The Legacy of Eden

Jan 08, 2012 Kat Kennedy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, kat-s-book-reviews

It's hard to talk objectively about The Legacy of Eden because it is an intensely personal novel. How much you relate to it may well rest upon how horribly dysfunctional your family is. Or was. And I'm not just referring to your parents occasionally fighting or you uncle occasionally getting drunk and being thrown out of bars. This book is about the kind of family dysfunction that is a sickness spreading down the family lines until nobody is left unscathed.

In Meredith's family, that sickness beg...more It's hard to talk objectively about The Legacy of Eden because it is an intensely personal novel. How much you relate to it may well rest upon how horribly dysfunctional your family is. Or was. And I'm not just referring to your parents occasionally fighting or you uncle occasionally getting drunk and being thrown out of bars. This book is about the kind of family dysfunction that is a sickness spreading down the family lines until nobody is left unscathed.

In Meredith's family, that sickness began with her grandmother, Lavinia. The book chronicles Lavinia through her marriages, her children, her children's marriages and then to her grandchildren. In every single one of them you see the signs and symptoms of the sickness in all its forms and variation. You watch as, one by one, it ravages and destroys the family from the inside out.

Anybody looking for a great deal of events and a fast-moving plot are best to avoid this one. Davy takes her time skillfully weaving the tale. She hops backwards and forwards and slithers through time to bring her narrative together.

Where The Legacy of Eden really shines is its characterization. Each person in this novel is like a finely crafted portrait. Lavinia stands out as the strongest character, but all of them have their place - whether they make you fall in love with them, respect them, fear for them, mourn them or despise them. What you will probably not do, is get bored of them.

Davy's writing is quite masterful. Her prose are beautiful and whimsical and Meredith's voice is not a completely horrible headspace to be in.

I really, really loved this book as I was drawn into the mystery and intrigue. I'm not entirely sure I'll ever read it again. It's the kind of book that makes you look back on your own family legacy and look at the cracks and rotten tree limbs. For some, it'll give that strange sense of nostalgia for something both horrible yet infinitely familiar.

And I guess horrible yet infinitely familiar is the perfect way to sum up the story and most of the characters.(less)

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Feb 02, 2013 Barb Klein rated it 2 of 5 stars

“The Legacy of Eden” by Janelle Davy was a book that I was prepared to really like. I thought I would lose myself in the story, instead I lost my way in the story. To explain, the book is about a family’s farm, Aurelia. It’s the story of how it was passed down through generations. It’s the story of Meredith, Ava, Julia, and Lavinia and other assorted family members. The book is supposed to be divided into four sections, each telling the story of one of the characters. I found that this was very...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Bobbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I finished "The Legacy of Eden" last night and thought waiting until this morning might give me the chance to decide how I really feel about this book. And I've decided I don't know how I feel. Very helpful, I'm sure.

This is the story of a woman who, after the death of her cousin, returns to the Iowa farm on which she and her sisters were raised, to go through her family's personal belongings before the land is sold off. All sorts of painful--and some good--memories accompany her, as well as a b...more I finished "The Legacy of Eden" last night and thought waiting until this morning might give me the chance to decide how I really feel about this book. And I've decided I don't know how I feel. Very helpful, I'm sure.

This is the story of a woman who, after the death of her cousin, returns to the Iowa farm on which she and her sisters were raised, to go through her family's personal belongings before the land is sold off. All sorts of painful--and some good--memories accompany her, as well as a boatload of guilt. From the first pages, we know what has caused the narrator's guilt, so we're not reading to figure out the great mystery of it all. Instead, we're reading to learn about her memories and about her family members and their emotional ties to the farm.

Must of the story revolves around the narrator's grandmother.

And this--the grandmother and the grandmother as the MC and the narrator as the narrator--is why I don't know how I feel about the book...in spite of definite feelings about aspects of the book:

1. The story is good, thus the 3 stars. I "enjoyed" (as much as you can enjoy a thoroughly depressing book) reading about the family and their dysfunction and their conflicted feelings about their home. They loved it and they hated it. They wanted to run away, and they wanted to run back home again. The author made a believable argument for so many people being so emotionally torn over a plot of land.

