Willowwood

by Mollie Hardwick

While visiting her aunt's London house, beautiful but crippled Lilian de Wentworth falls prey to the alluring, decadent Leoline Bevis, endangering her chances for a long-term affair with the honest gardener, her other love

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Mollie Greenhalgh Hardwick was an English author who was best known for writing books that accompanied the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs.

As well as writing many Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and The Duchess of Duke Street novels, she was also the creator of the Doran Fairweather novels and wrote three Juliet Bravo books. Hardwick also wrote many books and plays based around the Sherlock Holmes novels. She married fellow author Michael Hardwick in 1961.

Series:
* Upstairs Downstairs
* The Duchess of Duke Street
* Thomas and Sarah
* Juliet Bravo
* Doran Fairweather

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope. DNF.

I can't say whether this is a bad book, per se, but it's definitely not for me -- too much a cross between Thomas Hardy & Masterpiece Theatre. No thx; I like my historical dramas to be shameless & escapist as opposed to such self-conscious correctness. (It also contains a lot about Pre-Raphaelites & cricket, so if that's your thing...? *shrug*)

Edit: My mom read this & found it "interesting enough." But my mom is a fan of the more boring Masterpiece Theatre type dramas, so there you go. ;) Final verdict remains: YMMV.

[ANGELIA · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a much better book. It has some HR tropes: the misunderstanding, the stolen letter, the separation, the h's virtue imperiled by the evil OM, the rescue by the H, etc. The trouble is, in this book it all fell flat.

The romance between Lillian and Jack so insipid, it's like expecting bubbly champagne and getting flat ginger ale. Chemistry? These two had none. Witty dialog, entertaining exchanges? Try yawn yawn, snooze snooze. The author skimmed over the sex scenes, which is just as well, because these two couldn't make enough spark to light a match.

As for the OM/villain: what a joke! A pre-Raphaelite artist with an obsession with the late Elizabeth Siddal (not to mention an obsession with death and a penchant for necrophilia), Leo determines to turn Lillian into Elizabeth 2.0, with the help of some drugs and lousy poetry. This guy was more laughable than ominous and just got more ridiculous.

As the sour icing on the cake, when Lillian and jack have their HEA, it turns out to be a flawed one. She's gone from a man obsessed with death to one obsessed with cricket. jack hopes to be a champ. To me, he's more of a chump.

So is this book.

[Shellylovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novel we meet Lillian de Wentworth a young woman in Victorian England. Having fallen in a riding accident seven years ago she is rendered seemingly unable to walk. It seems she will be living forever in her mother’s house unless she accepts the courtship of Augustus Hambleden . She accepts this reluctantly until the day she meets her uncle’s young gardener. Jack Ellershaw . Suddenly having her first crush. She contrives to talk to Jack who dreams of someday being a professional cricket player. After a misunderstanding leads to her mother becoming upset her aunt invites her to her home in London far from Jack. Here she meets the art crowd and soon becomes snared in a web of darkness. Lillian wonders if she will ever see Jack again or will she be another tragic muse? I loved this romance with its touches of gothic elements and immersive writing.