A Dark Inheritance by Mary Williams

As you might have seen from my 'Read' list, I have read some historical romance lately. Always nice to relax your reading with a little bit of romance these grey, rainy days. The books were; A Code of Love by Jackie Delecki, The Duchess War by Courtney Milan and the book that I will review here, A Dark Inheritance by Mary Williams (from Endeavour Press, where I downloaded it for free).

I liked all three books. The two first ones have a young, intelligent, beautiful, brave woman in the lead (as usual) trying to resist the handsome, rich, rascal lord (as usual). We all know how it ends, but if the story is good enough it is enjoyable. A Code of Love has a story of code breakers during the Napoleonic war and it is exciting enough. The Duchess War has a more social story connected to the working conditions of the poor. The young woman has a secret, as has the lord, and the story is quite fascinating since, at least for the young woman, everything is not revealed in total until the end, and it is an unusual story. Quite entertaining.

The best of the three though is A Dark Inheritance. It is set in Cornwall in the mid 19th century. Adelaide's husband David dies in the Crimean War only a short time after their marriage. She goes back to his ancestral home, Trenhawk, to reside there. However, since they have no children, it has gone to David's cousin Rupert, who is not willing to sell it, although he is in some dire financial straits due to his biggest investment and interest; a mine.


This is not all to it. Adelaide discovers soon that there is an old feud between the two grand families in the area, Hawksleys and St Clares. Then there are all these things happening in the house; the tower which is haunted? Who is the young, deaf boy living in the house? Does Rupert have a mistress? What about the unwelcome staff? The moors? The caves? The strange sounds during the night? Adelaide is a young selfish, emotional and stubborn woman but she soon realises that her life is to change in unexpected ways.

This book is quite exciting and has a lot of unexpected twists and turns. I will not reveal anything more, not to spoil the story. When I read it I felt it was a mixture between books like Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind and Outlander. Maybe a twist of Jane Eyre as well? Well, all favourite books, so no wonder this one was a hit with me! The surrounding landscape, the moors and the sea are a big part of the story. They are so well described, that I fell in love with the area without even having been there. Have to put Cornwall, Penzance and Truro on my travel list. Mary Williams has written some more books, some set in Cornwall, mid 19th century and some set in the beginning of 20th century. All in the same genre. I wouldn't mind trying another book of hers.