2. But this is a character novel. As I said, there's no great mystery to the plot line, no sense of anticipation. It's all about the people. But I didn't have a firm grasp of several of the characters, and I wasn't convinced the author did either. The grandmother came across most of the time as the wicked witch of Iowa. She was manipulative and conniving and cruel and selfish and deliberate in every action. And when she showed any kind of warmth, I didn't believe it was *her* warmth. Instead, I believed it was the author bestowing on her a bit of warmth so we wouldn't hate her so much. I never believed a woman capable of such levels of cruelty to her own family could also sing to her unborn baby or offer to read or tell stories to her granddaughters at bedtime. She was the primary character--the matriarch of this messed-up family--but I didn't have any sense of who she was really supposed to be . . . who the author wanted us to believe she was. Likewise, the grandfather was little more than a wisp of a figure I couldn't latch onto. Early in the story, he hits the grandmother enough to bruise her. And the narrator says he never hits her again. She then paints him as a drunk, overly indulgent with his children, depressed, depressING, and rather powerless in his own home. Was I supposed to like him? Empathize with him? I had no feelings at all about him because I didn't understand him. Most of the characters were like these two. They had such shades of black and white that they blended into a muddy gray that made me feel ambivalent to whatever happened to them. Yes, I know people in reality have shades of gray, but most don't have them to this extreme. They weren't real even if their story was.

3. My favorite characters--the only ones I had any real grasp of, aside from the narrator--were the narrator's oldest sister and the cousin who comes to live with the family. But I don't feel the author spent enough time on them or on the grandmother's complete betrayal of them.

4. The author/narrator used a lot of "no one really knows what happened" throughout the book. She would start to tell a story and then say, "who knows if that's the way it really went down." I'm sure this method of story telling is fine with many readers, but for me, it became a bit of an annoyance. It gave the story a feeling of, again, ambivalence--a kind of shrug of the shoulders and "meh."

5. The writing was fine. Not great, not awful. The copy I read was an ARC, so perhaps some of the glitches were smoothed out before publication.

So there you have it. I say I don't know how I feel, but I think that's because I feel . . . ambivalent. The book didn't move me in one direction or another. I liked it enough to finish it but not enough to love it.(less)

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Mar 17, 2012 Tyra rated it 5 of 5 stars

I chose this book mostly because of its great cover and I thoroughly enjoyed the pages within. The narrator is a present-day descendant of Iowa landowners known as the Hathaways. The story begins and ends with the antagonist, Lavinia, and of her role in creating and unwittingly destroying the family and their inheritance known as Aurelia. The story is also about family and the relationships there that can both build up and destroy a member. No one walked away from Aurelia unscathed when, all alo...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Deborah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-life, family-dynamics, woman-writer, women-s-lit, women-abused, english-author

"The Legacy of Eden" is nothing short of a mesmerizing novel. Once engaged, I couldn't stop reading it if I wanted to. Every word must drip from Nelle Davy's illusionary pen like silver. She is a word spinner--simply captivating and crushing your psyche from one sentence to the next. Her writing abilities are staggering. And this grotesque, family dynasty novel is of the best kind, reminiscent of Steinbeck's "East of Eden," and Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres." I expect great things from Nelle D...more "The Legacy of Eden" is nothing short of a mesmerizing novel. Once engaged, I couldn't stop reading it if I wanted to. Every word must drip from Nelle Davy's illusionary pen like silver. She is a word spinner--simply captivating and crushing your psyche from one sentence to the next. Her writing abilities are staggering. And this grotesque, family dynasty novel is of the best kind, reminiscent of Steinbeck's "East of Eden," and Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres." I expect great things from Nelle Davy's book and from her in the future.

