Legacy of Secrets: A Novel

by Elizabeth Adler

Overview

She was the incomparable Lily Molyneux, whose jet  hair and sapphire eyes drove men to madness and  revenge. Rich, reckless titles, her secrets would  scar generations to come . . . . They could never  have enough money or power to capture her elusive  heart: three men who amassed fame and fortune in  pursuit of the one woman they couldn't deny. And  a fourth who dies for her sins . . . . Elizabeth  Adler's enthralling novel of passion, privilege,  and retribution sweeps from the castles of  nineteenth-century Ireland to Boston bustling Back Bay,  from Beacon Hill's mansions to Wall Street's  towering heights: three generations haunted by buried  passions that refuse to rest in peace . . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440216575
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/01/1994
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	4.15(w) x 6.84(h) x 1.33(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Adler is the internationally acclaimed bestselling author of many novels, including Sooner or Later, Now or Never, The Secret of the Villa Mimosa, All or Nothing, and Fortune Is a Woman.

Read an Excerpt

Ardnavarna, Connemara
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Legacy of Secrets"
by .
Copyright © 1994 Elizabeth Adler.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"Ingeniously plotted . . . . Spiced  with betrayal, revenge, lust and scandal, this is an  intoxicating brew served with  panache."
—Publishers Weekly

"Maudie Molyneux [is] one of the most delightfully  original narrators in recent  memory."
—Chicago Tribune

"In a narrative that purrs like a Rolls, Adler once  again weaves and spins her story threads  skillfully."
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Adler ( Fortune Is a Woman ) keeps her latest, ingeniously plotted saga fairly racing toward its conclusion. In 1883, Lily Molyneux, daughter of a noble Irish family, is raped by the scion of an equally prominent family. Pregnant and afraid that she will be forced to marry her molester, she names as the father the lowly stableboy Finn O'Keeffe, hoping that she will then be allowed to remain unwed. But her plan backfires: Lily is banished and Finn and his brother Daniel must flee for their lives. All three find themselves on the same boat to America. Their heady and romantic adventures unfold against a panorama of Irish country estates, squalid Boston slums and the New York City bustle of Broadway and Wall Street. The author brackets this turn-of-the-century drama with a present-day mystery: real-estate tycoon Bob Keeffe, Finn's descendant, has died of a gunshot wound and been ruled a suicide. His daughter, however, is sure that he was murdered, and she reaches back into the past for clues. Spiced with betrayal, revenge, lust and scandal, this is an intoxicating brew, served with panache. Literary Guild and Doub le day Book Club selections. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Irish immigrant Lily Molyneux is more accustomed to sweeping through grand rooms in ball gowns than sweeping floors, but she learns quickly when banished to the states by her infuriated father. Ironically, the man Lily has said is the father of her child escapes to America on the same ship (working in the engine room) and will one day be rich enough to buy the Irish castle and the property his family worked on as peasants. Adler's narrator is Lily's elderly niece, Maudie, who recounts her great aunt's indiscretions and betrayals to a ready audience made up of Shannon Keefe and Ed Sheridan, descendants of Lily and one of her lovers. The novel moves from slightly formulaic to incredible when Maudie and her ancient servant Brigid journey to the U.S. to help solve the murder of Lily's grandson (Shannon's father). Still, the emerald settings, juxtapositioning of past and present, and glamorous characters will ensnare Adler's fans.

Denise Perry Donavin

In a narrative that purrs like a Rolls, Adler (Fortune is a Woman, The Property of a Lady, etc.) once again weaves and spins her story threads so skillfully that the aged pop-dynasty staples—dust to diamonds, coincidental meetings, one-shot pregnancies—meld into the relentlessly charming surrounds. The wildly tangled fortunes of the doughty O'Keeffe boys, Dan and Finn, and exquisite Lily of the titled Molyneux family are revealed—Arabian Nights-fashion—by ancient Maudie Molyneux in the fine old family house ("Ardnavarna") in Connemara, Ireland. Maudie's audience is composed of two young people new to her—orphaned Shannon O'Keeffe, who's certain that her father, Bob, a rich American powerbroker, has been murdered; and Eddie Sheridan, who's also from the States and eager for connection. The clues that both found in old cottages in Nantucket have brought them to Ardnavarna. Maudie, who dresses for dinner every evening in her 1920's-30's-style Schiaparellis and Diors, slowly reveals the personality of the beautiful Lily Molyneux, Maudie's late aunt. In Ireland, Lily's hasty cruelties mean banishment for Dan, as well as for Finn, whom she has begun to love, and her reckless pursuit of a rotter causes a pregnancy and a never-darken-this-door-again edict from Lord Molyneux. It's off to America then, where the brothers eventually float upward—to the top in Boston business and politics—and where Lily is rescued by adoring actor Ned Sheridan, has a baby, suffers, marries twice, produces another child—and, meanwhile, guess who lives just around the corner? While three men deal with Lily's lure, the Molyneux family—back in the auldcountry—disintegrates. Thanks to Maudie in the present, the family trees are espaliered for plain viewing—before she and an ancient housekeeper travel to the States to to confront a killer. A peppering of teasing secrets in a mix of favorite pop gimmicks—by one of the more accomplished plotsters and tellers of tales. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for October)

Kirkus Reviews