The Heir (Ravenscar Series #2)

by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Overview

The Deravenels: Their business empire is worth billions, their influence stretches across the globe. And Edward, the dashing and charismatic chosen son, is the king of his company at last. He has survived harrowing years of betrayal, threats from ruthless enemies, and countless lovers—his demanding wife among them. But the most dramatic event of Edward's life is still to come…

A worthy heir is needed to keep the Deravenel dynasty alive. But for this family, tragedy and death remain obstacles at every turn. Now Edward must navigate a dangerous collision course between his two brothers: the loyal, beloved Richard and his middle brother, George, an alcoholic bent on ruining Edward and his good name. Or he could pursue an entirely different option—one so desperate, and scandalous, that it would leave the world of the Deravenels forever changed….

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312354688
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	07/01/2008
Series:	Ravenscar Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 6.68(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Barbara Taylor Bradford is the author of 25 bestselling novels, including Playing the Game, Breaking the Rules, and The Ravenscar Dynasty. She was born in Leeds, England, and from an early age, she was a voracious reader: at age 12, she had already read all of Dickens and the Brontë sisters. By the age of twenty, she was an editor and columnist on Fleet Street. She published her first novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979, and it has become an enduring bestseller.

Barbara Taylor Bradford's books are published in over 90 countries in 40 languages, with sales figures in excess of 82 million. Ten of her novels have been adapted into television mini-series starring actors including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Liam Neeson, Deborah Kerr and Elizabeth Hurley. She has been inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America, and in June of 2007, Barbara was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to Literature.

She lives in New York City with her husband, television producer Robert Bradford, to whom all her novels are dedicated, and their Bichon Frise dogs, who sit under her desk while she writes.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Place of Birth:

Yorkshire, England

Education:

Christ Church Elementary School and Northcote Private School for Girls in Yorkshire, England

Website:

http://www.barbarataylorbradford.com

Editorial Reviews

Rife with dastardly struggles, smoldering, illicit passion, and cowardly insidious betrayals…Fans of Bradford's trademark brand of panoramic, multigenerational historical dramas will have plenty to sink their teeth into as the feuding Deravenels continue their rivalry.” —Booklist

“The queen of the bestseller list still rules with The Heir.” —Miami Herald

“Bestseller Bradford's dynastic epic spanning the 20th century should tide over her fans...” —Publishers Weekly

“Bradford's characters are so real, readers clamor to know them better.” —USA Today

“A juicy family saga….” —BookPage

“Barbara Taylor Bradford triumphs once again.” —Fantastic Fiction

“This expertly crafted epic novel further explores the triumphs and tragedies of the Deravenel family. It will enthrall readers with its vivid characters and fast-paced, larger-than-life plot.” —Romantic Times BOOKreviews (4 ½ stars)

From the Publisher

Bestseller Bradford (The Ravenscar Dynasty; Voice of the Heart) presents the serviceable second chapter in her Ravenscar trilogy, a dynastic epic spanning the 20th century. In 1918, 14 years after assuming control of the family company, 33-year-old Edward Deravenel has "built it into the greatest trading company in the world," with business interests ranging from French wine to Persian oil. Edward is also blessed with the sprawling Ravenscar estate and a son he hopes will eventually take the company helm. However, Edward has enemies on all sides, most notably his "treacherous" younger brother, George, and jealous wife Elizabeth. Even Edward's trusted youngest brother, Richard, may not be all he seems. A series of scandals threatens to ruin Edward's heirs' claim to the company, though much of the action feels muted. The plot gains much needed direction and momentum after Edward is felled by a heart attack, his two young sons disappear and the company's fate falls on the shoulders of his oldest daughter, Bess. The last third carries the book and makes up for the plodding earlier sections. This isn't one of Bradford's better books, but it should tide over her fans. (Nov.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

This second novel in the insipid trilogy that Bradford started last year with The Ravenscar Dynastypicks up where Dynastyleft off in 1918. Edward Deravenel is now in his thirties and running his family's business empire. The premise sounds good: family saga, rivalries, lust, riches. Unfortunately, the writing is no better than what might be found in a beginning creative writing class; most of the dialog is dreadful. Not a single character is sympathetic; Harry's fixation on creating an heir almost repels the reader. It was a chore to get through this long novel, and those thinking they will get a book on par with Bradford's stronger earlier works (e.g., A Woman of Substance) will be disappointed. Recommended only for large libraries because of Bradford's name. [See Prepub Alert, LJ7/07.]
—Marianne Fitzgerald

Library Journal

Second in the Ravenscar trilogy (after The Ravenscar Dynasty, 2007) draws more tortured parallels between the uber-rich Deravenel clan and the Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs. After wresting control from the Lancaster Deravenel-Grants, Edward "Ned" Deravenel is firmly at the helm of Deravenels, the family's global trading company, and, like any effective totalitarian, he's restored a modicum of peace to the organization. On the surface, his amply staffed households, including Ravenscar, the family's ancestral Yorkshire castle, run smoothly. World War I has just ended, and Deravenels forecasts an even more profitable peacetime. But beneath the opulence is the reality: Ned's beautiful wife Elizabeth is an enervating shrew, but an alluring one-witness their ever-increasing brood, including the obligatory male "heir and spare," and level-headed elder daughter Bess, the designated alternate heir. George, Ned's younger brother, is a dissolute lout who runs up gambling debts and embarrasses the firm. Ned manages to contain these threats, until Elizabeth tars his family with vicious gossip, and George claims to be the true heir to Deravenels. Elizabeth is easily cowed, and George is exiled to the Burgundy branch of Deravenels, where, like his Plantagenet predecessor George, Duke of Clarence, he's done in by killer wine barrels. Edward succumbs to a heart attack, and youngest brother Richard becomes conservator of Deravenels until Edward's heirs reach majority. Emulating his avatar, Richard III, he exploits his regency to launch a corporate bloodbath. Edward's young sons disappear while fishing off Ravenscar's cliffs. And tramping Ravenscar's grounds, Richard runs into serious trouble. Bess,meanwhile, agrees to cede her birthright to her husband, Henry Turner (aka Tudor), scion of the supplanted Deravenel-Grants. Cut, vertiginously, from 1928 to 1970, with only cursory mention of interim cataclysmic events. Harry Turner, analog of Henry VIII, still can't get a divorce. Bradford's plodding exposition-she's no exponent of late-in, early-out scene-crafting-makes for novelistic terrain almost as rock-strewn as Ravenscar.

Kirkus Reviews