The Quade Inheritance - Hardcover

Wilson, Barbara Ker

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312027001 ISBN 13: 9780312027001

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1989

Synopsis

Imogen Quade, the spiritual descendant of the cruel and ruthless Dame Margery Quade--the founder of a beautiful English estate--works viciously to keep the estate from passing to her brother

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Reviews

YA-- For teens enamored of stories that start with a young Victorian governess entering a household in which she encounters evil forces, this novel offers the best of its kind. Governess Annette Duval quickly recognizes the dark nature of her pupil, Imogen Quade. Imogen's notions of her future as heiress of the family estate are challenged by the birth of her brother, Nicholas. Years later, when Imogen engineers his disappearance, Annette is dismissed under a cloud of suspicion. The repercussions of Imogen's selfish act are many, providing a plot-line full of unpredictable twists of fate. The fates of Nicholas, sold into slavery as a chimney sweep, and Annette, demoted to working as a shop girl, will keep readers turning the pages, as will the desire to see Imogen get her comeuppance. Written in a crisp literary style, with certain gothic overtones and vivid detail, this novel moves through the lives of its characters with compelling sureness.
- Keddy Outlaw, Harris County Public Library, Houston
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Obsession with the acquisition and preservation of Selbury Quade, "that perfect country house," is an inherited trait passed down through 300 years in the house-proud Quade family. Established by Dame Margery Quade, a ruthless Elizabethan doyenne, the estate is at its peak when the trait surfaces in her descendant, another ruthless female, Imogen Quade, who becomes enthralled with Selbury as a child. As her obsession matures, it means blighted lives for those she perceives as obstacles to possession of her birthright. These include her younger brother Nicholas, who replaces Imogen as heir and whose kidnapping she engineers; their genteel governess whom she allows to be suspected of the boy's death; and a husband acquired for the sole purpose of producing the next generation. Inexplicable events, tragic and ugly, occur at the beautiful house as Imogen's implacable evil gains ascendancy. People in far away New South Wales and America feel its effect as they are tied to Selbury Quade in this captivating gothic which throbs with the singleminded malevolence of a possessive gentlewoman. Wilson, resident of New South Wales, is the author of Antipodes Jane and The Lovely Summer.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312027001
• ISBN 13: 9780312027001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 316