Book info

• Title The Legacy
• Author Lynda La Plante
• Year 1987
• Genre Drama

One family. One legacy. One curse. Hugh is a hardened miner from the Welsh Valleys who has seen the better part of his life pass him by. His daughter Evelyne, true to his fears, has lost her heart to a man from a troubled life on the road. Freedom, a handsome prizefighter is saved from the gallows only to do battle for the heavyweight championship of the world. From the poverty of the Welsh pit valleys to the glories of the prize ring, from the dangers of Prohibition America to the terrors of Britain at war, Lynda La Plante delves into the lives of a remarkable family and the curse that forged their names...

Thoughts

I’ve seen a few reviews for this book saying it’s unlike Lynda La Plante’s usual work, more like a Catherine Cookson, and thus it has had a mixed response. I’ve not read any of her work before, so I wasn’t anticipating anything but I still wasn’t completely convinced by what I read.

The descriptions of poverty in the mining village in contrast to the wealth of Cardiff was brilliant, very evocative. But the characters were hard to like, not totally believable and more than anything inconsistent. Hot-headed one minute, gentle the next, proud and with principles, then doing anything to get what they want. Also, the ending seemed to fizzle out.

It wasn’t my kind of book, I hadn’t realised it would be so much about boxing - I’m not a fan of the sport at all, so reading about it isn’t something I’d choose to do. I usually like the sprawling books covering an entire lifetime of someone, but this one didn’t quite work for me. As it is said to be so different to La Plante’s normal fare, though, I’m not put off from reading more of her work.

Rating: 2 / 5