Cavendon Hall by Barbra Taylor Bradford
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
This was a Goodwill treasure I picked up way back in October while shopping for Halloween costume attire.
It is against my nature COMPLETELY to go into ANY kind of thrift shop and NOT look at the used books.
I can NOT pass them up.
And typically, it is against my nature to walk out the store without buying one…or two…or five š¤£
Yall…you can get TOP CONDITION books for ONE DOLLAR š±
What bookworm can EVER bypass this glorious deal????
Used books are my Achilles heel, yall.
So I picked this one up because I love me some British historical fiction…I have realized it’s my “comfort genre” that I continually turn to in times of need or just literary indecisiveness of “What do I read next?”.
This summary sounded EXACTLY like something I would happily indulge in:
“From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an epic saga of intrigue and mystique set in Edwardian England.
Cavendon Hall is home to two families, the aristocractic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them. Charles Ingham, the Sixth Earl of Mowbray, lives there with his wife, Felicity, and their six children. Walter Swann, the premier male of the Swann family, is valet to the earl. His wife, Alice, a clever seamstress who is in charge of the countess’s wardrobe, also makes clothes for the four daughters. For centuries, these two families have lived side by side, beneath the backdrop of the imposing Yorkshire manor.
Lady Daphne, the most beautiful of the earl’s daughters, is about to be presented at court when a devastating event changes her life and threatens the Ingham name. With World War I looming, both families will find themselves tested in ways they never thought possible. Loyalties will be challenged and betrayals will be set into motion. In this time of uncertainty, one thing is sure: These two families will never be the same again.”
As soon as I read that summary, I had Downton Abbey-esque vibes flowing thru my veins and had my fingers crossed that this book would be as delicious as that series was for me.
And it ABSOLUTELY WAS.š
This book has ALL THE THINGS that Downton Abbey did that made me love it so very much.
I love how it dug into the stories of the characters both upstairs AND downstairs.
Just like in Downton, you get to know everyone on all levels…. all characters were equally valued and important to the overall plot development.
It didn’t matter if they were the fancy rich family of the earl or the working class staff keeping the house running….every person was seen and heard and crucial to the goings on…AND everything was interconnected in some way.
The ridiculous “rules of society” during this time continue to frustrate me, but that IS part of the point of these types of books….to see what needs to be overthrown and also what love and connection can overcome.
(Although I can’t lie….the glamour of the fancy dresses and formal events DO kinda whisk me away into a fun fantasy world I will never experience in real life!)
This book has all kinds of secrets, drama, romance, excitement, tragedy, mysteries, tension, passion, and revenge….all the similar categories of plots that kept Downton so enthralling.
You never know what is going to happen next in the story to flip things completely into a new direction….or what character is about to make a mic drop so big it shakes the whole foundation of the big, giant fancy house to the point of crumbling.
All of these plotlines mixed in with wonderful character development, interesting dialogue and vivid settings made this book a captivating page turner for me.
I was a HUGE Downton fan and didn’t realize how much I missed them all the past couple years until I read this book!
This most definitely filled a void for me I didn’t even know I had.
Lady Daphne reminded me of Lady Mary….Charles Ingham reminded me of Robert Crawley…Hanson reminded me of Carson.. Alice reminded me of Mrs. Hughes….even the Cook reminded me of Ms. Patmore!
And the list can go on and on and on …sooo many similarities but yet different enough to be it’s own thing. (Maybe I just made the comparisons because I was looking for them…either way, it worked for me!)
I was PUMPED when I discovered that this is Book 1 in a whole entire SERIES……because yall KNOW how I feel about some historical fiction book series…..one of life’s greatest entertainment gifts in my little brain…..YIPEE!! šššš
One negative thing for me: there is a sexual assault scene. š¤¬
Why does it seem like soooo many books I pick up have sexual assault in them?
Always very very hard for me to read about…I do understand why it is in this story and why it is pivotal to the plotline.
But…… I still don’t like it.
(Downton also had sexual assult in it’s story lines as well so that is another commonality they share….)
Other than that bit, I truly enjoyed this book.
And OF COURSE I am going to read the others in the series…yall already knew the answer to that question before I answered it, didn’t you?š¤£
Since these books are from years back, finding used copies of them was quite easy to do on https://www.thriftbooks.com (one of my fave places to find used books online)
I had a gift card from my sister (BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVERRRRRR, THANK YOU!!!) to use on there…. so as soon as I finished reading the last page of this book, I logged on and ordered ALL the other books in the series.
If you’re a Downton fan like me, you should DEFINITELY check this book out.
Fingers crossed that the rest of the books continue to hold the same allure as this one….I have high hopes, my dears.