The Inheritance

by Elaine Jeremiah

When Emma uses blackmail to force her father into giving her the inheritance owing to her early, it sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of her and her elder sister Kate forever. Although Emma and Kate have grown up on their father’s farm together, they each want two very different things. Emma is fed up with her boring, suffocating lifestyle and longs to break free. Kate by contrast is happy living and working for her father on the farm and can’t understand her sister’s urgency to leave.

With her inheritance, Emma is soon off to London with her wealthy friend Natalie. She begins to live a life of luxury whilst her sister Kate is left hard at work on the farm. But things are not all they seem. Before long Emma is finding that London life is not all roses, whilst Kate is forced to re-evaluate what it is she wants from life. And even though Kate and her father are living in the middle of nowhere, she discovers that a past relationship may pose a present danger to her.

Genres: Fiction

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2013

About the author

Elaine Jeremiah lives in England with her husband and their golden retriever. When she was young she wanted to be a famous actress and win an Oscar. Sadly for her that never happened.

Instead writing took over. She has written stories from a young age, winning writing competitions at school and praise from her teachers. Growing up she continued to write, inspired by events in her life and even dreams she'd had. In recent years, especially since graduating from university with a degree in English, she has had more time to devote to writing.

She has now written and self-published six novels, including the first two books in a Jane Austen-inspired a time travel romance trilogy. Having taken a break from writing the trilogy, she's now publishing her very first 'Pride and Prejudice' variation, 'Elizabeth and Darcy: Beginning Again'.

Reviews

[PelicanFreak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great fast read. As someone who tends to predict everything, to the point of annoying myself, let alone those around me - I did not do this in this case. That alone makes me want to read more of Ms. Jeremiah's work. I did predict some little things along the way but ultimately the way the book ended and just sort of wrapped itself up was not my prediction at all. It held my interest, I basically didn't put it down until there was no more to read. Another brilliant quality.

[Lola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this wee book. A duel storyline of 2 sisters Kate and Emma who both wanted such different things from life. It was interesting, well written and enjoyable to read.

[Emily Wrayburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Inheritance is the debut novel from Elaine Jeremiah, and based on the parable of The Prodigal Son, which can be found in Luke’s Gospel. I first became familiar with this story when I was in Year 2 and preparing for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. From then, it tended to come up a bit throughout my Catholic schooling, not to mention the Bible Study groups I’ve sometimes been to since then, so I’m reasonably familiar with it, you might say. So when I first joined WIPpet Wednesday and learned Elaine Jeremiah’s current WIP (at the time, obviously) was based on this story, but centred around two sisters and set in modern-day England, I was intrigued.

The two sisters in question are Kate and Emma. The book opens with Emma blackmailing their father for her half of the inheritance so she can move to London and start living the high life, while Kate wonders why her sister would ever want to leave the family farm. You can tell very quickly that the good times aren’t going to last for Emma; even if I didn’t already know the story, I think I still would have reacted to the amount of her inheritance (£100, 000) with something to the effect of, “Honey… I don’t think that’s going to turn out to be as much as you think it is…” And yet, despite a series of bad decisions, I never felt like Emma was just plain stupid. Maybe a little too good at ignoring what’s right in front of her, and at getting swept along with a crowd instead of making her own decisions, but none of this stopped me from sympathising with her when everything inevitably fell apart.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, Kate is drawn into a mystery regarding her former boyfriend Stephen, who disappeared without a trace prior to the story’s beginning, and also starts re-evaluating some of her own life choices. I think I was the victim of a cultural divide here, as I had no idea what the “college” Kate began attending was in this context. However, considering the single state I live in has two different things that are referred to as a college, and neither of these is what an American would consider one, it’s unsurprising these things happen. I have to admit that I didn’t find Kate’s story quite as compelling as Emma’s, but there was still enough going on there to hold my interest.

To sum up, The Inheritance is a quick, light read with two interesting but diverse characters at its core. This isn’t actually a genre I read much of, but I do look forward to seeing what Elaine Jeremiah brings to us next!

[Kate Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Inheritance tells the story of Kate and Emma, two sisters who couldn't be more different, one demanding she receive her inheritance early so she can head off to the excitement and bright lights of London, the other opting for a quieter life on her father's farm in rural Cornwall. But as with all good novels things don't quite turn out as either girl hoped for and their lives are turned upside down.

Elaine Jeremiah quickly drew me into the story and my feelings for both sisters changed as the novel unfolded, which was skilfully done. The differences between Emma's life in London and Kate's in Cornwall were vivid and Jeremiah played on the glitz and glamour of London compared to the peacefulness and beauty of Cornwall, yet she also cleverly showed how suffocating life can be in a big city and how lonely life in the countryside got for Kate.

The Inheritance is a story about family and the intricate difficulties that siblings and parents can go through. There is more to the book than just that and I won't spoil the plot by saying anymore but suffice to say I was taken on an emotional journey by both sisters as they struggled against everything that life threw at them.

The Inheritance is a great first novel – enjoyable, engaging and I ended up rooting for both characters despite not having warmed to Emma initially. I will certainly read Elaine Jeremiah's next book.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Inheritance has two main settings, a farm in Cornwall and London. The story includes sibling rivalry and secrets amongst them. Emma is the daughter whose story is similar to a modern day prodigal son. She longs to escape the back water of Cornwall and the hard graft life on the farm. She is easily led and rather innocent, finding herself amongst selfish friends and finds out the hard way what she values most in life.

Kate is Emma's sister she currently works on the farm having given up sixth form college after the shocking disappearance of her boyfriend. Hiding away on the farm doesn't have all the answers for Kate either, so it was good to see her return to her studies.

There is a mystery surrounding the death of the girl's mother whom they both call "Meredith" because she failed to live up to the maternal needs of the girls. Their father was forced to lie about Meredith's death in order to protect his children.

Secrets; Kate doesn't tell her family about Steven, Steven doesn't tell Kate the truth about his family. The past catches up with Kate soon enough when she returns to college to study evening classes. She meets Steven's Guardian and soon fears she is being stalked.

This book sprinkles a little mystery, a first romance, a moral story and a big happy ever after ending.

[Ionia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Score one for setting in this lovely book by Elaine Jeremiah. She did a beautiful job with her descriptions, making this book an easy one to fall into and not leave until the last page was read.

I enjoyed Kate's story and the mystery that surrounded it, but I have to admit that my heart lie in Emma's portion of this tale. The author did a brilliant job of blending the various story lines together and making this novel a joy to read. I particularly found myself fascinated by the story of Stephen. I could never quite figure out exactly what was happening with that part of the book until all was resolved. I like it when I can't guess right.

This story begins after some startling and important events have already happened and offers the reader a chance to know well established characters that are both interesting and fully formed.

The dialogue is written well and the story has a nice pace that is not too rushed, yet not too slow either.

Overall this was an enjoyable book with a lot of excellent qualities to make me comfortable with recommending it. If you are looking for a charming book by a new author, this is one you should consider.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the author, all opinions are my own.