Barbara Taylor Bradford's books are my "guilty pleasure" when I am looking for light reading. I got this book when I was working in our library bookstore. It is the first in a trilogy and I had already read the second and third book--also from the library bookstore. I was happy to see this one on the shelf because I felt I had missed something in reading the other two.

This book is the strongest of the three books in the trilogy. We meet Edward Deravenel, who is 18 years old at the beginning of the book and preparing to return for his second year at Oxford, when his father, younger brother, uncle, and cousin are killed (murdered) in a hotel fire. As with the other books in this trilogy, the murder is investigated at the beginning of the book, but we never find out who murdered them or why, although there is much speculation. And, as with other books in the trilogy, whenever an enemy becomes too menacing, he dies a sudden death that is never explained or is murdered, but the murder is never solved.

As the eldest son, Edward must now run the Deravenel family business empire. At the beginning of the novel, the author explains that she based Edward loosely on the English king Edward IV. There is a lot of discussion in the book about people inside and outside of the family trying to take over the family business, which in reality was the British throne.

The Edward in this book is much more mature than any 18-year-old boy I ever met. With only one year of university training, he is ready to take over a business empire with interests all over the world. The business has been in Edward's family for 835 years. Edward's direct ancestors had run the business until about 60 years previously when another branch of the family got control of the business. Neither Edward nor his mother could understand why his father didn't fight to regain control of the business, which has nearly been ruined by the relatives who are running it. At 18, Edward is able to get control of the business, with the assistance of a cousin who assists Edward for his own purposes, and turn it around so it is now profitable.

Edward is also a experienced lover. He was seduced by an older widow at the age of 13 and became a father at the age of 15. Like some current politicians, he doesn't seem to be able to stop himself from having affairs with every woman he meets, even after he is married and has six children with his wife. Of course, Bradford Taylor has to include detailed descriptions of Edward and other characters having sex. I really wish she would leave out those scenes. Sex is much sexier left to the imagination than being described in intimate detail.

Even though his family is described as "poor," they have Ravenscar, an estate in the country very much like Downton Abbey, and at least one home in London with servants at both residences. I wouldn't mind being that poor.

After having read the other two books, I was surprised to find that I didn't like Edward much. He is a character at the beginning of the second book, but for part of that book and the third book, he is a distant memory as other characters look as his portrait and try to imagine how he would handle problems that arise.

One reason that I felt this book was better than the other two in the trilogy is that it does contain some British history in describing Edward's family. If you are going to read this trilogy, I definitely recommend reading this book first. In fact, you might want to read this book and the second and skip the third one.

Hmm, hoe kan ik dit boek het beste beschrijven... Als een stationroman met een dozijn extra hoofdstukken? Want zo voorspelbaar en zo langdradig was het wel. Of misschien moet ik het boek "steriel" noemen; de taal en de compositie van de zinnen voelde anders zo wel aan. Maar misschien lag dat laatste aan de vertaling van Engels naar Nederlands...

Eerlijk gezegd had ik een totaal ander boek verwacht. Er was genoeg intrige voor een boeiend verhaal te kunnen opbouwen, maar tussens ons gezegd en gezwegen vind ik dat de auteur het verkeerd heeft aangepakt. Wie gelooft bv. dat ALLE personages exact weten wat er in het hoofd van de andere personages omgaat?? En hoe knap, charismatisch en indrukwekkend het hoofdpersonage, Edward Deravenel, ook was: wie gelooft er nu dat een man ZO goed is op alle mogelijke vlakken?

Het had iets prachtigs kunnen worden, een fantastische familiesaga. In plaats daarvan werd het een goedkoop stationromannetje met wat extra hoofdstukken. Jammer!

first of 3 in the Ravenscar Dynasty series. the main character is a womanizer yet he's still charming and u still root for him to regain control of his family's company. looking forward to the next one... the heir.

❌consent is not done well. Someone is not a nice person just because they respect "NO". Everyone should respect NO. To say that he was nice because he listened, is to say that not listening and respecting her wishes was an option and within his rights. Which is not remotely accurate (or shouldn't be)

" 'I can't see you anymore...You know she would dismiss me if she found out about our liaison. And I need this position...'
So because he had a kind heart, he let go of her arm and stepped back."

❌repetitive. weak characters. The book is so repetitive when giving personality to the characters. In the first 20 pages, these are all the times where it mentions that Edward is attractive and a lady killer. Because it just keeps describing people in the same way, we never get the chance to really get to know the characters. They are just names on a page

"To Richard, and to every woman who met him, Edward Deravenel was the handsomest man alive." p. 7
"Edward Deravenel was blessed with the most pleasant nature as well as those staggering good looks." p.9
"She looked up into his handsome face." p11
"And women of all ages found him irresistible." p. 14
"And as his smile grew wider and his white teeth flashed, she thought of those women who fell all over him" (18)
"Because all the young women will be falling at your feet," George announced, "Everybody says you are a lady-killer" (20)

This book was really good up until the last half. Found it lacking depth and really was hoping for a sequel to finish it off. Felt it was a rushed ending and had too many convenient endings for the adversaries. All in all, still a good read.

