bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good book, and I am sure that if I had finished, I would possibly give it more stars, but I just couldn't get that into it.
nonna7's review against another edition
5.0
This is an incredibly beautiful, sad, and wonderful book. It is a prequel to the book "Mason's Retreat" that he published 16 yrs. ago. This book traces the history of the Retreat starting at the point when in 1857, the owner of the property sells all of his slaves at "30 cents to the dollar," keeping only a few house slaves, because he knows that slavery is coming to an end. (Later his daughter in a spin worthy of any current politician says that he emancipated them!)
The story starts with a distant Mason cousin coming to the Retreat at the invitation of "Miss Mary," the current owner. There are no more immediate male Masons to take over the Retreat. It is the turn of the century. Miss Mary is dying of cancer and is willing to leave the property to this distant cousin, Edward Mason, if he is willing. After he meets Miss Mary, he is told to take a tour of the estate with Mr. French, an elderly man who has been involved in the running of the estate, since her father's day. His wife proceeds to tell him a series of stories.
The crux of the book involves Edward, son of Wyatt Bayly who marries Ophelia Mason and takes over the running of the estate when her father passes. He is trying to atone for the sins of the fathers. His idea is to turn the Estate into a grand peach orchard. Ophelia prefers to spend her time in Baltimore and then France and takes Mary with her.
She leaves her son Edward with Wyatt because that's where sons belong. Edward grows up in an isolated community. His only childhood friend, Randall, is the grandson of slaves and the son of a couple who still work for the Masons. Wyatt treats them almost as brothers, but there is always that wall of race and class between them. Edward is far more naive about life than Randall who understands all too well that even though "Mr. Wyatt" has educated him and even pays for his education at Howard University, there will always be a difference between them.
Then Edward complicates matters even more by falling in love and ultimately marrying Randalls' beautiful sister, Beal. This is almost a reverse "Gone With The Wind" as we see how the sins of the fathers are revisited no matter how hard anyone tries to make things right. And, too often, it is the reformers who make it worse. I loved this book. It's beautifully written and unsparing in its realism. Now I'll have to reread "Mason's Retreat!"
The story starts with a distant Mason cousin coming to the Retreat at the invitation of "Miss Mary," the current owner. There are no more immediate male Masons to take over the Retreat. It is the turn of the century. Miss Mary is dying of cancer and is willing to leave the property to this distant cousin, Edward Mason, if he is willing. After he meets Miss Mary, he is told to take a tour of the estate with Mr. French, an elderly man who has been involved in the running of the estate, since her father's day. His wife proceeds to tell him a series of stories.
The crux of the book involves Edward, son of Wyatt Bayly who marries Ophelia Mason and takes over the running of the estate when her father passes. He is trying to atone for the sins of the fathers. His idea is to turn the Estate into a grand peach orchard. Ophelia prefers to spend her time in Baltimore and then France and takes Mary with her.
She leaves her son Edward with Wyatt because that's where sons belong. Edward grows up in an isolated community. His only childhood friend, Randall, is the grandson of slaves and the son of a couple who still work for the Masons. Wyatt treats them almost as brothers, but there is always that wall of race and class between them. Edward is far more naive about life than Randall who understands all too well that even though "Mr. Wyatt" has educated him and even pays for his education at Howard University, there will always be a difference between them.
Then Edward complicates matters even more by falling in love and ultimately marrying Randalls' beautiful sister, Beal. This is almost a reverse "Gone With The Wind" as we see how the sins of the fathers are revisited no matter how hard anyone tries to make things right. And, too often, it is the reformers who make it worse. I loved this book. It's beautifully written and unsparing in its realism. Now I'll have to reread "Mason's Retreat!"
lkshedlin's review against another edition
1.0
dreadfull I only finished it because it was for book group
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