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The Tilsit Inheritance
THEY HAD ALL COME FOR THE TILSIT INHERITANCE..
When Virginia left for England, she did not know then that she had become the new Tilsit heiress. Nor did she know that this new-found life of wealth and luxury would turn instead into an awesome and terrifying burden.
Lawrence had once dreamed of the inheritance. A man hungry and ambitious for success. A man who found only mockery and ruin at the Tilsit house.
And there was the beautiful and sensuous Vanessa, whose life of worldly pleasure came crashing down when she, too, entered the ancestral home.
Finally there was Mark. The man Virginia loved and wanted but could not have-for he was already possessed by Tilsit.
THE TILSIT INHERITANCE-a story of a house and its family, both cursed by a mysterious and dark secret. A secret that would destroy everything and everyone if it were not destroyed first.
When Virginia left for England, she did not know then that she had become the new Tilsit heiress. Nor did she know that this new-found life of wealth and luxury would turn instead into an awesome and terrifying burden.
Lawrence had once dreamed of the inheritance. A man hungry and ambitious for success. A man who found only mockery and ruin at the Tilsit house.
And there was the beautiful and sensuous Vanessa, whose life of worldly pleasure came crashing down when she, too, entered the ancestral home.
Finally there was Mark. The man Virginia loved and wanted but could not have-for he was already possessed by Tilsit.
THE TILSIT INHERITANCE-a story of a house and its family, both cursed by a mysterious and dark secret. A secret that would destroy everything and everyone if it were not destroyed first.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
57 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Gaskin
94 books71 followersCatherine Gaskin (2 April 1929 – 6 September 2009) historical fiction and romantic suspense.
She was born in Dundalk Bay, Louth, Ireland in 1929. When she was only three months old, her parents moved to Australia, settling in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, where she grew up. Her first novel This Other Eden, was written when she was 15 and published two years later. After her second novel, With Every Year, was published, she moved to London. Three best-sellers followed: Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951), and Daughter of the House (1952). She completed her best known work, Sara Dane, on her 25th birthday in 1954, and it was published in 1955. It sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into a number of other languages, and was made into a television series in Australia in 1982. Other novels included A Falcon for the Queen (1972) and The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977).
Catherine Gaskin moved to Manhattan for ten years, after marrying an American. She then moved to the Virgin Islands, then in 1967 to Ireland, where she became an Irish citizen. She also lived on the Isle of Man. Her last novel was The Charmed Circle (1988). She then returned to Sydney, where she died in September 2009, aged 80, of ovarian cancer.
She was born in Dundalk Bay, Louth, Ireland in 1929. When she was only three months old, her parents moved to Australia, settling in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, where she grew up. Her first novel This Other Eden, was written when she was 15 and published two years later. After her second novel, With Every Year, was published, she moved to London. Three best-sellers followed: Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951), and Daughter of the House (1952). She completed her best known work, Sara Dane, on her 25th birthday in 1954, and it was published in 1955. It sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into a number of other languages, and was made into a television series in Australia in 1982. Other novels included A Falcon for the Queen (1972) and The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977).
Catherine Gaskin moved to Manhattan for ten years, after marrying an American. She then moved to the Virgin Islands, then in 1967 to Ireland, where she became an Irish citizen. She also lived on the Isle of Man. Her last novel was The Charmed Circle (1988). She then returned to Sydney, where she died in September 2009, aged 80, of ovarian cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 4, 2014
This was the first book I had read by Catherine Gaskin. The cover subtitle called it a romantic novel of suspense, but I did not find it particularly suspenseful; it was more a coming-of-age story of a young woman, born on a Caribbean Island, convent-educated, and transported to the confining environs of a centuries-old English mansion where everything revolves around the Tilsit Potteries and the china that has created the family wealth. Generally, I enjoy the mysterious atmosphere created by semi-Gothic mansion settings, but I actually enjoyed the first volume of the book more than the second. The sunny island, with its gentle, less-driven inhabitants seemed far more real than the dark and gloomy world of the Tilsits. Unlike Gaskin’s historical novels, this book is set in the late fifties and early sixties, and epitomizes the attitudes of that era, which may be why I couldn’t quite buy into the heroine’s romance with the brooding artist that came right out of the blue in the second volume. However, in spite of a sense of artificiality in the second half—which, to be fair, the author may well have intended—the novel was an absorbing read. The descriptions of the various settings were vivid and evocative, and the background information about the sugar cane and china industries was fascinating.
January 30, 2017
DNF, pg 100-something. Life's too short to waste on boring books.
I liked the opening scene(s) in the Puerto Rican convent. Then...nothing. Unending scenes of tedious linguistic cartwheels to discuss...well, nothing. There's just NO PLOT whatsoever. I can understand withholding certain backstory details for the sake of suspense, but there *is* no suspense to bolster. All these people do is walk around an island & swim in coves & stare thoughtfully at beaches & stack lumber in piles & stare thoughtfully at something else. Seriously, guys. That's the sum total of the first 100+ pages.
Maybe it picks up in the second half? Whatever. I won't be there to see it.
I liked the opening scene(s) in the Puerto Rican convent. Then...nothing. Unending scenes of tedious linguistic cartwheels to discuss...well, nothing. There's just NO PLOT whatsoever. I can understand withholding certain backstory details for the sake of suspense, but there *is* no suspense to bolster. All these people do is walk around an island & swim in coves & stare thoughtfully at beaches & stack lumber in piles & stare thoughtfully at something else. Seriously, guys. That's the sum total of the first 100+ pages.
Maybe it picks up in the second half? Whatever. I won't be there to see it.
