Review The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy

   Synopsis:  An epic, sweeping tale of a dynasty rotten to the core, driven by ambition, lust – and hatred.

For generations, Aurelia was the crowning glory of more than three thousand acres of Iowa farmland and golden cornfields. The estate was a monument to matriarch Lavinia Hathaway’s dream to elevate the family name—no matter what relative or stranger she had to destroy in the process. It was a desperation that wrought the downfall of the Hathaways—and the once-prosperous farm.
Now the last inhabitant of the decaying old home has died—alone. None of the surviving members of the Hathaway family want anything to do with the farm, the land or the memories.

Especially Meredith Pincetti. Now living in New York City, for seventeen years Lavinia’s youngest grandchild has tried to forget everything about her family and her past. But with the receipt of a pleading letter, Meredith is again thrust into conflict with the legacy that destroyed her family’s -great name.

Back at Aurelia, Meredith must confront the rise and fall of the Hathaway family…and her own part in their mottled history.

My Thoughts and Opinion:  I remember reading, and some of you may too, a Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford in 1979.  It was with that book that I sought others of the same premise.  How the role of the matriarch came to be.  Usually with ruthlessness, revenge, lack of remorse, greed, and hatred but in the end, was always alone.  Family members emotionally destroyed along the way.  Secrets kept hidden.  But memories never die.

The Legacy of Eden was just that book.  The author, Nelle Davy, in her debut book, pulled you in from the start.  Meredith, one of three grand daughters, who had tried so very hard to forget those years living at Aurelia, was located and notified that the farm was to be sold.  The writer alternates between the present and past as stories that were related to Meredith from her dieing grandmother.  The family members come to life but are products of their upbringing that at times you feel sorry for them.  I could actually feel the lack of emotions between family members.  There were hints of secrets within the family throughout the book, which one could figure out but then it still made the family what it truly was.  A figment of their own imagination.  A very engrossing saga, especially for a debut novel.