"Bride of Pendorric" is a novel by Victoria Holt written in 1963. Victoria Holt was a pen name for Eleanor Hibbert. Hibbert was an English author who wrote under various pen names. Her best-known pseudonyms were Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, and Philippa Carr; she also wrote under the names Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate. Until I picked up this book, I had heard of none of these people, however, she has sold over 100 million books under these different names so maybe I should pay more attention to authors not in my usual reading section. "Bride of Pendorric" just happened to come my way in a box with a bunch of other books that was given to me. It just happened to be the next one on the "not read yet" shelf in the bedroom, so here it is.The novel begins with our bride, or soon to be bride, Faval Farington. She is living with her father who is an artist, on the island of Capri, and one day returns home from a walk on the beach to find her soon to be husband (although she doesn't know it yet) sitting with her father in his studio. Our soon to be husband's name is Petroc Pendorric known throughout the book as Roc. I'm already thinking they both have odd names, but it's ok, so does almost everyone else in the novel. After knowing each other for about a minute, ok maybe a little longer, Roc and Faval are married. So after the wedding, also in an amazingly short time Roc and Faval's father go to the beach swimming, Roc comes back quickly leaving her father at the beach, and her father swimming alone drowns. Hmm, very suspicious.Now Roc takes his new "bride of Pendorric" home to Cornwall and the family castle "Pendorric". Sounded like a castle to me anyway. We now meet Roc's family; his twin sister Morwenna and her husband Charles; also their twin daughters Hyson and Lowella. So far Charles is the only one in the book with a "normal" name. Now Faval hears the story of the "brides of Pendorric". It seems that once upon a time a young, just married bride of Pendorric died. She then haunted the castle until the next bride came along, then once that new bride was killed the first bride gets to rest while the new ghost bride haunts the castle. So now the castle is being haunted by bride Barbarina (yes another odd name) and she is just waiting for Faval to come along and die so she can rest. That's the ghost story anyway. Barbarina was Roc and Morwenna's mother. I hope you're following all this.I have to say by this point in the book I was being reminded of another book I had read some time ago and that was "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier. There we had another young woman who meets an Englishman and marries him in about a week, goes with him to his English estate; then finds that the presense of his first wife is still there. But back to our book, strange things begin to happen of course. Faval hears singing when there's no one there, or a violin playing when the only person who could play violin had been Barbarina. Then more sinister things, she is almost killed on a path that is unsafe, locked in a tomb, that kind of thing. And what really happened to Barbarina anyway? She fell from a balcony, but was it an accident or did the first bride ghost push her? By this time we're trying to figure out who is trying to kill Faval (other than a ghost). I really don't think it's her husband because the book is making it so obvious that it must be her husband. However, by the end of the story if it would have been Roc that would have surprised me because I was so convinced that it wasn't.If you want to know if Roc is the murderer, read the book. If you want to know if Faval ends up murdered, read the book. If you want to know if anyone gets murdered at all, read the book. If you think Barbarina might be running around trying to kill people, read the book. It was interesting all the way through, and I didn't even get into the grandfather or the nurse or the gypsy part of it, read the book.
I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why; Dale Carnegie--false; Victoria Holt--fake drama; Day of the Jackal--almost, gets the tension; Michener--almost,has drama. Then the 3 shelves had been read. Fortunately, our township had become a city in the intervening years and built a library (1972) less than a half-mile from my house. Unfortunately, the librarians kept escorting from the adult section to the kid section of which they were so proud. Doubly unfortunately, being an obedient child (my downfall in multiple areas of life) I obeyed. I read little in middle school, because nothing caught my interest.Fortunately, in high school I had teacher who liked to irritate and shake the ground beneath his students. He threw us into Heart of Darkness, by Conrad laughing under his breath. I took every english class I could with wicked-humored Dane. When he despised my pollyanna-ish, he gave me My Last Duchess, by Browning in a poetry class of the great classic English Poets. In this class we read Pope and lots of Pope. Our final exam were these poems he assigned like medicine to cure a weakness he saw in each of us. We needed to memorize it, analyze it, and defend our presentation of it. Going into this exam, I finally had an "A" in one of his classes--until he asked "Why was she wearing a ribbon about her neck?" Well, I could not bring into my consciousness that malevolent shadow following me whenever I was inside this poem. Pollyanna-ish won and I got a "C". Fortunately, I was of an age I was no longer escorted out of the adult section in the library, so I read more and more classic he mocked us announcing that we did not have enough life in us to neither comprehend nor write of great literature. Yes, that may be true, but great literature reflects and kindles a flame already lit inside. Besides, great literature can be read more than twice. I think I will go back and re-read Lord Jim. I read Don Quioxte, because Mr. Rasmussen's idea of school musical was Man of La Mancha. He was banned from doing musicals and plays again. Too bad parents have so little faith and administrators so little courage, Mr. Rasmussen might have shaken the ground beneath our feet, but the opened earth revealed a bigger world we could go forth and master.