Primarily this is a novel written from the perspectives of women. Women are complicated beings to begin with, and Nelle Davy creates her Hathaway characters with such complexity of feeling and depth that you can only believe they lived and breathed and acted just as she writes about them. For instance, Lavinia Hathaway, the damaged, psychotic and destructive matriarch of the family is so malevolent, she's difficult to comprehend without having inside information into her evil plots and manipulations. She's a triumph of a character! And, she is the center from which the story works. A vicious, devious, controlling woman who was the snake in the garden of Aurelia's eden, she
orchestrates the demise of her family for several generations. What a villian. This is an amazing accomplishment by an author. I've read so many books, and Lavinia is one of those similar to classical literature characters who you just don't forget.

"Hatred--it always comes down to that, doesn't it? But I've found that it's always at its most potent when it's laced with love." Lavinia Hathaway.

Meredith, the narrator and youngest of the three girl grandchildren of Lavinia, tells the story of their home, Aurelia, the farm that nurtured the Hathaway family for several generations. Like most family homes, it embodied the tragedies and dark sides of the family while it sustained them, and held them together in a dance macabe. Aurelia was the beautiful and the ugly...the harmful and the heart of their lives. Memories were made there and those memories for good and for bad are what "The Legacy of Eden" is about. Meredith also tells the intimate stories of each family member through the life details of her sisters, her grandmother and her aunt.

Nelly Davy takes simple tableaus such as the dinner table and creates powerful family scenes that crackle with the friction and horrors of a powder keg ready to ignite. She can make a subtle flick of a child's tongue over her teeth, and the gentle clatter of a tea spoon on a cup at the perfect moment in her dialog, send shivers through you. Nelly knows family dysfunction and she can dish it out in perfect cadence with her imaginative writing. It's just amazing to read.
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Feb 22, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had recieved this book as part of the VBT# from MediaMuscle and I was captivated by the cover , I had the one on the right as I started reading it, it took a while for me to get past the few pages as I wasn't over excited with the book. For me, it was a little bit slow but if you are a fan of the historical fiction and enjoyed books like The Secret Life of Bees , Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly . The types of novels that take place throughout the different generations . The Legacy of Eden talk...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Aurelia has been the home of the Hathaway family for generations. The estate was born out of Lavinia Hathaway’s desire to escape her past and elevate her family’s name. And now, the last inhabitant of the estate has died. Lavinia’s youngest grandchild, Meredith Pincetti, is summoned back to Iowa to settle the estate.

Lavinia Hathaway brought Aurelia to greatness, no matter who she had to destroy in the process. Her conniving and manipulation set the Hathaway family on a path of deception and dest...more Aurelia has been the home of the Hathaway family for generations. The estate was born out of Lavinia Hathaway’s desire to escape her past and elevate her family’s name. And now, the last inhabitant of the estate has died. Lavinia’s youngest grandchild, Meredith Pincetti, is summoned back to Iowa to settle the estate.

Lavinia Hathaway brought Aurelia to greatness, no matter who she had to destroy in the process. Her conniving and manipulation set the Hathaway family on a path of deception and destruction that would tear them apart. Now, Meredith must confront her family’s legacy and her own part in it.

Reading The Legacy of Eden was like seeing a small town through a late summer’s haze. The air shimmers with the heat, and it’s almost too quiet. Still, you know something is simmering behind the closed doors. The Hathaways are that family found in nearly every small town- you know the one. They have money, and whether intentionally or not, lord that over other townspeople. Despite any good they do, there always appears to be something darker lurking beneath the surface. Every family has its secrets- some are just more devastating than others.

Nelle Davy’s debut is a good one. I read the book quickly, wanting to know just how the destruction of the Hathaway family occurred, and what had happened that had led to so much anguish and estrangement in the surviving family. The pacing of the story worked well. I felt for Meredith, struggling with her past and looking for some peace in her present. Despite everything that happened within her family, Meredith still longs for some connection to her sisters, and must deal with the very real estrangement from her sisters and her role in causing it. Davy could have made this very easy, absolving Meredith of her guilt in some trite way. Instead, she chose the more plausible route of not wrapping up everything in a neat little bow at the earliest opportunity.

