The Kari AnnAlysis

Erica and Beth return to Storton Manor after their grandmother dies. Her will is very straightforward: the girls can keep the enormous home if they both stay. It’s easy for Erica. She teaches English and lives with a roommate in London. She can come and go as she pleases. Beth doesn’t have much more responsibility. She has a little boy, but only has custody every now and then. The one thing holding her back, depression and that she tried to commit suicide. And Erica has an inkling that the depression all started at Storton.

But that’s not the only mystery that Erica wants to solve. She runs across some letters, dating back to the early 1900s that don’t quite mach up with family history but may help explain the cold shoulders that not only belonged to her grandmother, but also her frigid great-grandmother.

Let me start with review with shoo I never thought I was going to finish this book. It’s 400+ pages and it took me forever to get through it. I can normally zip through a book in 4-5 days, not this bad boy. It took me seriously 2 weeks. I really liked the book, so there was no excuse, just ran out of time.

One of the things I loved about this book was the different views this story was told from. On one hand, you hear Erica’s story, her fight to keep her sister at Storton, catch up with their old gypsy friend and figuring out how her family even ended up in England after her great-grandmother spent time in America.

On the other hand, we travel back in time to the early 1900s, where Erica’s great-grandmother Caroline tells her story, from New York City to the Wild Wild West to England. While Erica tries to solve her family’s mystery, we know Caroline’s past and are urging her right along, hoping she gets to the bottom of it.

This was a very well-written book. I’m always a fan for a book that is told in different places at different times that works. This one worked very well.

But fair warning, this is not a light and fluffy read. It’s dark and emotional and powerful. At times when I was reading it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I had a death in the family and I was already down. This book brought me down a notch or two, but after finishing it, I really liked the book through the sadness and heartache, there’s learning to happen and faith to regain.

I give The Legacy 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-0062077301
Release: August 30, 2001
Kari got this book from NetGalley 

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