Random Winds: A Novel

by Belva Plain

A tragedy on a cold Adirondack day robbed country doctor Enoch Farrell of his three oldest children. Then all his hopes rested with his son, Martin, who dreamed of becoming a doctor too. Intelligent, gifted Martin could have a brilliant future. All that stood in his way was his family's poverty—until he met wealthy, beautiful Mary Fern Meig and her sister, Jessie, and everything changed forever. Moving from a teeming New York hospital to the elite operating theaters of London, Martin Farrell is about to learn the price of success—a secret bargain with the Meigs that could resonate into the next generation . . . and test the strength of a man and a woman's passion across the coming years . . . Praise for Random Winds“Wonderful . . . A convincing, sweeping novel . . . A real page-turner.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer“Impossible to put down.”—South Bend Tribune“Engrossing.”—Publishers Weekly“Richly woven. . . . A twisting and complex story that touches the lives of everyone.”—UPI

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, Novels, Modern, Chick Lit

529 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 1980

About the author

Belva Plain was a best-selling American author of mainstream women's fiction. Her first novel, Evergreen (1978) topped the New York Times bestseller list for 41 weeks and was made into a TV miniseries. At her death, there were over 30 million copies of her twenty-plus novels in print in 22 languages.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Random Winds is a novel of three generations of doctors in the Farrell family: Enoch, a dedicated country doctor; Martin, Enoch's son, who becomes a well known neurosurgeon whose love for a woman he can never have could bring him to ruin; and, Claire, Martin's daughter, who turns her back on convention and finds the price too high.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Belva Plain is a great author.

[ChrisQ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was great, these characters though made me want to scream. I didn't care for most of them, so this was hard to work through.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has so much depth of character and universal truths...it is sad and good...I love the style of writing with the character saying something and then you know what they are thinking....between sentences. I think this story parallels so much of what is real in life--strife in love and what causes us to be the people we are, and especially the what-ifs (what if I had taken a different course, traveled a different path?), the possibilities of life are not just left to chance or are they? One can never be sure!

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an early Belva Plain but boy is it good. The story concerns a young man who wants and then becomes an outstanding surgeon. However, the real plot involves his love for a woman, marrying her sister, marrying another woman and his continuing love for that first woman. It is well written and keeps you reading to find out what happens. I really enjoyed it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could tell you what this book is about, but I am not really sure. It covers three generations of doctors from one family and the differences of the generations; however, it goes off in many directions without a real focus. The only question I finally had (about half way through the book), was if Martin and Mary Fern would ever get together. The characters and situations, I felt, were not very real. A very soap opera type atmosphere.

[Elaine Watson]

Just adding this to my list as I read it ages ago but just found it when sorting out my books therefore no review

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was there a story in there somewhere? I don't know because I didn't wait around to find out. Yuck...

[Jamie Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is second of Belva's books. I wanted to read them in order to not only start at the beginning of the story, but to watch her writing progress.

This is the life story of Martin. He becomes a neurosurgeon probably sometime in the early 1930's. he dreams of becoming a Dr at a very early age. His father is a small town doctor. Instead of telling his father he doesn't want to take over his practice, he takes it over suddenly when his father dies unexpectedly. Martin, until much later in his life, lives for everyone else and does what is expected of him. In the end, he learns what is most important in life...family. Career wise, his whole life he works toward opening a science lab to learn about brain function in order to save lives. FINALLY it is in the works to open and a committee gives it to someone else to run. He had made a decision to do the right thing. instead of what everyone expected him to do. He had to turn in another Dr for malpractice. Not the popular choice, but the right one. Great story.

Favorite moments and quotes:

So tender, a human body, a human life. Nothing more to it than a few pounds of fragile bone and soft tissue. Yes, and years of nurturing and thousands of hours of loving care.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did appreciate the beautiful prose, complex plot and rich, likeable characters of this book, but it just seemed to take me forever to get through. I think it dragged out too much for me to keep my attention. (Maybe my ADD at play :)). Anyway, if you like long multi-generational sagas you will likely enjoy this book. I have to say that (at least on my Kindle version) this book had the worst editing of any published work I've read. Missing punctuation, mispellings, characters referred to by different names (on the same page!), etc. Crazy stuff!