I loved the gothic feel of The Legacy of Eden. If you’re looking for an intriguing drama, be sure to check it out.(less)

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Feb 17, 2012 TinasBookReviews rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Legacy of Eden offers a detailed look into the life of the Hathaway family- a once prestigious clan held in high regard within their community who succumb to ruin. Secrets, misspent wealth and loss riddle the family's destruction and define the younger generation. One of them being Meredith Pincetti who travels back to Aurelia and shares the story of her family...the one she knows of and the one her dead relatives bring forth.

Jumping into Eden held much promise in the first 100 pages, I felt...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Cheryl rated it 1 of 5 stars

It has been years since Meredith has seen or set foot on Aurelia. Aurelia is a piece of property that lies on more than three thousand acres of land. Meredith receives a letter. The letter tells her that her cousin has passed away and that Aurelia will be dissolved and auctioned off to the highest bidders. The attorney suggests to Meredith that it would make things easier if someone in the family was to come down to Aurelia and sign the papers. Once back at Aurelia, Meredith remembers both the g...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Marquetta (LoveToReadForFun) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review, chick-lit

The Legacy of Eden reminds of the great mini-series that used to air on TV in the 80s or a two-part movie on Lifetime. The story takes place between the present and the past. The story is told from Meredith Pancetti's point of view. The last of the Hathaway's has died and she must go to Aurelia, the family farm, to finalize the selling of it. Aurelia holds bad memories for most of the Hathways and family secrets. Told from first person POV, the story jumps between Meredith's present day voice an...more The Legacy of Eden reminds of the great mini-series that used to air on TV in the 80s or a two-part movie on Lifetime. The story takes place between the present and the past. The story is told from Meredith Pancetti's point of view. The last of the Hathaway's has died and she must go to Aurelia, the family farm, to finalize the selling of it. Aurelia holds bad memories for most of the Hathways and family secrets. Told from first person POV, the story jumps between Meredith's present day voice and the past, 3rd person POV.

The Hathaways history starts off with scandal. The grandmother, Lavinia, had an affair with Meredith's grandfather, Cal, while she was still married to another man. As the plot progresses, we are privy to the life-changing incidents that shaped the Hathaway family. There's drama, deceit, secrets and lies but nothing that I found earth shattering. I found that as I read The Legacy of Eden, I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. There were hints throughout that there were big secrets in the family; shameful secrets. When the secrets were revealed - and not in an outright, obvious way - I felt a little let down. I expected something that would make my jaw drop and instead, my reaction was "that's all?" Granted, the secrets are nothing to sneeze at but because I had built up this story to be something that would rival The Thornbirds, I felt that the family secrets didn't rock my world.

I also felt disconnected to the story and to Meredith. It could be due to the fact that Meredith is disconnected as a narrator. She left Aurelia and never looked back. She had no relationship with her two sisters. Meredith is pretty much alone. I felt no sympathy for Meredith especially when her and Ava confront each other. It was an emotional sister moment and I was not moved. I felt that Meredith was selfish and in her actions, only cared about herself.

The Legacy of Eden kept me reading only because of I was curious to discover more about the dysfunction of the Hathaway family. This is a family who suffers a lot of tragedy in their lives and most of it is due to their own selfishness and misguidance. All in all, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon reading. I wish there was more angst and maybe it's just me, but I wanted it to be a little more over-the-top. If you like stories that spans multiple generations interspersed with family drama and angst, then you might like The Legacy of Eden.

C-(less)

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Feb 07, 2012 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: america, family-drama, family-dynasty, iowa

THE LEGACY OF EDEN by Nelle Davy is an interesting epic tale of a dynasty set in Aurelia,Iowa. The rise and fall of the Hathaway family, their history,betrayal,family secrets,hatred,abuse,lies,deception,family confrontation,heartache,loss,grief,lust,and forgiveness. It is a dark tale of an Iowa farm family,three generations of the Hathaway family,their troubled history,loss and tragedy. It is written in first person, well written,goes from past to present with memories,is a debut novel by this a...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Deborah Sloan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Written in the spirit of Gone With The Wind or Fried Green Tomatoes you are going to love The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy! Truly an epic novel about an Iowa Farming Family who though quite prosperous create their own tragedies by infighting, and machinations of the matriarch grandmother Lavina Hathaway. A family with secrets not discussed, a family envied by all in the county because on the surface they are rich and successful.

