From http://rominasbkreviews.blogspot.com/This is the first book by Victoria Holt that I ever read, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I had come across some interesting reviews and recommendations from readers who enjoyed gothic novels and historically accurate events in them, which I also consider a must, so I decided to give it a chance. First of all, I researched a bit on the author and I found out that ‘Victoria Holt’ was a pseudonym used by Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert to write novels which took place in the Victorian Era (which is probably why she chose the name Victoria). She had other pseudonyms for other historical eras she wrote about, which I found to be also appealing and have since put in my ‘one-day-to-read’ list. Anyway, down to the story.The Landower Legacy is a story about a girl, Caroline Tressidor, who is dissatisfied with her parents, particularly her father. Following the customs of the times, they ignored their children and let the servants and governess raise them, leaving the little ones with an emotional ache. The only one she had any type of emotional connection with was with her older sister, Olivia. At the start of the story Caroline is 13 and Olivia is 15, about to enter into her ‘season’, when according to the conventions, 16 year old girls ‘came out’ in society in order to catch a husband. Yup, that was the objective: getting a desirably rich and handsome husband. The drama of the novel begins at the time of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (celebration of being 50 years in power) and Caroline and her sister are taken by her mother to watch the ceremony with a friend of her mother’s Captain Carmichael, without the consent nor the knowledge of their father. It turns out that her mother and the Captain were carrying on an affair and Caroline unknowingly told her father, so her mother was sent away to the continent and Caroline was sent to her father Cousin Mary’s house, a fact she can’t understand because her father utterly dislikes his cousin for not permitting him to inherit the home that actually belonged to the said female cousin. On the way to Cornwall (where the dreaded cousin lived), she met two young men, Paul and Jago Landower, neighbors of Cousin Mary. These two men will affect Caroline’s life in very different ways as is expected since both are tall, dark, and mysterious, especially the older brother, Paul.Up to this point, the story finally began to pick up because it was somewhat tedious. There is too much ‘unexplained events’, which are actually quite obvious to everyone, except to the main character, of course. I thought that Caroline would fall in love with one of these two Landower males from the start, however that was not to be. She had to return to her home in London where she was destined to fall in love and later on be rejected due to pecuniary reasons, making our heroine be somewhat bitter. Holt did depict well though the heartbreak Caroline went through, although perhaps a bit exaggerated because the reader felt the whole time that she had to get over it already since there were Landowers awaiting in the south of England. I must say that Caroline Tressidor’s character evolution was well depicted. She went from being a very innocent girl to a gullible teenager, to an almost bitter young woman, to finally being a resolute young woman who held on to her moral convictions, no matter what… even when she was tempted to do otherwise by the person she loved. Paul Tressidor was a conniving fortune hunter who would do anything to not lose the ancestral home, and he did. He was a liar and took advantage of and used Caroline to forget his horrible life, which he created. It was very difficult to like him because he wasn’t shown in a positive light; he seemed to be more obsessed with Caroline because she wouldn’t give herself to him, and didn’t really appear to be in love with her. I rooted for them to be together because that was what was expected of me as a reader, but he wasn’t what I really wanted for her.Olivia Tressidor was the typical ‘too good to be true’ individual who had a tragic ending. She never quite grew as a person and one could hardly believe that she was as weak as she seemed. Although she supposedly really loved her sister, she participated in hurting her in a major way, which was the only time she actually showed some gumption.I enjoyed reading my first Victoria Holt, however I wasn’t ‘blown away’ with her writing style or her story. There were too many dragging moments, particularly when the Heroine wasn’t with the Hero, which was more than half the book. She describes the settings really well, Cornwall really came alive for me and if I ever go to England I’d like to go there, but a strong description cannot replace the general storyline. I wanted the Heroine to suffer more; she just seemed to take it all in stride (except her heartbreak moment). Nonetheless, the ending was the most anticlimactic moment and I REALLY expected more emotional conveyance. The author simply resorted to telling us what happened in the end and how it was all ‘resolved’ and they lived ‘happily ever after.’ The reader wasn’t given the moment in which the lovers FINALLY come together after all their struggle and share their love and devotion and whatnot. That necessary joyful moment. I’m aware she was trying to emulate the typical 19th century writing technique a la Bronte and Austen, but since it was 20th century, it simply didn’t work. I was utterly disappointed and expected much more, seriously. I hope that my next Holt book, ‘The Mistress of Mellyn’ doesn’t have the same weakness at the end. 3 stars.
