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The Marchington Inheritance: A Novel of Suspense
Book by Holland, Isabelle
280 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1979
20 people want to read
About the author
Isabelle Holland
66 books28 followersIsabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was an author of children and adult fiction. Her father was the American Consul in Liverpool, England during WWII. She moved to America in 1940 due to the war. She wrote Gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers, and many books for children and young adults. She wrote over 50 books in her lifetime, and was still working at the time of her death at age 81 in New York City.
Two of her novels have been made into movies:
Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993
Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.
Two of her novels have been made into movies:
Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993
Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 13, 2021
I will say that Isabelle Holland's gothics are kind of an acquired taste. The plotting can be a touch clunky and her characters are usually not conventionally likeable. However, there is a certain something to her books that just pulls me in.
This book is set in the far from desolate world of late 1970s New York City, but the author manages to pull off that eerie gothic feel nevertheless. Painter Avril Brooke is living in the family brownstone with an elderly relative, and basically puttering along. However, the opening of an unconventional new nursery school next door, paired with the unexpected return of Avril's estranged sister and the sister's family unleashes an unlikely series of events that come together in a rather unusual mystery.
The author does a wonderful job of creating a good sense of time and place. Her descriptions of New York sounded very like my grandparents' stories, and the way in which she weaves in the political atmosphere of the time kept my interest. I felt like I was in a time machine as I read.
The author also does a good job of ratcheting up the tension. We start with odd hints dropped here and there about Avril's sister or about the school not being quite what it should be. However, these all start coalescing and turning into quite the dramatic mystery by the end. There are some points to the story that feel very dated and which modern readers will hopefully find problematic, such as the attitudes toward women and some casually offensive stray remarks about people from Middle Eastern countries. However, the book did mostly work for me.
There is a romance of sorts woven into the novel, but it felt rather abruptly tacked on. The mystery would honestly have worked without the romantic interludes.
CW: sexual orientation being treated as a family secret and career ender (this was written in the 70s, but this plot point will jump out at most modern readers), casually racist/stereotypical remarks - mostly by characters from what would have been the older generation
This book is set in the far from desolate world of late 1970s New York City, but the author manages to pull off that eerie gothic feel nevertheless. Painter Avril Brooke is living in the family brownstone with an elderly relative, and basically puttering along. However, the opening of an unconventional new nursery school next door, paired with the unexpected return of Avril's estranged sister and the sister's family unleashes an unlikely series of events that come together in a rather unusual mystery.
The author does a wonderful job of creating a good sense of time and place. Her descriptions of New York sounded very like my grandparents' stories, and the way in which she weaves in the political atmosphere of the time kept my interest. I felt like I was in a time machine as I read.
The author also does a good job of ratcheting up the tension. We start with odd hints dropped here and there about Avril's sister or about the school not being quite what it should be. However, these all start coalescing and turning into quite the dramatic mystery by the end. There are some points to the story that feel very dated and which modern readers will hopefully find problematic, such as the attitudes toward women and some casually offensive stray remarks about people from Middle Eastern countries. However, the book did mostly work for me.
There is a romance of sorts woven into the novel, but it felt rather abruptly tacked on. The mystery would honestly have worked without the romantic interludes.
CW: sexual orientation being treated as a family secret and career ender (this was written in the 70s, but this plot point will jump out at most modern readers), casually racist/stereotypical remarks - mostly by characters from what would have been the older generation
February 13, 2013
I feel faintly guilty liking this book so much because it’s out-of-print - thank goodness for the library is all I can say. So, this book had the best kind of romance subplot - the kind that is not overtly romantic at all, and yet crazily romantic at the same time. The 1970s New York City setting really came to life for me - both little things (like the usage of public phone booths in those pre-mobile phone days) and the wider context (the politics of that era play quite a large part in the mystery/suspense plot). I found this reminiscent of some of Barbara Michaels’ books - maybe books written during the 1970/80s have a common feel to them?
Side note: I just noticed the book’s subtitle on Goodreads - “A Novel of Suspense”. Love.
Side note: I just noticed the book’s subtitle on Goodreads - “A Novel of Suspense”. Love.
June 5, 2010
This is a reread for me. The Marchington family is made up of people with misconceptions about each other. The heroine is a former flower child/drug addict whose father secretly took her baby away at birth and gave to her hated older sister - a secret not revealed for 10 years until a series of events bring the family together. A terrorist act involving a daycare/school is involved along with a love/hate romance between the heroine and her cousin.
October 15, 2017
The paperback I read was frail and the pages quite yellow with age but as I read the storyline it felt as though it could have been ripped from today's headlines which made me quite curious as to the copyright date. The copyright date is 1979 and the edition was a First Fawcett Crest Printing in October, 1980. Quite intriguing. It reminded me of novels by Mary Stewart read during my senior year in high school which following the introduction in 4th grade to Nancy Drew novels continued my love of the mystery genre.
October 13, 2018
Excellent!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews