Melissa

I give this four stars because to give it three stars would misrepresent the effort and skill that the writer put into the story. However, when I first read this story AS A CHILD, I thought the story was pretty bad and unwholesome and really was not happy that I had read this. In hindsight, the book described two people who had narcissistic personality disorder and one of them was a psychopath. It was a pretty sophisticated book with many details but at the time, I was creeped out and almost had a heart attack reading it.

I have read a number of Caldwell's books and this is up there with the best. Melissa is a lovely 20 something year old female in the 1800's who is besotted with her literary father who is a vicious culprit although she is too "innocent" or dumb or whatever to recognize it. She marries a bookpublisher neighbor, hoping to keep her brother in school and help her sister with her poetry ( which she has copied from earlier poets), neither of whom care for her interest in them. Add a vile sister in law who wants nothing but to get rid of Melissa and you have a wonderful Gothic tale. I wish there were more like this

This the story of Melissa Upjohn and her fathers vicious attempt, from the time she is a child, to destroy her soul, her mind, and her future. Melissa must succeed in overcoming this evil which she has never suspected while trying to keep her marriage together. She must also endure the plotting of her sister in law, Arabella, and her own sister Phoebe.Once again the "innocent" trait is strong in this book as in "Ceremony of the Innocent", but I assure you there is no formula that Taylor Caldwell uses. This book, though it had a similar theme, was unique from the others. Overall, it is a good book, and I believe those who read it will like it. Though it is not my favorite of Taylor Caldwell's, it is definitely a good story and well written at that.