Is a family’s value all in the land they own or is there more? For s...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Wendy Hines rated it 5 of 5 stars

Meredith has created her own life, without a past. She's changed her name and the way she lives. She wants to forget it all, but that is hard to do when she receives a letter from a lawyer. She calls her sister but she is shocked and angry that Meredith is even contemplating calling the law firm. But Meredith isn't finished with her past and so she calls. The law firm is willing to sell the property and the land but they want someone in the family to come and inventory - see if they want anythin...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Anna (Gatsby's Girl) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Meredith Pincetti (it used to be Hathaway, but she took her Mother's maiden name) thought she was done with Aurelia for the rest of her lifetime. She has managed to push down into oblivion the mostly disturbing memories of her time there. But now that Cal Jr. her oldest cousin is dead, the farm is without an owner and in serious disrepair. Either Meredith or one of her older sisters must return to take care of matters and choose what they want from the house before it's sold. But it means reliv...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: both individuals and reading groups

Recommended to Brenda by: Review in magazine

Shelves: pass-on

"Meredith Hathaway has spent the last seventeen years pretending to forget. Until she gets a letter and her world is shattered in an instant. She must finally confront the rise and fall of the Hathaway dynasty....and her own part in their devastating history.
1946 Iowa. One woman is determined to change her fate. With unwavering ambition Lavinia Hathaway will stop at nothing to ensure her family succeeds at all costs.
Now Lavinia's legacy, Aurelia, the once magnificent family home, lies empty, a h...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oh the evil than can be wrought with the best of intentions. That is the story told with this dark and troubling book. Aurelia is a large farm built from nothing and its master is dying. He calls back his prodigal first son and despite the fact that his second son has worked his heart out for the place, it is left mostly to the first born. You can imagine the rift this causes between the brothers.

Cal has an affair with the local doctor's wife, Lavinia and they eventually marry creating the dynas...more Oh the evil than can be wrought with the best of intentions. That is the story told with this dark and troubling book. Aurelia is a large farm built from nothing and its master is dying. He calls back his prodigal first son and despite the fact that his second son has worked his heart out for the place, it is left mostly to the first born. You can imagine the rift this causes between the brothers.

Cal has an affair with the local doctor's wife, Lavinia and they eventually marry creating the dynasty that makes Aurelia great but behind that facade lies a history of secrets. Secrets told to Meredith, one of Lavinia's granddaughters as Lavinia lay bedridden. Secrets Meredith wanted to know up until they reached the time of her family. Then she didn't want to hear any more - but Lavinia forced her to hear it all.

The book is told as the stories of four main players in the history of Aurelia through the voice of Meredith. It got slightly muddled at times trying to figure out whose voice was doing the telling but overall this was a compelling tale of mostly unpleasant people. Despite there being no one to really root for, I found it hard to stop reading. Most of the characters were so flawed they had very little to redeem them. No one got along, at least not for very long. All was done for the sake of Aurelia as if it were a living being instead of a farm. Lavinia had big plans for herself and for the farm and she did everything in her power to see that they were fulfilled. Needless to say she was not a warm and fuzzy matriarch.

Meredith is not really happy about returning the Aurelia because it has too many memories for her - both happy and sad. She has settled into her life and managed to put her childhood behind her but she and her sisters are now the only ones left when their cousin dies and the estate is left in debt. The lawyer calls to see if she wants to retrieve any of the family belongings. She heads out to do so and that is what starts her remembering of what her grandmother told her. This is not a happy story by any means but that does not mean it is not a good story. It is well written and you truly feel the pain and anger of the characters as they live through Lavinia's machinations.
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Jan 29, 2012 Erica K rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, family, arc

While I found this book to be an engrossing family saga, with plenty of mystery, intrigue, and high drama, the underlying feel of it was a bit dreary for me. It's almost like having distant relatives with crazy lives that you love to hearing the juicy gossip about their lives & history, but you also feel sorry for them/angry with them for the decisions they make and the repercussions of such.

