. He must thread his way between his loyal brother, Richard, and his treacherous middle brother, George, an alcoholic bent on self-destruction . . . but not before he tries toruin Edward and his good name. Meanwhile, the wrath of his ever-jealous wife, Elizabeth, is reaching a boiling point as suspicions about Edward's relationships with other women arise.
Politics of inheritance are intense, and different family factions vie for honor over the years. An heir is needed to keep the Deravenel name alive, but tragedy and death remain obstacles at every turn. The choices include a loyal caretaker, a jealous rumormonger, a charming young woman, a sickly boy, and the scion of the family Edward ousted from power years before.
Barbara Taylor Bradford triumphs once again with a novel about passion, treachery, marriage, and family, and the compromises we're forced to make for power and love.
Author Notes
Barbara Taylor Bradford was born in Upper Armley, Leeds, in Yorkshire on May 10, 1933. At the age of fifteen, she was working as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post. After six months, she was promoted to cub reporter in the newsroom. At eighteen, she became the newspaper's Woman's Page Editor and at twenty, she headed for London where she became Fashion Editor of the magazine Woman's Own. She also reported for the London Evening News, Today Magazine and other publications, covering everything from crime to show business. In 1961, she met her future husband Robert Bradford and they were married in 1963. After they married, they moved to the United States and she began writing a syndicated column, Designing Woman. The column was published for twelve years and received several awards.
Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and she has since written over 20 novels. Many of her novels have been made into television mini-series including A Woman of Substance, Voice of the Heart, Act of Will, Everything to Gain and A Secret Affair. She also wrote children's books and eight books on decorating.
She has received numerous awards for her work including the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communication Inc in 1985, the City of Hope's Spirit of Life Award in 1995, the Five Towns Music and Art Foundation's Award of Achievement for outstanding accomplishments in the field of Literature in 1997 and the British Excellence Award in 1998. She was inducted into the Matrix Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the Writers Hall of Fame of America in 2003. In 2007, she was awarded an OBE (The Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to Literature. She is a member of the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. She is also involved in several charity projects such as Literacy Partners and the Police Athletic League of New York City. She made the New York Times Best Seller List in 2014 with her title Cavendon Hall.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Bradford (The Ravenscar Dynasty; Voice of the Heart) presents the serviceable second chapter in her Ravenscar trilogy, a dynastic epic spanning the 20th century. In 1918, 14 years after assuming control of the family company, 33-year-old Edward Deravenel has "built it into the greatest trading company in the world," with business interests ranging from French wine to Persian oil. Edward is also blessed with the sprawling Ravenscar estate and a son he hopes will eventually take the company helm. However, Edward has enemies on all sides, most notably his "treacherous" younger brother, George, and jealous wife Elizabeth. Even Edward's trusted youngest brother, Richard, may not be all he seems. A series of scandals threatens to ruin Edward's heirs' claim to the company, though much of the action feels muted. The plot gains much needed direction and momentum after Edward is felled by a heart attack, his two young sons disappear and the company's fate falls on the shoulders of his oldest daughter, Bess. The last third carries the book and makes up for the plodding earlier sections. This isn't one of Bradford's better books, but it should tide over her fans. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Rife with dastardly internecine struggles, smoldering, illicit passion, and cowardly, insidious betrayals, the second installment of Bradford's Ravenscar Trilogy packs as much intrigue as any Shakespearean royal drama. The regally handsome, stalwartly upright Edward Deravenel has just assumed control of his family's massive international corporate conglomerate after the untimely deaths of his father, brother, and cousins. Supported by his loyal brother, Richard, and sabotaged by his jealous brother, George, Edward must be ever vigilant if he is to preserve and protect the Deravenel empire for his own growing family. But just as Britain and the world struggle in the aftermath of World War I, the Deravenel family is rocked by a series of unexplained murders and premature deaths, tragedies that will dictate the course of the family enterprise for generations to come. Due to an inordinate amount of repetitious detail and plot recapitulation as the Deravenel saga unfolds over a span of nearly 60 years, Bradford unfortunately glosses over one of her more appealing heroines, Edward's daughter, Bess, and her contribution to the dynasty. Nonetheless, fans of Bradford's trademark brand of panoramic, multigenerational historical dramas will have plenty to sink their teeth into as the feuding Deravenels continue their rivalry.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2007 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Second in the Ravenscar trilogy (after The Ravenscar Dynasty, 2007) draws more tortured parallels between the über-rich Deravenel clan and the Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs. After wresting control from the Lancaster Deravenel-Grants, Edward "Ned" Deravenel is firmly at the helm of Deravenels, the family's global trading company, and, like any effective totalitarian, he's restored a modicum of peace to the organization. On the surface, his amply staffed households, including Ravenscar, the family's ancestral Yorkshire castle, run smoothly. World War I has just ended, and Deravenels forecasts an even more profitable peacetime. But beneath the opulence is the reality: Ned's beautiful wife Elizabeth is an enervating shrew, but an alluring one--witness their ever-increasing brood, including the obligatory male "heir and spare," and level-headed elder daughter Bess, the designated alternate heir. George, Ned's younger brother, is a dissolute lout who runs up gambling debts and embarrasses the firm. Ned manages to contain these threats, until Elizabeth tars his family with vicious gossip, and George claims to be the true heir to Deravenels. Elizabeth is easily cowed, and George is exiled to the Burgundy branch of Deravenels, where, like his Plantagenet predecessor George, Duke of Clarence, he's done in by killer wine barrels. Edward succumbs to a heart attack, and youngest brother Richard becomes conservator of Deravenels until Edward's heirs reach majority. Emulating his avatar, Richard III, he exploits his regency to launch a corporate bloodbath. Edward's young sons disappear while fishing off Ravenscar's cliffs. And tramping Ravenscar's grounds, Richard runs into serious trouble. Bess, meanwhile, agrees to cede her birthright to her husband, Henry Turner (aka Tudor), scion of the supplanted Deravenel-Grants. Cut, vertiginously, from 1928 to 1970, with only cursory mention of interim cataclysmic events. Harry Turner, analog of Henry VIII, still can't get a divorce. Bradford's plodding exposition--she's no exponent of late-in, early-out scene-crafting--makes for novelistic terrain almost as rock-strewn as Ravenscar. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
This second novel in the insipid trilogy that Bradford started last year with The Ravenscar Dynasty picks up where Dynasty left off in 1918. Edward Deravenel is now in his thirties and running his family's business empire. The premise sounds good: family saga, rivalries, lust, riches. Unfortunately, the writing is no better than what might be found in a beginning creative writing class; most of the dialog is dreadful. Not a single character is sympathetic; Harry's fixation on creating an heir almost repels the reader. It was a chore to get through this long novel, and those thinking they will get a book on par with Bradford's stronger earlier works (e.g., A Woman of Substance) will be disappointed. Recommended only for large libraries because of Bradford's name. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/07.]-Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S. Lib., MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
