I actually finished this book about a week ago and I've been struggling with what to write about it. It wasn't a bad book, in fact I enjoyed reading it very much, but it also wasn't a memorable book. As I've remembered I need to write this review I had to stop and think, "What was it about?"
This book reminds me much of other romantic mystery type books I've read in the past. It centers around a woman named Olivia Pentland. She marries into the Pentland family and is in a very unhappy marriage. Her husband, Anson, appears to be self centered and self involved. He doesn't see what's happening around him. Olivia and her father-in-law, John, have a special bond; he only trusts Olivia with his concerns and when he passes away leaves everything to her instead of his son. He also confides in Olivia and tells her things that no one else knows. There is of course a meddling old aunt, Aunt Cassie, who tries to make everyone's business her own and also a cousin of the family, Sabine, who left and went abroad, had a failed marriage, and a daughter, and came back to make fun of the family and try to make their lives miserable. One of the themes that I liked in the book was between these two women. They both disliked each other and disapproved of each other's way of life, but in the end they were very similar. As John Pentland points out, Sabine is Aunt Cassie turned inside out.
Olivia is miserable and unhappy. She wants to escape from the routine of her life. There are many things that keep her there though. One is her son, Jack, who has a heart problem and eventually dies; another is her daughter, Sybil, who has just returned from school abroad and is looking for a husband. Another is her mother-in-law who is crazy. She lives in a wing of the house under the constant care of a nurse and doesn't come out. Most people can't visit her, but Olivia can talk to her and can sooth her. There is a reason that the woman is shut up, but for those of you who want to read the book I won't tell it. I don't want to completely give the book away. However, she and Olivia also know some family secrets;only they know them and they're bad enough that they could ruin the Pentland family.
There is another man who is an outsider to the Pentland family who buys up some of the property. His name is Michael O'Hara. Michael is an Irishman and was raised in the streets and lived a rough life, but he has fought his way through and came into some money and is now trying his hand at politics. However, he has a problem: he is in love with Olivia. They begin riding together and eventually she falls in love with him, too. Now, just an observation, but 9 out of 10 of the Pulitzer books I've read have had something to do with an affair happening. I don't know if this is a requirement, or just a coincidence, but it's just sad. Anyway, he asks her to run away with him and she wants to. At this point in the book your not sure what to root for. You want Olivia to be happy and to have a happy life, but you don't want her to be unfaithful to her husband - even though he's kind of a loser.
Olivia decides to wait until her daughter, who has fallen madly in love with a young man, elopes and then she is going to run off with Michael. Somehow her husband comes out of his hole long enough to notice that something is going on between Olivia and Michael and approaches his wife. She asks for a divorce and he refuses so she tells him she is unhappy and that Michael could make her happy. The next day after her daughter runs off to get married, she goes out to find Michael to tell him her decision. While she is doing this she sees the stable man carrying someone on a gurney and she knows that Mr. Pentland is dead. (I forgot to mention that Mr. Pentland had a long time mistress or I guess you could say a long time good woman friend, because he shares with Olivia that he has never been unfaithful to his wife. ) At this point Olivia knows what she has to do. She tells Michael O'Hara he has to leave and she decides she has to stay. She has to be the glue to hold the family together. She also looks at John Pentland and how he has stayed faithful to his wife under hard circumstances and realizes that she admired him for this and feels that in the end she wouldn't be happy with herself if she didn't follow his example.
I'm glad that she stayed. It made me proud of her and glad that a book took that approach rather than the approach of instant gratification. Maybe she would have been happier with Michael, but she needed to stay with the Pentlands.
This book had a great story line and kept my interest. I was concerned for some of the characters and annoyed by the annoying ones. It just didn't seem as memorable and dynamic as you would expect an award winning book to be. This book will be on my like list, but not at the top.
