The Bowes Inheritance
The Bowes Inheritance is a stunning, captivating and all-round brilliant first novel from reader turned writer, Pam Lecky. It opens with her heroine, Louise Campbell, living in ‘genteel poverty’ in Dublin with her ailing sister. Unexpectedly, the girls inherit a large estate, Bowes Farm, on the Cumberland coast from a mysterious, black-sheep uncle, the girls were completely unaware of. Instead of selling the farm and living comfortably on the profits, the young women decide to make the move from Dublin to Bowes Farm. Unfortunately, their deceased uncle’s nature and suspected Fenian leanings meant he was not well liked amongst the locals. Louisa has a tough battle on her hands to turn this around to gain acceptance in local society, especially when it comes to Nicholas Maxwell – their handsome neighbour and local magistrate – whose family was cheated of the farm during a card game decades before.
This beautifully written historical romance is sublime in its description and attention to detail, and skilfully interwoven with poignant political issues of the times, adventurous subplots of bombings, police raids, a secret affair, gun-smuggling and an abduction all work well and tie up satisfactorily in the end. If you are a fan of Georgette Heyer-type romances, I think you will enjoy this novel. An absolutely sterling first novel, well presented in an extremely attractive cover. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope to see much more from this talented author, maybe even a sequel to this story.
