The Last Secret of the Deverills: Family secrets and enduring love - from the Number One bestselling author (The Deverill Chronicles 3)

Product Information

The Girl in the Castle is one of those big, sprawling historical family sagas that they don’t seem to make anymore. But maybe they should. I have a tendresse for sweeping and epic romantic sagas set around huge houses and aristocratic families and Santa Montefiore hits the spot for me like few other writers... Lush, vivid storytelling’ Sarra Manning Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart' Jojo Moyes Readers who loved Downton Abbey, especially the subplot involving Tom the Irish chauffeur, will find much that strikes the same chord. Why would I want to listen to a book when I love to read? I was pleasantly surprised. I just loved to hear the voices of this epic tale.It was a delight to hear this story with Irish accents.

We begin this sequel in 1939 with Martha Wallace who is coming from America to find her birth mother. Martha was adopted as an infant and went to America with her happy parents. What secrets she will discover. Sigh. I'm actually rather bummed that my journey with the Deverills is over. Even though the book did what I feared and wrapped some things up easier and neater than I would like, some of the ending parts were satisfying and I think I'm going to have a bit of a book hangover from this trilogy. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I already miss the beautifully descriptive, emotion-evoking writing and the vivid pictures of Ireland and London that Montefiore provides throughout the book. As the story began with the childhoods of the three women, now we see them in their 20s and 30s, living with the choices they made long ago, and all of them facing the regrets of the roads not taken. Just at the point where it seems that one of them has found an easy road, instead of facing the envy of the others, they find tragedy instead. Triumphs are always brief, while the tragedies seem endless. This is the third novel of the Deverill Chronicles. This saga actually begins in 1600’s when Maggie O’Leary puts a curse on the Deverills. Apparently the Deverill’s decided to build a castle on O’Leary land.My particularly favourite character is Kitty. Strong, determined and willful she is in the center of all the exploits. Reading this novel I became in tune with Kitty and her feelings, following a young girl growing up and doing what is right for the greater good rather than for what one wants. This became heartbreaking at times but as the novel comes full circle you understand why the decisions she makes are detrimental to those around her. Somewhere in this is a life lesson. Heerlijk om terug haar verhaal te lezen, hoe mooi ze de dingen omschrijft gaande van de natuur, flora en fauna, tot de diepste gevoelens van de personages. Doordat ze dit zo vakkundig aan de dag legt voel je je verbonden met alle personages; hun lief en leed, hun geheimen en hun angsten. Je wordt door haar prachtige schrijfstijl ondergedompeld en je voelt als het ware de liefde die allen hebben voor hun teerbeminde Ierland. Alle personages worden als een magneet terug getrokken naar Ballinakelly waar ze hun jeugdjaren hebben doorgebracht. Het kasteel speelt een belangrijke rol in hun levens. Medan den yngre generationen börjar ta över, lever de tidigare fortfarande fast i den gamla förbannelsen över släkten Deverill. Ska de någonsin få vila i frid? Even though I had to cudgel my brain to recall who belonged to whom, and more importantly who betrayed whom, this was a great wrap to an excellent series. What I loved is the way that all of the loose ends got tied up, even the one with the castle ghosts, and that it didn’t feel rushed or overly predictable. El último secreto de los Deverill, es la conclusión de la triologia , una historia que tiene todo y que te deja sin nada , porque simplemente te roba el corazón.

When Martha Wallace leaves her home in America to search for her birth mother in Dublin, she never imagines that she will completely lose her heart to the impossibly charming JP Deverill. But more surprises are in store for her after she discovers that her mother comes from the same place as JP, sealing her fate.

- Third Book -

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” I’ve always thought this was Shakespeare, but it was actually Sir Walter Scott. At least until the fall of 1929, when everybody’s fortunes take a plunge into the depths of the Great Depression. Como es costumbre, esta ocasión le toca el protagonismo a Birdie, quien ahora casada con el Conde di Marcantonio , junto a su hijo se trasladan a Irlanda , ahora dueña y señora del castillo de Deverill. The story here is still seen through the eyes of the three young women, those daughters of Ireland that we first met in The Girl in the Castle. In that first book, it was Kitty’s story and Kitty’s castle. But times have changed, and now it’s her cousin Celia in extremely proud possession of the family seat.