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Belva was a fairly new writer. I didn't realize she had been writing since the 1980's and passed away in 2010. She wrote about homosexuality before it became a common topic. Interesting story woven over 3 generations.

[My_every_day_chilling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe the person you deraming of spending the rest of your life with is not destined to be with you, and you must learn to love the and accept the person destiny has chosen for you.

[Laura Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of it dragged a little, but I still enjoyed it.

[Kathleen A, Fancher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story the characters

I did not lose interest at any point. I liked the passage of time and how relationships changed but stayed the same.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family saga of 3 generations of physicians, father, son, granddaughter; a physician who cheats on his wife, and the politics of hospital medicine and the good ole boys club, what's not to like about this book.

One minor fact that bugs me is why is a tool and die maker called a tool and dye maker two separate times in the book? I have never seen it spelled that way, and wonder if the author made that error or of an editor changed the spelling to that and why.

[Susan Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was great but..... This is the worst spelling, grammar, punctuation and incorrect words that I have ever seen!! It made it hard to read since so many periods were left out and it was hard to tell where a new sentence started. Lots of wrong punctuation where it should not be or none where it should be. Lots of misspelled words that made no sense. This was a terrible job of editing. I doubt the original book was like this.

[Melissa Good · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book to me read like a homework assignment. I didn’t hate it; I just didn’t like it. Yet every night I dutifully read to see what happened next. Pretty much, nothing happened. 3 generations of Farrell doctors, none of whom I cared for. In fact, I didn’t really like any of the characters in the book. I had read some of Belva Plain’s books a long time ago, thought I remembered liking them, so I thought I’d give this a try. Maybe I’ll try another one and hope for the best. 😂

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the excitement of turn-of-the-century New York village in upstate New York to fancy house parties in the beautiful English countryside, from taking care of rural poor patients to the fast-paced environment of a Manhattan hospital, this is the saga of three generations of doctors and all that they face and choices to be made.

[Lisa Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winning story by the legendary Belva Plain. The journey of a rural doctor’s son begins in poverty and leads to all sorts of questions and decisions. Martin has a brilliant mind and is hard-driven to make medical history, but his personal life is forever connected to sisters Mary Fern and Jessie. It’s a fascinating story.

[Melissa A Comer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining 20th century family saga set in the aftermath of the Great Depression followed with WWII. The medical profession figuring prominently from start to finish. The 'entertaining' aspect pales with an inordinate amount of distracting typos and various other errors throughout the Kindle version.

[Ary Chest · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to trash a Jewish novelist. There are not many who are commercially successful. There's something about her writing style that annoys me. the prose is so unclear. It barely feels like a story is there.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent saga about the lives of three generations of Doctors spanning a century. The stories of Enoch, Martin and Claire their loves, their trials and tribulations. I enjoyed this very much rather hard to put down for the night..

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is the sweeping saga of families joined and torn apart by intricacies of love discovered, love denied, love betrayed, and love fulfilled. The writing flows with a smooth, strong current that will carry readers along, sometimes with serenity and beauty, other times in violent torrents.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed Belva Plain's Evergreen series, so when I saw this one at the local thrift shop, I grabbed it.

This one was disappointing. She shifts tenses and POV's, often in the same paragraph. I didn't take to any of the characters enough to care about them. I gave it up at the halfway point.

[Brittany Cassel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This storyline wasn’t my favorite (affairs, divorce, abortion, homosexuality) but I really enjoy Belva Plain’s writing. She writes her characters in a way that feels very real and human. I also like how the story spans a lifetime and family not just a few years of a life.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story about a doctor who followed his father into the medical profession, he fell in love with a girl, whose father didn't think he was good enough, and so the saga starts.

[Trudy Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family saga. The life of three generations of doctors. Enjoy her books more all the time.

[Kw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a tome. Enjoyable reading and so well written, but I had a little trouble with The Obsession that went on forever. And I hated Claire's choice. Mediocre ending . . .

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book, by an outstanding author,

[Cori Macrae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice good read.