Part of the "dreary" feel for me was the not-very-subtle foreshadowing in the beginning that left me...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Meredith Pincetti left home for college and never turned back. Now, the last heir to her family's estate has passed away and none of the remaining Hathaway descendants wants anything to do with the property. Meredith reluctantly answers the call and travels back to Iowa to pick up the last of her parent's possessions. On the way, she recalls the horrible truths revealed to her about her family. In truth, the Hathaway's reign lasted only three generations, prompted by the cunning efforts of Mered...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Legacy of Eden written by Nelle Davy is published by MIRA a division of Harlequin.

Merideth gets a letter from a law firm informing her of the death of her cousin and telling her that he died in debt and his farm and all property was being sold to pay off those debts.
Merideth and her two sisters had been raised on the farm and none of them have fond memories of the place. Merideth is the only one that feels a sense of duty. She decides to travel to Iowa and go through the house and see to th...more The Legacy of Eden written by Nelle Davy is published by MIRA a division of Harlequin.

Merideth gets a letter from a law firm informing her of the death of her cousin and telling her that he died in debt and his farm and all property was being sold to pay off those debts.
Merideth and her two sisters had been raised on the farm and none of them have fond memories of the place. Merideth is the only one that feels a sense of duty. She decides to travel to Iowa and go through the house and see to things before the farm is sold.
The ghost of her family appear to her now and memories long buried come bubbling to the surface.
The story is told in flashbacks as Merideth remembers her talks with her grandmother.
The farm - Aurelia- is the center of the lives of Hathaway family. Lavinia, Merideth's grandmother, begins the story of their family back when she was child and how she came to marry Cal Hathaway.
The story switches back and forth between the past and present as Merideth faces the past and comes to terms with the present and her future.

This family's history is mired in scandal and tragedy. Lavinia is a stong willed, manipulative, controlling woman that took charge of the farm and the family once she and Cal were married. Her need to have everything her way spreads resentment, kills relationships, and has far reaching effects on the family for generations to come.

This is a dark family drama that sort of leaves you to decide if Merideth is able to make peace with her ghost and move forward or is she accepts her fate as one of Hathaways.

The books is very absorbing. There is something that Merideth is leading us to that we know will explain everything, but we also know it won't be all that pleasant. But, I couldn't seem to tear myself away from the book until I knew what the worst secret of all might be.

This book was published by Harlequin MIRA and usually in my mind I equate that with romance of some kind, maybe women's fiction and romantic suspense. However, this book seems to defy any set genre.
So, be forewarned, this is not a romance novel.
This is a family saga with the theme of forgiveness interwoven through out. I'm not really sure what to make of Merideth's end story. I would like to think that she was both accepting of who she was and who her family was, but also that she was able to put her demons to rest and let go of the past and go on with her life, whatever that might be.

From a personal standpoint my three star rating has more to do with the book not really being the type of book that I really like to read. It was still a good book and I'm glad I read it because I really enjoyed the writing and I think the author has talent.
I think the book will appeal to fans of literature and drama. Over all a B-/C+(less)

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Feb 02, 2012 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, contemporary, read-2012, netgalley

Posted on Book Chelle.

Nelle Davy’s The Legacy of Eden was a little hard to read through. The story had a depressing tone, filled with stories of the struggles and dysfunctions of a family. The history of a family, told and felt through many generations, can usually be filled with happiness. But in the case of the Hathaway family, it is filled with anger and sorrow.

The Legacy of Eden mainly revolves around Meredith Pincetti. Meredith has spent a large part of her life trying to escape her family,...more Posted on Book Chelle.