In The Girl in the Castle those events were the Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence, as the Anglo-Irish Deverills found themselves on both sides of the Rising, while trusted, in the end, by neither. In this second book, The Daughters of Ireland, the action has moved from the tragedies of the immediate post-WWI period to the next great upheaval – the Depression. And the clouds of WW2 are already gathering on the horizon. There is a lot of tragedy in this story, with happiness being difficult for the characters to grasp, even at the end. World War I casts its shadow over much of Kitty’s teenage years, and British treatment of the Irish both during the war and immediately afterwards is as tragic as the loss of life on the battlefields and in the trenches. Anno 1939: Martha Wallace reist met haar nanny Mrs. Goodwin naar Dublin; thuis, in Connecticut, heeft ze ontdekt dat ze een adoptiekind is. Ze moet koste wat kost te weten komen wie haar biologische moeder is. Na haar bezoek in het klooster waar ze is geboren, is ze echt teleurgesteld maar er staat een naam op haar geboortecertificaat die hen verder kan helpen. In een tearoom ontmoet ze de aardige JP Deverill die daar met zijn vader Bertie aanwezig is. Ze zijn op slag verliefd en hopen elkaar terug te zien. Maar dit geluk kan niet blijven duren en Martha vertrekt terug naar de States. Mrs. Goodwin gaat niet meer met haar mee, zij zal in Ballinakelly blijven en daar heeft ze haar redenen voor. This saga is beautifully written. I couldn’t stop listening to it and will miss the wonderful Irish voices.

Over the years the three girls have separated, both physically and emotionally. But just before the war Bridie returned to their home in Balinakelly, with enough wealth to buy the castle from the now impoverished Deverills. Celia ran off to South Africa to resurrect her father’s diamond mine along with the family fortunes, while Kitty stayed in Balinakelly. Martha llega decidida a encontrar a su verdadera madre y los motivos que esta tuvo para darla en adopción, solo que el camino es un rosal con espinas. As the story begins, Celia has just bought the burned out castle, with her husband’s fortune and a bit of her father’s as well. She throws herself into the restoration with abandon – as well as oodles of Pounds Sterling. She intends to recreate Castle Deverill as she thinks she remembers it from her idyllic memories of her childhood – but it’s much more of a re-imagining than a re-creation. It’s Celia’s vision of what it was, not what it actually was. The heart and soul are no longer quite there. Den sista hemligheten” är lika bra som de två tidigare delarna. Författaren har ett berättarspråk som suger mig in i handlingen och jag älskar varje stund. Blandningen av längtan och sökande, kärlek och hat, sorg och förlåtelse är perfekt.

The family drama and melodrama are a big part of the charm of this story. This is not a functional family, which makes them much more interesting to read about. Kitty in particular is a high-spirited young woman who refuses to bend to either society’s expectations or her mother’s. While she is capable of doing the right thing, her tendency towards self-indulgence spells trouble for future books in the series. Martha reser från Amerika till Irland för att söka efter sin biologiska mor. I byn hennes mor kom ifrån, möter hon den stilige JP Deverill och blir hopplöst förälskad.Bridie Doyle, now Countess di Marcantonio and mistress of Castle Deverill, is determined to make the castle she used to work in her home. But just as she begins to feel things are finally going her way, her flamboyant husband Cesare has other ideas. As his eye strays away from his wife, those close to the couple wonder if he really is who he says he is. Bridie Doyle, now Countess di Marcantonio and mistress of Castle Deverill, is determined to make the castle she used to work in her home. But her flamboyant husband Cesare has other ideas. And as his eye strays away from his wife, those close to the couple start to wonder if he really is who he says he is. El desenlace de esta historia esta cargada de amor,intriga, drama, secretos y mentiras,el final ha sido muy realista y maravilloso. La mejor enseñanza; EL PERDÓN. Martha Wallace came to Dublin from her home in America to find her birth mother. But instead she has lost her heart to the impossibly charming JP Deverill. Then she discovers that her mother comes from the same place as JP, and her fate seems sealed. I just loved this series, but could not continue as my library was closed do to COVID 19. I found that I could borrow an audio copy of this wonderful book from Overdrive. I have never read a audiobook and had no desire to do so.