Inte lika bra som de andra böcker jag läst av henne. ( )

Oh my god this is torture.
I lost 10 hours of my life listening to this and only just got to the second half.
By the way, still nothing happened in the story. ( )

I was captivated by ‘The Misbegotten’, a wonderfully readable, utterly compelling story, set early in the eighteenth century. It is story of dark secrets, terrible losses, devastating lies, of the lives that they affect, and of truths that may be brought to light at a very high price.

It is the story of Starling, a founding, a girl-child found walking from the marshes. She who has the good fortune to be found by a good-hearted young woman. Alice took in the child, she gave her a name, she brought her up, and in time she found a place as a servant in the family home.

It is the story of Jonathan Alleyn, who loved Alice more than life itself, and who is devastated, completely broken, when Alice disappears. He becomes a recluse, watched over his anxious mother. Starling was told that Alice ran away, but she didn’t believe it. She believed that Jonathan had killed Alice, and that the knowledge of what he had done had left him unhinged.

And it is the story of Rachel, a governess, who seized a chance of marriage that she thought would bring her freedom. It didn’t; she found she was trapped. And then fate pitched her into the middle of the Alleyn household, where she was drawn into in the haunting mystery surrounding Alice’s departure.

The plot that brings all of these stories together is beautifully and brilliantly constructed. Secrets lead to more secrets, and the narrative becomes more and more compelling. Because I believed in these people, who they were, what their lives had made them, what they said, how they acted. And I cared. I appreciated a wealth of wonderful detail, and that every detail was significant. I appreciated lovely storytelling, full of rich descriptions that brought times and places completely to life. I was pulled in, I was pulled back and forth across twenty or so years, early in the nineteenth century, and I just couldn’t let go. The Misbegotten is a big and heavy book, but it didn’t feel like a big and heavy book. I read quickly because I so wanted to know – at first I was mystified, in time I put together a few ideas, but I didn’t work out everything until the end.

As I read I saw the influence of some of the nineteenth century’s most beloved authors. I saw Rachel walk the same streets and visit the same places as Jane Austen’s characters, in the city of Bath. I caught echoes of Emily Bronte in the relationship between Alice and Jonathan. And the plotting made me think of Wilkie Collins. But don’t think this is a pastiche. The Misbegotten has so much more than those influences, and it stands on its own merits. It speaks clearly of the inferior position of women in society, of the horrors of war, and it touches on themes that I don’t think would be found in any novel of its period.

It’s such a cliché, but I have to say that this is the perfect book to curl up with on a gloomy autumn evening. And I also have to say that if you plan to read ‘The Misbegotten’ you shouldn’t read too much about it before you start to read, because the details of characters, relationships and situations emerge so beautifully that it would be a pity not to come to as much of the book as you can without foreknowledge.

The story did rather lurch into melodrama at the end, but I didn’t mind. I know that not everybody likes it but I like a little melodrama from time to time. And the plot did resolve itself very nicely. I appreciated that the knots were tied, but they weren’t tied too tightly or to neatly.

There was one lose thread, that night or might not have been attended to, and it was rather nice to be left with that to ponder.

I’m sorry to have come to the end of The Misbegotten, but I am very pleased to have found a contemporary author with a backlist to explore. ( )

Captivating, delightfully compelling, and just plain fun! A story set in the eighteenth century, of losses, lies and about how secrets can come back to haunt us – that it will always find a way to rise to the surface, and the price one has to pay for it. It is also a story of deceit, passion and courage.

The Misbegotten by Katherine Webb is set in the city of Bath in the south of England and begins in 1803 when a small child is found walking alone from the nearby marshes. Alice, a good-hearted woman but with a secret past of her own took her in and calls her Starling. The two becomes fast companions, almost inseparable.

It is the story of a governess Rachel Crofton, who makes a fast decision to marry into the family of Richard Weekes, a self-made businessman, which is beneath her class. By this marriage of convenience she has high hope for the future. Rachel’s decision is prompted by her loneliness and the loss of her family fortune by her father before his death. Richard also seems to be genuinely in love with her.

It is also the story of a heart-broken and devastated Jonathan Alleyn, a man battered by Peninsula War and deeply tormented by the disappearance of his childhood sweetheart Alice. Jonathan supposedly loves Alice more than life itself. Ever since her disappearance he becomes withdrawn, and leads an almost reclusive life.

Though Starling was told that Alice had run away, she, however, has a different opinion. She believes that Alice was killed by Jonathan and his sins are now tormenting him. Did Alice run away? Or did something more sinister happen to her?

It is a book which I absolutely enjoyed, and you would want to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of Alice, or how Starling with Rachel took the matter into their hands and bring the truth to light. Totally engrossing, uncovering one secret leads to a darker secret which will keep the reader turning each remaining page with hearts jumping and bloods pumping faster.

An absolute delight to read, The Misbegotten by Katherine Webb is an absorbing tale! ( )

Rachel Crofton is unhappy as a governess, so when she marries Richard Weeks her life will change forever. She is employed to read and be a companion to the reclusive Jonathan Allen. Starling a young maid in the household is convinced that Alice her ‘sister’ that has been missing for several years has been murdered by Jonathan.

My Thoughts:

I have read all previous books by Katherine Webb and loved them. This book however I did not love as much. I always find these genre like a pair of comfy slippers, stories that I can curl up with. Plenty of dark family secrets, rambling old houses and a love story or two.

This book I found was way too long and I hate to say I was getting fed up with it and just wanted the story to end. I wouldn’t go as far to say the book was boring because it wasn’t I just felt myself getting bored as I wanted it to draw it’s conclusion so I could move on to my next read I also found the story a little predictable and I could quite easily work out who was really related to who and who the real murderer was. I normally love these type of books, but this one was a little of a let down.

Years ago when I was in my early teens I used to love a good Catherine Cookson and these type of books due remind of them, and this I don’t mean as a bad thing. Catherine Cookson for me let me enter a world fantasy world where the servant girl was going to make good, or the squire was going to get his comeuppance. So these books by the likes of Katherine Webb and Kate Morton take me back to my teenage years.

Anybody who has never read a book by Katherine Webb will probably enjoy the story as I would have done myself, but having read her previous books this one is not half as good. Katherine Webb is an author who I enjoy and will always look forward to more books in the future. ( )