Nelle Davy’s The Legacy of Eden was a little hard to read through. The story had a depressing tone, filled with stories of the struggles and dysfunctions of a family. The history of a family, told and felt through many generations, can usually be filled with happiness. But in the case of the Hathaway family, it is filled with anger and sorrow.

The Legacy of Eden mainly revolves around Meredith Pincetti. Meredith has spent a large part of her life trying to escape her family, and the memories that Aurelia, her childhood home, held. But unfortunately, no matter what she does or what life she leads, those memories still manage to haunt her. A recent death of a distant cousin has left final decisions up to Meredith. As she makes preparations to sell the family home, the story presents recollections from Meredith and her grandmother.

Meredith’s grandmother is Lavinia, the matriarch of the Hathaways, and was probably my favorite to read. She was interesting, but filled with pride, and most definitely with faults. She stopped at nothing to isolate her family from the rest of the town, feeling that they were above everyone else. She created this family culture that was unhealthy, ruining not only the dynamic but the relationships themselves.

Meredith, her mother, and her sister seemed to play as the supporting characters in The Legacy of Eden. It was clear that Lavinia pulled the strings, even beyond the grave. The relationships lacked love and support, and instead were filled with dreary, resentful feelings. But despite the overall foreboding feeling of the book, the characters were all solid. They each brought something to the table, adding the dimensions of complexity to the family, as well as the story.

There are some strong and emotional moments in Legacy. And maybe that’s why I couldn’t get into it. The story takes place in the present, but half of the book jumps back to the past. And maybe that’s where my fault was. I was getting confused with the jumping. While I know the memories were important, my mind wouldn’t focus. But the writing was perfect for what Davy set out to deliver. The plot revealed itself in a timely manner, adding the complimentary details when needed.

When I say that The Legacy of Eden was hard to read through, I meant it was emotionally difficult. I suppose it depends on the reader’s familial background, and the culture in their home, but for me, I understand dysfunction. It wasn’t necessarily my immediate family, but that word is not a stranger in my vocabulary. But that’s what I love about stories like The Legacy of Eden. It teaches me that not all stories are filled with happily ever after. And when an author can bring me to a sad and depressed state? Then I applaud them to choosing their words wisely.(less)

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Feb 23, 2012 Kirsty (Book - Love - Bug) rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I first got my hands on this book, I knew it was going to be something special. The cover has a luxurious feel; soft and full of depth. I wasn’t disappointed.

The book opens with a prologue which had me hooked:

“I WAS CALLING FOR HER.
I pointed the flashlight into the darkness, punctuating the purple haze of the evening with circles of white. The air was full of the smell of azaleas and the sound of crickets, and I began to think of how much I would miss my home. For a moment, I was truly scar...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

I'm not even sure where to start with this review. The Legacy of Eden draws you into the lives of the Hathaways - the good, the bad, and the very ugly. It's amazing to me how much a house can become a home and grow its own personality...standing ever vigilant through time. They say "If only walls could talk..." and that is so true here. Meredith learns the hard way that you can't escape your past because it will always find a way to insinuate itself back into your life. Told in sections of time,...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Rhonda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review: The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy
3 Stars
The Legacy of Eden is a depressing story of a family farm and lives of different generations living together. I useally smile at the end of a Harlequin novel but this one ended different for me.
It shows the bad decisions, morals , pride and greed of each family member when things or places mean more than people.
It seams like every generation kicked members out of the family and it was easier than you thought to cross them off.
The story was told by...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Karen Lowe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Can't say I enjoyed reading this, although the writing of itself is perfectly competent. The family is unremittingly tedious and ghastly, so there are no characters you can identify with or warm to. Considering the book is supposed to be set on a farm, there is very little feel for farming life, other than the mention of a dead horse. I think the problem is that the story is told to us 'secondhand' - the narrator is for the most part recounting events that have been told her, rather than events...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mainstream

Meredith Pancetti adheres to the idea of “a rose by any other name”. Born into the tumultuous Hathaway clan, an immensely wealthy farming family from Iowa, Meredith was privy to all manner of familial dysfunction as a child, and now, with both parents dead and the few remaining members of her family scattered about the country in their own efforts to escape, Meredith has become someone else entirely, living in a tiny New York apartment and going by a name that has no outward connections to the H...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Celine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, ebook, mystery

To enjoy The Legacy of Eden you need a certain amount of morbid curiosity. Even when an entire family falls into ruins, you need to continue reading to see how far the disease has spread. If you don't have this curiosity, you probably won't be able to finish this book.