Well... not my favourite book! Not a particularly well written one either but because it's part of a trilogy I now have to read the next two books - I'm no quitter! A tale of a family - rich, entitled landed gentry of course! The lead character Ned devastatingly handsome, fit and intelligent ( not my words but the authors!) - the story of his life up to the age of 33 years. He is a completely unbelievable, irritating and spoilt character who always lands on his feet - after an initial family tragedy. No female can resist his charms, allegedly - his lack of respect for women in general and the institute of marriage in particular really annoyed me! Why am I going to read the next two volumes? Because once started I have to see books through!

This is another one of Barbara Taylor Bradford's family saga of novels. This book took us through the lives of the Deravenel family, namely Edward and his quest to run the Deravenel company. I felt this book had two stories...one was about the company and all the brothers and cousins that helped run it or wanted the power for themselves. The other story was of Edward's personal life...the mistresses, his wife, and children. Nothing too exciting..I feel maybe since this is one of Bradford's later books, maybe she thought her readers wanted more "love" and less excitement.

First half was very slow. Second half became more interesting, but I was disappointed in the ending.

blleeeeeegghhhhhhh.

this book SUCKED. I thought it was going to be a cool, murder mystery book written in the early 1900’s, because that’s what the book flap said. boy was i wrong.

the plot is so predictable, and you could tell the author was just making up the plot as she was writing. had to dnf around 64% cause it just was that bad.

to those who enjoyed, good for you! unfortunately i did not. if you enjoy soap opera style books, predictable plots and nothing like it is advertised, then this book is for you!

i don’t recommend.

To be honest, I'm a bit ambivalent about this one. I don't know how many of the disappointments with this book are due to abridgment. Further, there were aspects of the CD that marred my enjoyment of the audiobook. Perhaps I'll start with that, before reflecting on the content.
The narrator had a pleasant enough voice, one which I couldn't help thinking wouldn't sound out of place reading children's stories on the radio. Because of the abridgment (one presumes) there were no chapter demarcations, and I found that there were insufficient pauses or breaks between scenes. Sometimes it was not immediately apparent that one scene had ended and another had begun. The most disorienting was one that went straight from a seduction to... well, I can't for the life of me what it went to, but I was left going "Huh???" and had to do a bit of a rewind to work out what was going on. This happened on several occasions. There was no "end on disk" announcement, and -listening as I do in my car - several times it took me a few minutes to work out that the disk had ended and gone back to play track one again. On the plus side, there was a very nice little interview with the author at the end of the recording.
As for the book itself... well. As I may have mentioned previously, I got the book out of the library when it was first released, read about a chapter, and then had to take it back because that had taken me a month, and there were other people waiting for it. I'd been interested because it was based on Edward IV, and I'm a Yorkist fan-girl. Maybe that meant I knew too much. All the way through I found myself questioning if stuff that was missing (e.g. Henry VI being restored to the throne) was missing from the book, or just lost in the abridgment. Certainly some of the colour and detail has been lost in the abridgment - the blurb says the book is "a dramatic saga that brings to life the glittering Edwardian Era" Um... no. Not this version of the book, anyhow. We also don't really get the full effect of Edward being a womanizer - rather he seems to have a series of mistresses that he's pretty faithful to, rather than being a rake who can't keep his trousers on!
So as far as audiobooks go, I suggest you give this one a miss. An unabridged version may be preferable, if one is available, or of course the actual book. However I don't see myself chasing down the remaining 2 books in the series, even if at least one of them must deal with the equivalent character to Richard III.

I'm not sure why many readers thought this book was lacking, but I found it very entertaining. I love a series that involve the ins and outs of family drama and this is no different.

Set in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Deravenals are set upon a path of money, success, and family. Then one day all that changes and the oldest heir Edward, is thrust into the front of the family fold. He has to take care of his mother and siblings as well as regain control of his father's company. His cousin, Neville Watkins, comes to his aid and they both set upon a coup, in other words, of regaining ownership of the Deravenals company. Cousins against cousins in a sense.

Edward is a suave, handsome, charismatic, passionate man. He loves his blondes and his widows, preferably to be one in the same. A player if there ever was one. You get to go along the journey and meet his many mistresses and children, and see how he handles these women. And the relationship he has with his wife I know will set up for book two in the series. Elizabeth, a widow when Edward met her, is a gorgeous blonde woman with two previous sons from her first marriage. She makes Edward fight for her and then you see her become cold toward Edwards family. There wasn't too much about her in the book, other than that she is cold, judgemental, and a bitch apparently.

I liked the pace of this book. It cut quick to the relevancy of the story. The dialogue wasn't long winded, so everything written had a purpose. If you like British genteel, power hungry players, passion in and out of the bedroom, and family drama this is the book for you.

I believe that The Ravenscar Dynasty was published many years ago, but that doesn't mean that Barbara Taylor Bradford is any less of a popular author. I loved A Woman of Substance and have read it many times, so I was certainly looking forward to reading The Ravenscar Dynasty. Much to my surprise I found this novel to be very slow going for the first half of the book but quickly picked up speed and then seemed to end with lightening speed. Yes, I understand that this is the first volume in a series, but that didn't mean that I was prepared for how quickly it ended, nor was I satisfied with the ends left unfinished. Yes, Bradford has a delightful knowledge of the English language, and I am always pleasantly surprised by the gems she hides within each novel. Yet, I was still left unsatisfied by this story. I will not be looking for the remaining titles in this series but will still look for other titles by this author.