This so called "epic story" from Anand that offers a supposed "vivid portrait of fifteenth century English life" (to quote from the book jacket) is to this reader as flat, lifeless and bland as a piece of cardboard. The basic premise of the story is of the Lanyons who are tenants to the aristocratic Sweetwaters and bear a decades long hatred for each other and in the case of Richard Lanyon feeds an ambition to better their lot in life and to wreak revenge on the hated Sweetwaters. **Yawn***. Eve [...]

I reviewed this book for Library Journal and it is historical fiction, but it was a departure from the type of historical fiction that is packing the market these days. This book is about a family, (or two families, really) and it focuses on their lives, even though it takes place in England during the War of the Roses. Richard III and Henry VII manage to get mentioned, but they are really just set dressing - the meat of the story settles around Peter Lanyon and Liza Weaver - two young people wh [...]

The House of Lanyon has its fair share of secrets and hidden lies. Richard Lanyon, the patriarch, wasn't much of a family man. His business was his life. His wife was a weak woman in his eyes. All but one of her children died due to feebleness. Peter, the one that survived was hardly a suitable heir. If the boy had his way, he'd have married that fishermen's daughter. That is had she not mysteriously disappeared. Perhaps, the match that Richard arranged wasn't much better. Time would tell on tha [...]

For me this book really brought to life the atmosphere and geography of the region. Many of the locations really exist and I found the historical descriptions of these fascinating.Other locations are fictional, but there are enough clues from the author, to make me look at my map of the region. I found the authors obvious love of the area to be a bit like Thomas hardy and the way he fictionalises real places in Dorset and beyond.I found the relationships between the different social classes and [...]

I'm a huge fan of Valerie Anand's writing. I especially love her amazing attention to detail and historical accuracy as well as her ability to create compelling "everyday" characters. The House of Lanyon was no exception. This book tells a very human story of several families living in Exmoor, their struggles for daily life (including details on farming, dying, weaving and house building), loves and interactions with great historical events - in this case major battles of the War of Roses. I am [...]

I enjoyed this historical novel very much. The author has the ability to recreate the time that she writes about to the extent that reader becomes part of the story.This novel takes place during the War of the Roses and demonstrates how the events of this time affected farmers and merchants and disrupted their lives.The two main characters wed after unhappy love affairs have ended and they struggle to create a successful and happy life. This story has family drama, frustration, the day to day st [...]

Good, quick read, but felt awkwardly anachronistic at times - on the one hand the detailed descriptions of medieval life rang very true, but on the other hand characters described things as "weird" or a character was described as "sexy," which felt jarring, whether or not those were words in use in medieval England (no idea). The end of the book also felt pretty rushed - a lot of exposition, a lot of things coming to a head for no particular reason, a lot of coincidences invoked. An entertaining [...]

I wanted to like this book since it's set in England in one of my favorite time periods, but I was severely disappointed. I liked the idea of the story, and some of the plot, but otherwise the execution was just not my cup of tea. It's a family saga, more or less following one woman from her early years when she has a "passionate" love affair which sparks a series of events that follow her through the rest of her life.It was a slog. I didn't care about any of the characters who were all terribly [...]

While not my favorite of the Anand books, it's one I quite enjoyed. As in all her books, life doesn't always come out happily, or the way the characters might wish. But that's part of her books "charm," for lack of a better word. The reader can't be certain if any character will survive, or live 'happily ever after.' That's certainly the case for Peter Lanyon and Liza Weaver, the book's two main protagonists. Both love someone else, yet are powerless against their family's desires for them to we [...]

This book started a little slow but was really engaging as the story went on. At first, the author's style of introducing something and then going into the past was disorienting, but once I was used to it, I found it worked well.If you like late medieval historical fiction (War of the Roses and the like), this was a good read. It was also nice that the subjects of the books were farmers rather than kings and queens.

It started off real slow. I thought it was going to be like a grown-up version of a Little House on the Prairie book, and I HATED Little House books. Anyway, it got more interesting after the first 100 pages or so, so I'm kind of glad that I stuck with it. I like the relationship evolving plots. It's not so much about farm work in the end. :0)

As Valerie Anand also writes under the pseudonym Fiona Buckley in the fabulous Ursula Blanchard series, I wanted to like this book. Although, I read it to the end, I mostly found it flat with little to send me on to the other books in the series.

Peter Lanyon and Liza Weaver are in love, though not with each other. Thus begins the 50-year saga of the Lanyon family in Anand’s new historical novel, set in 15th-century England.I have always enjoyed this author, who also writes mysteries as Fiona Buckley.

If you're looking for a 100%-historically-accurate book, this is not it. Yet it's still entertaining as it follows the soap opera of the Lanyons and the Sweetwaters through three generations. Entertaining as a "beach read", but not something I'm likely to re-read any time soon.

The word that epitomises this book would be 'average'. There were a few sections that had promise however for the most part I had to force myself to persevere.Jo - Historical Romance Review

Well, it really is a saga. It had some moments in it, but no plot to speak of. It's just telling about this family who don't have an easy life, but in the telling, even the extrordinary things seem ordinary.

This is a readable novel in the tradition of English sagas---this one set in the latter 15th century. It center upon the tensions between a landowning family whose economic and social dominance is challenged by former tenants who seek to overtake them.

forbidden love & intrigue a good enjoyable read.

very good, will have to get the next one.

I liked the story, but couldn't really connect with the main character, to me she was quite weak.

An interesting book, not great. I will not read any more in the series.

very disappointing, personal plot line interesting, but is not set well in the period, takes place in Exmoor in 1400s.

GoodLooking back their were some slower parts but I didn't really notice at the time.