The Trevarton Inheritance - Hardcover

MacDonald, Malcolm

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312147481 ISBN 13: 9780312147488

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1996

Synopsis

When headstrong Selina Trevarton eloped with Barry Moore, her wealthy parents' coachman, they vowed never to forgive her. Their misgivings seem to have been well founded: Twenty years later, their daughter has been driven to an early grave by her drunken husband, whose demise soon after leaves the six Moore children alone and penniless in an age when orphaned children are at the mercy of the Poor Law.
Enterprising and spirited, Crissy is the most resourceful and determined of the siblings, and she does not intend to let her family starve or be split apart by charitable organizations. Thus, she swallows her pride and approaches her grandmother, Agatha Trevarton, for help.
Agatha does offer her granddaughter the demeaning position of lady's maid in the Trevarton household, but she is secretly working to break apart the Moore family forever. Will Crissy figure out her grandmother's goal, and even if she does, how can she stop her?

About this title

Reviews

Prolific and reliable, Macdonald (Kernow & Son) again offers sound commercial fiction that combines history and romance. Only 16 years old but precociously mature, Crissy Moore is the author's strongest female protagonist yet. Crissy is determined to keep her five siblings together after the mesalliance of her upper-class mother and brutish coachman father ends in their deaths within a day of each other. Searching out her mother's family, the Trevartons, at Fenton Lodge in Falmouth, she finds a kindly grandfather and a cold, vindictive grandmother who does everything in her power to keep the Moores apart. Yet Mrs. Trevarton hires Crissy as her "lady's maid" and brings her close, at least in physical proximity, to the rest of the family, which includes an assortment of good and wicked characters. Meanwhile, Crissy's siblings are all in peril: her baby sister is sold for adoption, her elder sister is in a reformatory, her brothers are in an orphanage and a farm school?and her own recourse as a female in late 1800s Cornwall seems non-existent. Ingenuity, faith and love begin to triumph with the help of several minor characters and her brilliant beau, Jim Collett. But then Crissy's burning ambition to bring her family together threatens to stand in the way of her future as a wife. Macdonald always maintains a brisk narrative pace, and his sound social commentary adds to the reader's enjoyment.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1870s Cornwall, young Selina Trevarton shocked her wealthy family by eloping with a stable hand, handsome Barry Moore, and was promptly disowned. Twenty hard years later, both are dead, Selina from consumption and Barry from drink, leaving their six children to fend for themselves. In desperation, second-eldest Cristobel decides to appeal to her maternal grandparents for help. Predictably, the visit does not go well. Grandfather keels over with a heart attack, which does nothing to endear Crissy to Grandmother. The old lady is persuaded, however, to take the girl on as her private maid. When she finally gets a day off, Crissy finds that her siblings have been scattered all over the countryside--thoroughly modern Marian packed off to a home for wayward girls, the three boys in orphanages, and little lame Teresa caught up in a shady adoption scheme. It's up to our plucky heroine to reunite her family by sheer, well, pluck. An enjoyable romp for historical fiction fans. June Vigor

Crissy Moore, the spunky heroine of Macdonald's latest historical romance (e.g., For I Have Sinned, St. Martin's, 1995), loses both parents and her grandfather within a few days. Determined to keep her orphaned family of six together, she puts herself at the mercy of the grandmother who years ago disowned Crissy's mother. The old woman offers Crissy the position of lady's maid while secretly arranging to break up the family by having all the other children placed in agencies throughout Cornwall. A secondary plot concerns the attempt of Crissy and Jim, the young man she eventually marries, to establish a business photographing tourists at the seaside. Macdonald is on familiar ground in his native Cornwall, and his novel is peppered with accurate details of the country in the 1880s. Additionally, his depiction of the burgeoning photography business is fascinating. The portrait of Crissy as a woman obsessed with maintaining her family is a strong one. Fans of the author's previous novels are sure to enjoy his latest offering as well.?Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312147481
• ISBN 13: 9780312147488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 395