April 22, 2019
I have turned to some old books that I found in a used bookstore. This is one of them. I must have read it four or five times because it is that good. Gaskin is an excellent writer. The book is about a young woman who has grown up innocently on a Caribbean island. Her father is English and her mother is Dutch. Her mother’s family has a long history on the island. Her father’s past life is been much of a mystery to her. It is almost as if she lives in a dream world. An older man moves next-door and begins the process of building a resort. Her small quiet life is going to change forever. He is a widower and very much still in mourning. She in her innocence falls for him but he keeps her at arms length. She finds out that there is a big mystery to her father back in England. When he receives a cable it kills him and she has to leave for England to find out why. The story of her growing up and maturing is done with such skill. She leaves her innocents behind while in England and falls in love with a man who is involved in her family‘s business. The man she left behind on the island has realized he loves her. It all works out in the end. I highly recommend this book.
July 29, 2008
When I first found this book about thirty years ago, I read it and loved it! One of my book clubs likes to do old classic books, so I recommended this one. It was hard to find copies. Luckily, I had some to loan out. If you can find it, it's a good read.
Catherine Gaskin explores the china industry and the sugar cane business in this book. So I read other books by her. In one, she explored grape-growing and wine-making. In another she did glassware and crystal. In another, the growing of hops and the making of whiskey. Each book she wrote taught me things as it entertained me. Maybe it will be the same for you.
Catherine Gaskin explores the china industry and the sugar cane business in this book. So I read other books by her. In one, she explored grape-growing and wine-making. In another she did glassware and crystal. In another, the growing of hops and the making of whiskey. Each book she wrote taught me things as it entertained me. Maybe it will be the same for you.
April 12, 2024
I first read this book when I was in high school, many years ago. Rereading it now, I found it interesting not only as a well-written novel, but as a time capsule. Since it was set in the present, it showed life as it was, with none of the anachronisms that often show up when a book is set in the (relatively) recent past. It was a time before--not just before cell phones and social media, but a time before the women's movement, a time before the blurring of social classes, and even a time before Stonewall. If you're willing to accept the denser writing style of the time, the story is a good one, and one that certainly covers a lot of geographical territory.
April 1, 2024
Another story about a very dysfunctional and disturbing family. However I liked how it ended.
May 6, 2025
Jeanette Yeomans
A great book I could not put down.so far I have read
Four of her books
Her characters seem like real people.
A great book I could not put down.so far I have read
Four of her books
Her characters seem like real people.
August 4, 2025
This was such an engrossing book!
I first encountered this novel about fifteen years ago in a Reader's Digest of condensed books but couldn't remember the title, name of the author, or year it had been published. I could vividly recall the few pages I had read- the opening scene in a garden- and it made such an impression on me that, unable to forget the lost novel so many years later, I went in frantic search of it. Such is the effect of Catherine Gaskin's writing. As another reviewer noted, it is a denser writing style with a slower pace, but I found it refreshing. The chapters were long, almost episodic, and rich in atmosphere. Gaskin's characters are complex and some remind me of people I know.
I particularly liked the way it ended. No matter what Ginny chose to do- to stay at Tilsit or leave- she was inevitably repeating the fate of someone in her family. Her decision brought the narrative full circle.
I first encountered this novel about fifteen years ago in a Reader's Digest of condensed books but couldn't remember the title, name of the author, or year it had been published. I could vividly recall the few pages I had read- the opening scene in a garden- and it made such an impression on me that, unable to forget the lost novel so many years later, I went in frantic search of it. Such is the effect of Catherine Gaskin's writing. As another reviewer noted, it is a denser writing style with a slower pace, but I found it refreshing. The chapters were long, almost episodic, and rich in atmosphere. Gaskin's characters are complex and some remind me of people I know.
I particularly liked the way it ended. No matter what Ginny chose to do- to stay at Tilsit or leave- she was inevitably repeating the fate of someone in her family. Her decision brought the narrative full circle.
June 13, 2021
Combine du Maurier, Bronte, and McCullough and you get the genre of this book. If you want a generational sweeping, love story, girl becomes strong woman, slight mystery, aristocratic book of manners where the estate is a character and the dead non supernaturally haunt said estate. This book may be for you.
July 12, 2020
Found it on a bookshelf, it is dated, but whiled away a few hours. My edition was printed in 1979, so assume that is when I first read it.
January 16, 2025
Langatmig, zum Schluss einige offene Handlungsstränge, hab mich durch gekämpft
June 18, 2025
Quite an absorbing coming of age novel by Catherine Gaskin in “The Tilsit Inheritance”.
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/the-tilsit...
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/the-tilsit...
December 28, 2014
I liked this book well enough. There wasn't anything in it that would cause me to recommend that another person spend time on it, however. I had 2 main complaints:
1) the love interests, Jim and Mark, both had a habit of flying into a temper for little or no reason that I could see.
2) at the end Ginny and Mark both declare an all-consuming love for each other.....but then Ginny forsakes him and deserts him. Unlike a normal romance, they don't end up happily ever after with each other. She goes back, presumably, to her first lesser love with Jim. It struck me as an odd way to end the novel.
1) the love interests, Jim and Mark, both had a habit of flying into a temper for little or no reason that I could see.
2) at the end Ginny and Mark both declare an all-consuming love for each other.....but then Ginny forsakes him and deserts him. Unlike a normal romance, they don't end up happily ever after with each other. She goes back, presumably, to her first lesser love with Jim. It struck me as an odd way to end the novel.
August 22, 2012
Classified as romantic suspense---but I didn't feel there was much suspense in it. Lots of puzzles but no breathtaking moments. Still in all a good satisfying story of a young woman from a Caribbean island who travels to England to receive and inheritance from her aunt, an English pottery.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews