Penmarric begins as Mark Castallack and his mother Maud, cheated out of their inheritance by a scheming relative, wage a years long court battle to regain possession of the lands of Penmar and the great house that sits upon it, Penmarric. After twelve years and almost losing hope, fate takes a turn as the wastrel son of the current owner dies and a very young Mark is named heir to all of it. Mark marries Janna, who is ten years older, and has a bit of a surprise in store for him from a past relationship – but then Mark has one or two surprises for Janna as well. Building their family dynasty as the new owners of Penmarric, Janna and Mark slowly drift apart until an accidental meeting forever changes their lives, although a new one also begins as a result of that violent night.Told in five "books", each one in the first person POV of Mark, Janna, and three of Mark's sons, the family's story takes the reader from Cornwall of the late 19C into the 20C through WWII as the next generation of Castallacks battle for ownership of the Penmar estate and the power that comes with it. The middle of the book was bit slow at times, although I _loved_ the last two books telling Phillip's and Jan's stories and the always volatile relationship between the two brothers and their constant battle to be named heir.If you like those big fat family sagas set in the past with feuding back-biting siblings I'd definitely give this one a whirl - although this one has quite a twist that you don't normally see in a book - the Castallack family and their story parallels that of Henry II, Eleanor, Richard I (the Lionheart) and the always delightfully evil King John. Ultimately, that is half the fun of this book for those reasonably familiar with Henry and his devil's brood - can you pick out which of Mark's sons are young Hal, Geoffrey, Richard and John? Henry's fate after the ultimate betrayal by his sons? Spot Rosamund Clifford, the illegitimate sons Geoffrey and William Longspee? And best of all is how the author resolves the mystery that still haunts us to this day - the ultimate fate of young Arthur, John's rival claimant to the throne of England.All in all a pretty darn good read, and I plan on trying a few more from this author. Apparently she continues her “Plantagenet” saga with two more books, Cashelmara and Wheel of Fortune dealing with the three Edwards. I understand John of Gaunt is in the latter and I very much hope she throws Katherine Swynford in there as well. I’m sorely torn between four and five stars so I’ll call it 4.5 rounded up to 5.
Really more like 2.5 stars.I had high expectations for this book and thought I had everything I needed for a great reading experience:1. A book by an author who I had previously read and loved. Check.2. A story and characters based on the lives of the 12th century's favourite dysfunctional family--Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine and their devil's brood. Check.3. Wet, cold weather and a 700+ page chunkster to snuggle in with. Check.4. And Anna, my reading buddy, to share the fun with. Check.So what happened? I have absolutely no idea! Was this author really the same one who wrote the fabulous The Wheel of Fortune? I wish I could say it wasn't, but it was. This wasn't a bad book as such as Howatch can certainly string her sentences together and her writing style is quite good, but the dullness was unrelenting. I'm still baffled by how someone can manage to make Henry and Eleanor seem so dull. I'd have thought it impossible. Till now. Where was the passion, intrigue and treachery? Somehow, for 700+ pages I never felt it. And there's nothing worse than slogging away at 700+ pages for little or no payback. Meh just doesn't cut it.So why in the end did I decide on two and a half rounded up to three stars? And not just a plain old two stars? Because towards the end there was a section that was a pastiche of letters to a character serving overseas from various members of his family that was cleverly done and lifted the whole tone towards the end of the book. I just wish the whole book had been like that.A final word of warning, you will find out more about tin mining in Cornwall than you will ever want to know within the pages of this book. I know I did.Buddy read with Anna, whose company made it possible for me to get to the end of this monster. I couldn't have done it on my own, so thank you :).
What do You think about Penmarric (1984)?
This was a long book centered on a large aristocratic family set in 1890 England in Cornwall. The book spans from 1890 to 1945 and it involves a dysfunctional (to say the least) marriage between a lower class older, but striking, woman and a horny young aristocrat with an overbearing, imperious mother. The story begins there and ends with a large family, mistress with illegitimate sons and fortunes won and lost, love requited and obsessived over and same gender love tragedy. The book is gripping as you care about the characters. The author switches from narrator to narrator and by doing so you really get a different feel and perspective from that narrator's point of view. Which is valuable, because this family is so very unhappy that they are all certain none of the others are to be trusted under any circumstances and you learn to hate them or despise them all, respectively (until they're the narrator themselves). If you didn't hear the next part of the story from a different party, you would have hated them all-violently. Howitch is a very convincing author on that score and this is a very complicated family. The backdrop is a from 1890 to 1945 and the historical detail is good. Each chapter links this family's story to the early Plantaganent family in England. And it takes a couple of chapters to see that this story is a retelling of that old family story from the 1200's. I came to like and look forward to those details. Overall, I can see why this story has had so much acclaim and I do recommend it. It was long and a big investment of time, however. And while reading it, you could tell when it was nearly time to change narrators, because you had got tired of the current narrator and how rotten his or her life had become. So the next one is a breath of fresh air--at least for a little while. But, all told, changing the narrators really made you check your assumptions that the prior character had properly related the events to the reader or seen all of the events and character's motives accurately--that wasn't always the case (almost never). But, I liked the book and I am glad I read it. I do recommend it.
—Glenna
I love family sagas and Susan Howatch has written some amazing books about feuding families, intrigue, greed and complicated love and I discovered her writing when I first read this book years ago.An enthralling story that spans 3 generations of the Casttallack and how their obsession with owning Penmarric, a mansion situated in the stark and beautiful area of Cornwall, causes the family to be divided for ever. The characters are great and liked the way the story is told through the different members of the family.I have read this book a few times and when I read it again I enjoyed it just as much.I will probably read it again someday. It’s that kind of book
—Alex is The Romance Fox
Own.I enjoyed reading this a lot. The writing is really excellent and draws the reader through the story. The motivations of the characters, the relationships between the characters, the voices of the characters are all so well done. Her characters, too, do not remain static but mature, grow, and change and their voices reflect this. Sympathies with one character narrator become antipathies with the next. Howatch teaches us how to consider the perspective of those we love ... and those we hate. I am constantly impressed with how Howatch can move story lines between centuries and situations and make them relevant so the reader learns about both periods and the people and places she sets them in.
—ladydusk