When Meredith receives a letter that contains the news of her deceased cousin, she wishes that she never would have opened it. All of the memories that she has tried to stay away from come back. She will have to relive them all un...more To enjoy The Legacy of Eden you need a certain amount of morbid curiosity. Even when an entire family falls into ruins, you need to continue reading to see how far the disease has spread. If you don't have this curiosity, you probably won't be able to finish this book.

When Meredith receives a letter that contains the news of her deceased cousin, she wishes that she never would have opened it. All of the memories that she has tried to stay away from come back. She will have to relive them all until she can do what she has to... Face her fears and return to her childhood home.

Basically The Legacy of Eden is a recount of the lives of the members of the Hathaway family throughout the generations. There are tiny flashes towards the present, where Meredith is dealing with the ghosts of her past, but mostly the story is being told as a family history. Because of these two different times (present and past), it keeps you invested. A lot of crucial plot points are kept hidden as long as possible. There are barely any flash-forwards, which I liked.

Because the history is chronologically written, this is a fairly easy story to follow. It starts with Meredith's grandparents meeting and from there slowly works down until Meredith's own youth. There was barely any confusion with where in the history we were. Usually I get lost after a while with this kind of book, but I was glad this was not the case with The Legacy of Eden.

I really enjoyed the characters in the book. They all were so different, yet share some of the flaws that run throughout the family. From the manipulative grandmother and the drunk grandfather, to the abusive uncle and even worse cousin. Every single person in the story has his or her problems, by their own fault or more often by someone else's making.

It's very beautifully written, but it's not bogged down by all these heavy descriptions. For me it was perfect; enough words to paint the picture and the ambiance, but not too many to make it boring.

Reading The Legacy of Eden is a little bit like watching a train crash in slow-motion on TV. Even though it contains quite some heavy subjects, it was never really depressing for me. It's not a very happy read but I have read way worse. After I finished it, I felt content. Not excited, not sad, just content with how everything turned out. (less)

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Feb 05, 2012 Bingot rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not even sure where to start with this review. The Legacy of Eden draws you into the lives of the Hathaways - the good, the bad, and the very ugly. It's amazing to me how much a house can become a home and grow its own personality...standing ever vigilant through time. They say "If only walls could talk..." and that is so true here. Meredith learns the hard way that you can't escape your past because it will always find a way to insinuate itself back into your life. Told in sections of time,...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Nicki Markus rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a really enjoyable read. I was drawn in by the characters right from the turn of the first page and I found the story compelling. I worked out the 'crux' of the story fairly early on, but I don't think the author intended to hide it as this was a piece about characters and seeing how their actions and decisions lead them to their ends.

The book features a fairly large cast of characters but all came across well, showing growth and change as the tale progressed. The house itself is almost...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Lara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really wanted to have enjoyed this book more but I just found it all so depressing. Nothing nice ever seemed to happen to this family. None of them were particularly nice or endearing, each one seeming to have some kind of chip on their shoulder or issue. Maybe that was the point of the book, but initially I found the first few chapters quite confusing. I wasn't sure from whose perspective the story was being told, especially as the author had divided the book into the characters names. The t...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Charlotte rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

The Legacy of Eden is a dark, dark book about the Hathaway family. In the present day Meredith receives notice that the last remaining Hathaway family member has passed away and she must return to Iowa to settle the estate and sell the farm. Returning to Iowa risks opening up so many old wounds and memories, yet Meredith knows she must go. It is through the flashbacks of her memories that we learn the story of Meredith's Grandfather, Cal and how he came to...more

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