The Heir

by: Barbara Taylor Bradford

Published by: St. Martin's Press

Reviewed by Gerry Hartsoe

Barbara Taylor Bradford has a reputation for being a popular novelist. I had not read her books and was really looking forward to The Heir. I was very disappointed. Although Ms. Bradford painted a picture of opulent settings and wonderful characters, she left me hanging with tons of unfinished business.

The book tells of the Deravenels, a wealthy family with a global enterprise that handles everything from wine to oil. Edward Deravenel heads the company and brothers George and Richard also have positions.

The novel begins in 1918 just as the Great War has ended. Edward is an excellent manager and wants to grow the company even more. George is the jealous brother who spends his time womanizing and drinking, and has all sorts of gambling problems. Brother

Richard is more sensible and seems to show more allegiance to his brother, but has some weaknesses, too. Edward is very concerned about who will inherit the control of the
company and spends much of his time trying to avert other members of the family from taking over when the time comes.

Several times during the 470-page novel I was lead to believe that some terrible thing was about to happen to the main character, Edward Deravenel. Warnings were at the end
of several chapters, but in the next chapter, nothing happened and I started getting irritated.

All signs pointed to brother George doing something awful and trying to take over the company, but instead George is found dead. Later in the story Edward dies of natural
causes, and I was disappointed not to discover what really happened to George.

The book just skipped ahead to the third brother Richard who takes over Deravenels. Richard was supposed to keep things in order until Edwards’s son is old enough to inherit the company. Richard starts making major changes and suddenly Edward’s two young sons are missing, a mystery that was never solved.

From about this point in the book each chapter skipped ahead several years-and I totally lost interest.

The book would have been better if it answered what happened to George and who took the boys?

Armchair Interview says: This book tried to cover such a long time frame.

Author’s Web site: http://BarbaraTaylorBradford.com