I am just finishing the 2nd book “Holding On”. I had bought all three of the books at the same time and I am reading them in proper order. I had started reading Marcia’s books about two years ago but was reading the later books first so now reading this trilogy, I am getting to know much more of the background of all the wonderful characters. They seem like old friends 🙂
For various reasons I have probably read the books more often than anyone else: on a day by day basis as they are written, through the first draft before it goes off to the agent, through the second draft (which incorporates the changes asked for by her editor), through the copy edited manuscript and then through the proofs. That’s five before they are published – and I never read them without finding something I had previously missed and I am never bored.
I love that Marcia refers to things that happened in past books in her later ones, remnding me of what makes her characters tick. These are books to definitely read a 2nd and even a 3rd time in the future 🙂
I was sitting in my gazebo, still reading the 3rd book when I got to the part where Uncle Theo dies and my eyes just misted over. My husband was nearby tinkering with something in the garage and asked what was wrong. I said “Theo is gone. The Keep will never be the same” and he just smiled. He knows how much I am into these books!
I loved this trilogy, it followed the family over the generations, and it was really “real” with issues and challenges that face every family, but set in that tranquility made it so enviable and calm, when things were going well ! Rodney your photographs and descriptive narrative makes it come to life, and is very special, thank you. It was nice to meet up with Fliss again recently, was it Indian Summer? I love the way all the characters weave their waya through the stories, we meet them again and again. Love it, Joanna Lockwood
Have you noticed that throughout the whole trilogy, which covers some fifteen to twenty years, we spend only four years with the characters? Everything else is off the page. Each book has four sections, each section covers three months (but not in the same year). Every time I think about it my mind gently reels.
I loved this series, loved following the characters as they grew up and developed into fascinating adults, one I have read and re read several times, I always find something new to think about, wonderful writing.
What is even better is that we revisit The Chadwicks again in The Prodigal Wife and yet again in Indian Mummer. So often you hear after a successful trilogy that it was a mistake to turn it into a quartet. Of course neither TPW or IS is a true sequel but stand alone books that happen to be based on characters we have already met..
Jolyon was interesting – he had been breathing down Marcia;s neck for a number of years trying to persuade her to explain how he became reconciled with his mother and she was resisting him. I think it was fear of the ‘quartet’ syndrome that held her back.
A Companion to the novels by Marcia Willett 
Thanks Marcia for this wonderful family and especially for Theo, the gentle glue that holds them all together.
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I am just finishing the 2nd book “Holding On”. I had bought all three of the books at the same time and I am reading them in proper order. I had started reading Marcia’s books about two years ago but was reading the later books first so now reading this trilogy, I am getting to know much more of the background of all the wonderful characters. They seem like old friends 🙂
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For various reasons I have probably read the books more often than anyone else: on a day by day basis as they are written, through the first draft before it goes off to the agent, through the second draft (which incorporates the changes asked for by her editor), through the copy edited manuscript and then through the proofs. That’s five before they are published – and I never read them without finding something I had previously missed and I am never bored.
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I love that Marcia refers to things that happened in past books in her later ones, remnding me of what makes her characters tick. These are books to definitely read a 2nd and even a 3rd time in the future 🙂
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I was sitting in my gazebo, still reading the 3rd book when I got to the part where Uncle Theo dies and my eyes just misted over. My husband was nearby tinkering with something in the garage and asked what was wrong. I said “Theo is gone. The Keep will never be the same” and he just smiled. He knows how much I am into these books!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I loved this trilogy, it followed the family over the generations, and it was really “real” with issues and challenges that face every family, but set in that tranquility made it so enviable and calm, when things were going well ! Rodney your photographs and descriptive narrative makes it come to life, and is very special, thank you. It was nice to meet up with Fliss again recently, was it Indian Summer? I love the way all the characters weave their waya through the stories, we meet them again and again. Love it, Joanna Lockwood
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Have you noticed that throughout the whole trilogy, which covers some fifteen to twenty years, we spend only four years with the characters? Everything else is off the page. Each book has four sections, each section covers three months (but not in the same year). Every time I think about it my mind gently reels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I adore this trilogy. Theo is my favorite character from the series. I love how he quietly lived his faith without ever being “preachy”.
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Yes, and his influence continued for many years after his death. One of Marcia’s truly great characters;
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I loved this series, loved following the characters as they grew up and developed into fascinating adults, one I have read and re read several times, I always find something new to think about, wonderful writing.
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What is even better is that we revisit The Chadwicks again in The Prodigal Wife and yet again in Indian Mummer. So often you hear after a successful trilogy that it was a mistake to turn it into a quartet. Of course neither TPW or IS is a true sequel but stand alone books that happen to be based on characters we have already met..
Jolyon was interesting – he had been breathing down Marcia;s neck for a number of years trying to persuade her to explain how he became reconciled with his mother and she was resisting him. I think it was fear of the ‘quartet’ syndrome that held her back.
LikeLike