Wideacre: Book 1 (The Wideacre Trilogy)

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Beatrice fought hard to protect her claim over Wideacre and, as a result, she lost everything. The Estate is in ruin and mostly bankrupt. But the story of the Laceys is far from over. Harry Lacey: Beatrice's older brother who is the new Squire of Wideacre. He is easily seduced by Beatrice, even though he knows what they're doing is wrong. Unlike the headstrong and stubborn Beatrice, Harry is timid and weak. He is also very dense, even though he was sent away to a private school for lessons. He is sexually attracted to Beatrice and has a sexual relationship with her throughout the novel, resulting in the birth of two children, Julia and Richard. He marries Celia, whom he grows to love and respect, and raises Julia without knowing she (and Richard) are his inbred offspring with Beatrice. He has a weak heart, which he dies from at the end.

The first book, Wildacre, is about Beatrice Lacey and her love for her home Wildacre and its land. She will do anything, and I mean anything, for it. She is rotten bad.Beatrice is the match which lights the fire that eventually burns the entire Lacey family to the ground. The Wideacre books chronicle her rise and eventual downfall. I don't think I've ever read a book where a character was so consumed by their home and lands (though Bess in "The Other Queen" also by Philippa Gregory comes close) that they would do absolutely anything for them. This was the case with Beatrice Lacey, the main character, protagonist & antagonist of Wideacre. I know a lot of people hate Beatrice, but I liked her 😂. (Though obviously, I didn't approve of everything she did.) She was a master at manipulation; I was impressed. By the end of the novel, when her age was revealed to be 20, I was so surprised. She seemed to be at least 23. The burdens of all the debts weighed heavily on her, and she was described as having slight wrinkles already. (Though she was outside in the sun a lot, so that couldn't have helped.) Also, 20 seemed too young to be that business-savvy. I hope she was at least 21 when she died at the end of the novel. She and Harry died too young, younger than their parents' premature deaths. So. The concluding volume of the Wideacre trilogy. Each book is different, but this is by far the tamest. The story arc covers two years instead of 10 or more & the WTFery is kept to a minimum; for those that care, there's no incest in this book. Cons:I did not like Julia's weakness and passiveness as a character. She was not nearly as strong as Beatrice, and I was hoping that she would have a stronger and bolder personality. So the final moments in the book were pretty intense. Richards confessions to all his evil deeds in childhood were never a mystery to the reader, but it definitely felt good to hear them voiced to Julia because she was a bit naive in everything Richard. Julia definitely made me angry on several occasions for being too stupid and gullible to realize that Richard was to blame. Especially the way she let him ruin her in the Summertime house. And how she allowed him to come between her and James. Holy crap that made me angry!!!

Wideacre is a 1987 historical novel by Philippa Gregory. This novel is Gregory's debut, and the first in the Wideacre trilogy that includes The Favoured Child (1989) and Meridon (1990). Set in the second half of the 18th century, it follows Beatrice Lacey's destructive lifelong attempts to gain control of the Wideacre estate. This story is NOT for the weak of heart... let me say to anyone who hasn't read this book, be prepared to feel pretty miserable as you read the last chapters of this book— poor Julia's life is so burdened with tragedy, abuse, and misfortune that you can't help but feel affected. The poor Lacey's...everyone died too young & before their time. First, the father, then the mother, then Beatrice & Harry, then John, Celia, and Richard. I really hope the final book in the trilogy, "Meridon", will be a lot happier & will have a happy ending. We need one... I'm not expecting incest in that one unlike this one since Sarah has no brother...or father alive. I wonder if Julia will be in that book too. It seemed like she lived to be an old lady. BUT, don't all good things come to an end? Well, when she and her mother return to Wideacre, the shit hits the fan. Because they learn they're both Beatrice’s children, the products of her long incestuous affair with her brother. Don't secrets like this always rear their ugly heads at some point — just not soon enough... My best friend gave me the set of these books for Christmas (and she's a preacher's wife!), knowing that I love Philippa Gregory.This book took a bit for me to get into at first. The first book in this trilogy (Wideacre), was just so intense that I actually had to read a couple of other books in between before I was ready to continue on. In her other books, we watch the English monarchy and how it rules England and cares for it's resources on large scale. In this series, Wideacre is a microcosm of England itself. Fields don't plow and plant themselves, food doesn't get harvested and stored by itself. A noble family uses the local village population on it's land to get everything done. They are a resource, like trees, water, or soil. But they have to be managed properly for maximum long-term benefit for all, including the noble family. Threatened by Harry's presence, Beatrice agrees without thinking when Ralph reveals his intent to take the estate for the two of them. She realises too late what Ralph has planned, and before she can stop him he murders her father and makes it look like an accident. Enraged by the sight of her father's corpse, guilty, and afraid that if Ralph were ever caught he implicate her, Beatrice decides she cannot allow him to continue living on Wideacre. She lures him over a mantrap and leaves him for dead.

This is a thought-provoking book but an excellent read. I'm not surprised that it did so well, or, that The Favoured Child and Meridon also became huge successes. Richard MacAndrew: Son of Beatrice and Harry. He is passed off as John's son by Beatrice and later raised by John and Celia. As deceptive and sociopathic as his mother, Richard is determined to fulfill Beatrice's wish of claiming Wideacre by marrying Julia. When his position is threatened by Julia and others, he murders those who stand in his way, and rapes Julia, resulting in a pregnancy and birth of a daughter, Sarah. The night of his child's birth, Richard is murdered by Ralph. Meridon/Sarah got repetitive in her attitude towards poor people, and like Julia, does not realize her mistakes until it is too late. However, unlike Julia, Sarah had the chance to make things right, and she does so, although if she had not made certain mistakes in the first place, she would not have to take corrective actions.

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Since Beatrice ruined everything and their house burned down, they're kind of poor and are forced to live in the dower house; but they're not as poor as the people of Acre who don't have money or food or clothing and have their children taken away to work in factories. But, there's always hope; right? And Acre village is waiting for "The Favored Child" of Beatrice's blood to make everything better. BUT... they are joint heirs to the estate, an arrangement that gives Julia as much power as Richard and they are raised as cousins, ignorant of their true heritage (and so is Celia). The story: Beatrice Lacey is passionately fond of the Wideacre estate where she has grown up and of which her father is Squire. So fond of it that she commits incest, murder and fraud to ensure that she stays on the land rather than let ownership pass to her brother Harry. Fortunately for Beatrice Harry is a blubber-butt bundle of appetites and perverted passions, and therefore easily handled, although Beatrice's husband and sister-in-law prove a bit harder to fool. In attempting to secure Wideacre for her son, Beatrice overreaches herself and effectively ruins the land she loves, bringing starvation to the villagers who once adored her. But they have a champion in Ralph, the gamekeeper's son whom Beatrice has loved and maimed, and who is now known as the Culler and is coming to get his revenge... The third novel of the Wideacre series, Redemption at last! Don’t want to spoil it too much, just going to comment about this last part of the story, but first a little recap. We encounter the daughter of Julia and Richard, Sarah, she was the product of an incest rape, Richard forced his own sister in his mad and twisted belief that it was the only way of obtaining complete power over his birthright, Wideacre, condemning Julia to an very unhappy short life; Julia, in her desperation, wishes not to continue with the Lacey lineage of madness, so as soon she gives birth to her daughter decides to terminate her life; right after having a child, Julia walks barefoot and still bleeding towards the river to only finding herself not being able to drown her little newborn, so she gives her away to a gypsy family who was already parting from the grounds, this is how little Sarah starts out in life.