Erica and Beth Calcott spent every summer at Storton Manor, growing up under the watchful eye of their spiteful grandmother Meredith and playing with Dinny, the boy from the traveller’s camp. Now, in the wake of Meredith’s demise, they’ve come back to set the family’s affairs in order, and to face the hideous secret that’s haunted Beth to the brink of her own grave.

Caroline Massey is a woman in the late 19^th century, following her heart and marrying the man of her dreams. But the West is a lot wilder than she’d counted on, and living on the prairie is a lot harder than expected. She can’t settle. She can’t conceive. And she can’t make her dream life work the way she thought it should.

As both stories unravel, slowly taking you through the loves, the secrets and the lies that make up the backdrop of any family, they intertwine, and the truth takes a slow and tentative shape around Beth and Dinny’s shared past. But what is the source of the all-consuming hatred Meredith and her mother bore for Dinny and his family?

The Legacy is an engaging novel, especially the portion dealing with the young Calcotts. Erica becomes so realistic as a first-person narrator that you’ll find yourself missing her warm, quirky voice when you’ve finished the book and put it aside.

Unfortunately, Caroline’s story has not been written with as much skill and humanity. Far from engaging one on a personal level, Caroline comes across as a whiny little madam, in need of a good stern talking to and an exhortation to pull herself up by the bootstraps. Her narrative, naturally shorter than the intertwining Calcott one, has been drawn out to match it for length so that parts of it simply dwell unnecessarily on Caroline’s inadequacies as a character you can sympathise with.

Presented as a victim of her upbringing, Caroline comes across poorly and it would take a generous heart indeed to warm to her plight. To add insult to injury, her story is told in the style of a bodice-ripper – not exactly the most impressive of literary styles.

Still, the novel remains engaging enough to finish it quickly, due to the enormous appeal of Erica Calcott, whose personality comes across perfectly. The eight-year-old Erica and the present-day Erica meld together seamlessly, showing a whole person with failings, foibles, and strength.

With a gentle touch of romance, the latter part of the book pulls together admirably and makes this novel feel less like a waste of time than an unfortunate oversight in editing.

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