What do You think about Bride Of Pendorric (1991)?
In Bride of Pendorric, young Favel is swept off her feet by the handsome Roc Pendorric when he visits her father's studio on the island of Capri. Shortly after their marriage, her father dies unexpectedly and in order to distract her from her grief, Roc takes her home to the Pendorric mansion in Cornwall. She is warmly welcomed by Roc's family and the villagers, who enthusiastically call her "the Bride of Pendorric", and at first she is able to dismiss the tales regarding a family curse that leads to an early death for the Pendorric brides. Despite her love and affection for Roc, Favel quickly begins to feel suspicious of those around her and begins to distrust not only Roc's fidelity, but also his possible murderous intent. I have a major weakness for gothic romance novels and the fact that I've just now discovered Victoria Holt totally baffles me. Bride of Pendorric is everything a gothic romance should be. My favorite component of novels like these is almost always the setting, and that remains true in this book. Pendorric is an old mansion overlooking a rocky coastline in Cornwall and there are also scenes in a moor and an old mausoleum. I love the eerie quality that these types of places add to an already dark and foreboding plot. There is also a great romance here that is full of plenty of suspenseful moments and distrust, but also a fair share of chemistry. I also love it that I thought I had it figured out, but ended up being totally wrong. I'm still pleasantly surprised by the ending. Bride of Pendorric is more than a romance. It's also part murder mystery, part ghost story, and part thriller, and is definitely going to be enjoyed by fans of this genre.
—Cari
I really couldn't put this book down once I started reading. I'd never read it before. Don't know why because it was so popular when I was a teenager and young adult. But I was very happy to have found it now until the ending of the story.The mystery and suspense is wonderful. Just the right balance of the young bride behaving with common sense when the unexplained happens and yet doubting the people around her.I would have rated this book much higher if it had not been for the last few pages. What a downer for me! I won't say more because I don't want to write any spoilers. But from now on, when I pick up a Victoria Holt novel, I'm reading the last chapter first!
—Nancy Crayton
Eking out a living with her widowed father in his art studio on the island of Capri, Favel is swept off her feet by visitor Roc Pendorric and they are married, although her happiness is marred by the sudden death of her father. Upon arrival at Roc's Cornwall estate, Favel learns of the legend of the Brides of Pendorric - married into the family for their money and die mysterious deaths at a young age and then destined to haunt the halls until another bride dies and takes her place. Not surprisingly, things soon begin to go bump in the night - is it possible that the ghost of Roc's mother really does haunt the home? Is Favel destined to be the next Bride of Pendorric to die and haunt the mansion, or is something more sinister involved?As Favel begins to experience unusual accidents she begins to wonder about her husband Roc. Did he really fall in love with her or was there an ulterior motive? How did he happen to show up at their studio in Capri? Just a coincidence or did he know her father beforehand? What about the three former lovers of Roc? Do they want Favel out of the way? Or is it Favel's sister or one or her two young daughters? Who is the mysterious wealthy old man in the large estate who takes an uncommon interest in Favel?Packed with plenty of mystery and intrigue, as well as the appropriate gothic spookiness of Cornwall and those ever present mists (let alone getting locked in that old tomb with all those caskets - yikes!), this tale should keep the reader guessing until the very last page. While Holt isn't quite up to the perfection that is Du Maurier, she's still a gifted storyteller and fans of that classic "romantic suspense" genre might want to check this out.
—Misfit
