Heir to the Manor

Author(s): Graham Ley

Genre(s): Historical, Romance

Era(s): Napoleonic Wars

This is the second book in what is called the Wentworth Family saga. The author’s facebook page says there will be a fourth. In order, the novels are The Baron Returns, this book Heir to the Manor, and the third, Lady at the Lodge. The books are set in the 1790s, a period which is the start of the war between France and England. The leading family has roots in both Brittany and Devon, but what the war means is that crossing the channel is now difficult and dangerous.

Much of the action takes place in southern Brittany, around the fictional manor of Kergohan, and actual villages and towns that can be found, such as Plumergat which has two beautiful chapels, and Auray with its delightful port of Saint Goustan and Pontivy, with its chateau and old streets and markets. The manor is like a farm, and there is a central love affair which develops between the uncle and the villager Babette, who have both brought up orphans and gradually come to accept that they can have something for themselves. But all is disturbed when two men from a plantation in the Caribbean arrive in pursuit of a young woman who has come to stay with her uncle in Kergohan.

A parallel plot takes place in Plymouth, where Amelia Wentworth begins to fall for the charms of an unscrupulous militia officer, and becomes fascinated by a charismatic young actress, so this novel might be listed for Devon as well. The books in the saga are strong on setting and atmosphere, and scenes can be followed in the actual places I have mentioned.

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