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Book Review of The Favored Child (Wideacre, Bk 2)

The Favored Child (Wideacre, Bk 2)
reviewed on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Philippa Gregory has to be one of my favorite writers. Wideacre, The Favored Child and Meridon are a trilogy, listed in the appropriate order.
The Favored Child is book two of the trilogy.
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The Wideacre estate is bankrupt. The villagers are living in poverty and Wideacre Hall is a smoke blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House, two children are being raised in protected innocence.
Equal claimants to the estate, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothel but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favored child. Only one can inherit the magical understanding between the land and the Lacey family that can make the Sussex village grow green again. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey's true heir.
Sensual, gripping, sometimes mystical, The Favored Child sweeps the reader irresistably into the eighteenth century, a revolutionary period in English history. This rich and dramatic novel continues the saga of the Lacey family started in Wideacre.