I liked it, overall, but I can’t say I loved it. I loved 'Cashelmara', but this one was a real struggle for me, at times. The big old Oxmoor estate is the only thing ‘Gothic’ about this one, in my opinion. I often associate Susan Howatch with Gothic novels popular in the 70s, but she wrote more books like this one, which I’d categorize as European literature, historical fiction, and Family Saga- rather than anything Gothic. The last portion of the book was interesting- but I thought it got a bit weird- with all the psychoanalysis- but the mystery was compelling, if a big convoluted. Unfortunately, as action packed as all this sounds the novel truly dragged on, especially in the midsection and I think it could have been trimmed down significantly, or it should, at the very least, have been broken up into segments, perhaps like a trilogy, instead of one, huge, doorstop- sized tome.Īt times the saga was incredibly absorbing, and at other times, I had to put the book aside for long periods because I lost interest. If you like a long- and I do mean- LOOONNNGGG- family saga packed with every kind of scandal you can think of, filled with incredibly flawed characters, grand passions, heartbreaks, bitterness, guilt, adultery, cover-ups, and a possible murder mystery- then you’ve come to the right place!! This could be fun to research someday- but after completing a 1000 pages on the Godwin’s, that will have to be a project for another day. Whew! Okay, this story is quasi-based, on- or is a retelling of- the history of John of Gault, Richard II, and the Bolingbrokes. Through shocking revelations, he eventually wins Ginerva over his mother’s stringent objections and the couple marry- and eventually start a family of their own.įrom here the story is told in parts by various members of the family- all in a first person narrative- throughout the coming years, and decades- as they engage in scandal, obsession, competition, classism, and even murder- all while holding fast to the imposing Oxmoor mansion…

Yet Robert is not without his own grand passions- he is also obsessed with his cousin, Ginverva.

The first narrator is Robert Godwin – a man obsessed with both winning and bringing the Oxmoor estate back from the brink of ruin- which was a result of his grandmother’s scandalous affair. The story begins in 1913- and carries the reader all the up to 1970. This ENORMOUS tome is a generational family saga centered around the Godwin family and their manor home Oxmoor. The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch is a 2012 Open Road Media publication- (Originally published in 1985 by Fawcett)