Women of Ashdon

Taking up the story of the Whitmead family several generations after the close of The Ruthless Yeomen, Susannah Whitmead is sent to live with the Hurleighs and be educated as a lady by Mistress Agnes, the lady of the house and all time shrew. Susannah brings with her a family keepsake - a device of a curved bridge across a river - which by this time no one in the family is left who remembers the origin of the device and their ancestral roots in Normandy. In love with up and coming but still penniless Giles Saville, Susannah is forced by Agnes to marry Sir James Weston and she comes to live at Ashdon House, a house she comes to love more than anything else in life. Susannah's second marriage takes her to Cornwall, where her husband becomes involved in the protests against the high taxes imposed on the populace by Henry VII along with the plots to replace Henry with the imposter (or is he an imposter??) Perkin Warbeck. The second half of the book is the story of Susannah's granddaughter Christina during the reigns of Mary and then Elizabeth Tudor. Christina's never ending obsession with Ashdon House makes for an unhappy marriage that gets her exiled by her husband to Cornwall where she falls into the clutches of a catholic cousin - who does her the "favor" of getting her recalled to Ashdon house by arranging a visit by Elizabeth I. Although in years to come during the plots against Elizabeth by Mary Stuart and her supporters force Christina to repay her old debt at a much higher price than she could ever have dreamed of. So far of the three in this series, I found this one to be the weakest. While I don't expect these books to be fast paced, page turning reads this one really did drag for me at times. The first part of the book deals with Henry VII and as I've recently read two books on him, I found myself in a been-there-done-that spot. As for the second half dealing with the whole Bloody Mary/Elizabeth I/Mary Stuart business I found to be old news -- there have been too many books in recent years on these ladies and I am just Tudor'ed out. And while I enjoyed Susannah's character (especially the bit of the story with Giles), Christina was just not too likeable as a character, although Anand did give her a very appropriate finish at the end in 1606. I'm sorely torn between three stars for a slow story and four for Anand's excellent writing and call it at 3.5/5 rounded up to four. The series in order, The Proud Villeins The Ruthless Yeomen Women of Ashdon The Faithful Lovers The Cherished Wives The Dowerless Sisters Some of these books a bit spendy on the used market, but I'm giving my library's ILL program a whirl and see how lucky I am (or how good they are). The first one came from a Benedictine Abbey outside of Salem Oregon, the second from the Eugene, OR public library, book #3 is the only one my library has - let's see how much my luck continues with the last three.

This is a great novel of a family drama spread across the lavish backdrop of Medival, Tudor, and Elizabethan England. Highly recommended for anyone who loves historical fiction!