Holt's novels generally move at a lingering, but pleasant, pace. She spends a lot of time in exposition and rising action and minimal time on the resolution phase. In this particular book, the falling action and resolution consumed a whole dozen pages or so (I'm totally estimating here, but that's how it felt). It left me feeling bereft and I don't appreciate that after reading hundreds of pages hoping to spend some happy-time in the rose-colored glasses of the story's end. The development of the main character was well done, spanning the course of many years. This is the second Bildungsroman I have read by her, the first being The Devil on Horseback which I really enjoyed, so I wonder if this is a common theme for Holt. I found that I didn't have any sympathy for the hero, though. He was very disappointing. Maybe she wanted him to be very real with all the human frailties that come with it, but I couldn't appreciate his handling of his personal crises- too unprincipled. She knows how to turn a phrase and paint a picture, though, so I'll keep coming back for that.
What do You think about The Landower Legacy (1984)?
I had never read Victoria Holt before, but I had heard good things, and sure enough, it was right up my alley. I loved this book (recommended by my good friend, Julia) and promptly began another. The Landower Legacy is about Caroline Tressidor and her life in late Victorian England. There are some family secrets that give her the short end of the inheritance stick, so she goes to live with her Aunt Mary at Tressidor Manor in the country. This book was enjoyable because it had the following elements: love, betrayal, secrets, marraige of convenience, dark spooky houses, and a mentally deranged killer. I am going to be reading lots of Victoria Holt books in the future.
—Anna
I can relate to Caroline so much; it seems to me that we both, Caroline and I, are nearly exactly alike in the personality and knowledge department.I was coming into this story thinking there will be some kind of mystery ('cause it's Victoria Holt and many of her stories are mystery/romance) but it was different than I expected. At some times it would drag; I needed some action and a little more romance at those times!! Otherwise, this story was quite splendid. We had love, hate, death, births, money, etc.I really liked Jamie, I think we need more people in the world like him. Caring for nature, saying that animals understand many things...
—Ariana
Caroline Tressidor lets slip A Very Important Fact to her father, which gets her shunted off to the countryside, disinherited, and forced to find her own way in the world. Her trusting and girlish nature is given quite the bombardment by a couple of guys who make some Very Selfish Decisions. But, like most Holt heroines, she keeps on keeping on and doesn't wallow that much in her woes. In the end she gets the guy of her dreams and learns about the spirit of compromise and focusing on the future and not the past (sounds more saccharine than it really is).I loved Caroline, mainly for what I've already said. She's not a wallower or a navelgazer. Her revenge scheme against Selfish Suitor #1 was pretty delicious and her spite was understandable. Sure, she felt bad and not as satisfied as she would have liked when it was over (moral of the story blah blah blah) but I could understand what motivated her in the first place. Mwahaha. Girl was cynical and didn't want to put up with any more patronizing crap. Her sarcasm was great, too.Her Cousin Mary was also awesome, brusque and no-nonsense but a softie underneath. She reminded me of Bette Davis before the crazyass Baby Jane era.The story was predictable in spots and the end reveal came too fast, but still it was lots of fun. The only reason I'm dinging it a star is that this is one of those 1st person POV narratives that suffers from a lot of "I" strain. Too many sentences started with it. Purely pet peeve on my part, but it did make me impatient when I turned a page and saw an explosion of them.
—Karla
