The Beneficiaries - Hardcover

Street, Pamela

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312037961 ISBN 13: 9780312037963

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1990

Synopsis

The death of the wealthy, eccentric Lady Rayner brings together her four, very different beneficiaries--her aggressive son, Bernard; her divorced daughter, Joanna; Mildred, a lifelong servant; and Bertie Fane, an old man with a dark secret

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

As in The Timeless Moment , Street writes compellingly of the effect the dead have on the living. The will of selfish, beautiful Lady Gloria Rayner, widow of explorer Sir Reginald, leaves the income of her estate equally divided among her daughter, middle-aged divorcee Joanna Lawson; her son, pompous, argumentative Bernard Rayner; her lifelong servant and companion, Mildred Treadgold; and her former lover, retired dress designer Herbert Fane. The last to die will receive the capital. In the months that follow, Bernard, resenting the non-family beneficiaries, seeks to challenge the will and slowly disintegrates into alcoholism; Joanna, happy for her former nurse and developing close ties to Fane, acts to ease tensions, and finds love in marriage to an old friend. Mildred tries to bring the estate and Sir Reginald's papers into order, recalling her hopeless love for the explorer, while Fane faces illness and old age. In the end, family secrets are exposed and deaths result. Street peoples her slim but complex novel with true-to-life characters whose shifting relationships are depicted in graceful prose.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0312037961
• ISBN 13: 9780312037963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192