Author: Nelle Davy
ISBN: 978-192179530-5
RRP: $29.99
The Legacy of Eden is the tale of a family of land owners in Iowa through four generations. We are treated to an inside look at the scandal, the secrecy and the lengths that will be gone to in the name of protecting the family and the legacy.
The story is told by Meredith Pincetti but point of view can get quite confusing. One minute we are reading along in the present and with very little warning we are walking the fields of Aurelia alongside the players of the time. All of the pieces are woven slowly together in reminiscences, tales told, and memories, all of it in retrospect and we all know that hindsight is 20/20.
The Legacy of Eden begins at the end. The Prologue gives us a hint of the beginning of the end and then the first chapter is the end, from that point we move forward even as we move further and further into the past. To understand how it ends you first need to watch as it all plays out from the beginning.
If that sounds a little confusing I apologise, but that’s how it was. There were times that I had to sit back for a minute and rearrange all the pieces in my head to refocus on what was going on and I loved every minute of it.
The Legacy of Eden is no easy read you can just skim through then sit back and reflect on, you need to think it through as you read to make sure you understand as it unfolds.
The Prologue is the memory of a single scene in an one event in a long history of the Hathaway’s and Aurelia. You know right from then that it is significant but you don’t find out the rest of the event until the very end of the book so throughout the entire read you wonder when you are going to find out what actually happened, and who it happened to.
The Legacy of Eden is a fitting title in that Aurelia grew into a vision of Eden in the early days, in it’s beauty and prosperity it seemed like paradise. As the pages turn we learn more about how that paradise was built and what lay at its foundation.
Lavinia Hathaway was one hell of a woman; she was determined and single minded and once she had her mind set on something it was only a matter of time before it came to pass. She waited and she watched and at the opportune moment she put the gears in motion to bring about what she wanted.
Eden, it turns out, was a lot more than it seemed and throughout these pages in the words of Meredith we learn all that she ever found out to bring the family to this point.
In a lot of ways I found Aurelia a little soap opera-ish but instead of one town, one street etc this is all centred on one family and one farm. The farm is the focal point but at the same time it’s also a little secondary because you don’t really hear about the staff employed to work the farm. It’s only the family, the name, the legacy, the reputation. It’s all about being the envy of everyone outside of the family circle.
A haunting tale of family and the ties that can never be severed. Intriguing, surprising and sometimes shameful this is a book that will dig it’s claws in and refuse to let go until the very end.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!