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The Prince of Eden (Eden #2)

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 77 ratings · 13 reviews

HE WAS THE POWER AND THE FURY OF A DYNASTY. SHE WAS THE LOVE THAT COULD DESTROY HIM
Edward Eden, a noble and passionate man of the people pursued a course decreed by his bastard heritage.

Heir to the vast wealth but not the title of Lord Thomas Eden's estate, he rose to become the most splendid libertine in all London...and fell into the iron grip of a sinister addiction.

Das...more

Mass Market Paperback, 627 pages

Published 1979 by Avon (first published 1978)

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Jul 31, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Laura by: Misfit

Shelves: fiction-19th-century, historical-fiction, historical-romance, read-2012

My copy just arrived after a big research work in order to find an affordable price.

This is the second book of the Eden series.

In the first book, This Other Eden, we are introduced to the first members of the Eden family, namely Lord Thomas Eden and Marianne Locke.

In this second volume of this saga, their son, Edward Eden, starts this saga as The Prince of Eden.

As the formal heir of Eden's fortune, even being a "bastard", he uses his money in order to create a school for poor and abandoned chil...more

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May 03, 2013 Kerrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, from-karla-the-evil-one, series, victorian-england, wheres-my-teddy-bear, bestest-book-evah

I...I'm done.... Have no idea how to review this...

After some thought:

I thought I could let things sit for a few days before I tackled a review, but any kind of coherent thoughts refuse to form. So it'll be slightly messy and without bunnies like the first book.

One of the best books I've ever read. So different from the first, which had some rather ludicrous moments interlaced with the gloomy doomy death and carnage. This one was all seriousness, and a long, dense seriousness it was! So many tim...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Misfit rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: victorian-england, historical-fiction

Edward Eden is the eldest son but unable to inherit the title since he's illegitimate, but instead his father Thomas left him everything else - the lands, the castle and all that money. Edward lives what appears to be a dissipated life in London, but to the poorer residents of London he's known as The Prince of Eden for all he's done to help them. Edward pours much of his great fortune into a Ragged School in his London home, much to the ire of younger brother James who would like nothing better...more Edward Eden is the eldest son but unable to inherit the title since he's illegitimate, but instead his father Thomas left him everything else - the lands, the castle and all that money. Edward lives what appears to be a dissipated life in London, but to the poorer residents of London he's known as The Prince of Eden for all he's done to help them. Edward pours much of his great fortune into a Ragged School in his London home, much to the ire of younger brother James who would like nothing better than to wrest away the money he feels rightfully belongs to him. At Eden castle, Edward's mother is now a lonely widow, estranged from her children and paying a very high price for loving her husband too much and leaving them to be raised by the conniving (and incestuous!) Cranford siblings.

Upon the death of a very dear friend, a grief-stricken Edward accepts a carriage ride from a stranger, along with the offer to drown his sorrows in a bottle of opium and well...another opium eater is born.

"Laudanum," De Quincey said softly. "The only passage a man needs to get from here to Heaven. Will you be so kind as to accompany me, Mr. Eden?"

During a visit to Eden Castle, Edward falls hard for his brother's betrothed, Harriet Powels, and they spend an afternoon of passion in the glen (which brings unforeseen consequences on future generations). Harriet knows her duty, and that is a duty that breaks Edward's heart and sends him back to the opium dens.

"Five days and nights of tranquil oblivion, floating out of touch with reality on the wings of opium, had been sufficient to dull the memory of what he had found in the dungeon cell of Newgate. It had not been enough to obliterate it. He doubted if there was enough opium in all of India to accomplish that."

That is a very bare bones summary of the beginning of this book and you don't want to know more before going in, just kick back and enjoy the ride because it is a seriously bumpy one. There are unexpected twists and turns on every page with treacherous servants, thieving lawyers, opium dens, a night in Newgate prison, a secret birth, a missing infant, all heavily peppered with appearances from real historical characters and events (even the Brontës). Top that off with some of the most heartbreaking scenes I've come across in a long, long time, and you've got a perfect recipe for an unputdownable book. I warn you - do not read the last 100 or so pages on a plane, train, bus or in any other public place - you will need that box of tissue handy. I haven't cried like that since you-know-who died in Penman's The Reckoning. I am still sucker punched 24 hours later and no idea when I'll recover from it.

Fans of big old family sagas with plenty of angst and drama should feel right at home. Those readers liking their fiction on the lighter side with sugar coated heroes and heroines getting that picture perfect HEA should look elsewhere. The rest of the series,

The Eden Passion
The Women of Eden
Eden Rising
American Eden
Eden and Honor
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Jan 26, 2012 Elle rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a little light reading, this is not for you. If you're looking for a romance, this is not for you (there is a five-page hookup that ends in predictable misery; that's it).

If you are looking for a a heavy, depressing orgy of self-centered angst in all its varied manifestations, maybe you'll like this. It's, well-written, historically insightful, but unrelenting in its gloom. The only reason I may read on to the next book is that I kind of want to see Harriet take it in the...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Mermarie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-list, brass-bra-plz, kindle-or-ebook, favorites, historical-figure-cameo, incest, my-first-series, the-crazies, tortured-hero, train-wreck-addict, tortured-bliss, dynasties-of-destruction

This is my first Bodice Ripper or Romance series. I never thought sequels would hold firm, or be worthy of reading for the follow-up, and could merely stand-alone if necessary. This is the sort of series that, thus far, I recommend to be read after the other. Each living/dying character is compelling and relevant to the sequel, they weren't filler roles, that propped up the story or put a former book's name in, to tie them together, in order to boost sales or encourage the reader. I'm really inc...more This is my first Bodice Ripper or Romance series. I never thought sequels would hold firm, or be worthy of reading for the follow-up, and could merely stand-alone if necessary. This is the sort of series that, thus far, I recommend to be read after the other. Each living/dying character is compelling and relevant to the sequel, they weren't filler roles, that propped up the story or put a former book's name in, to tie them together, in order to boost sales or encourage the reader. I'm really incapable of writing a review from a safe, spectator's seat, as it were - I seem to emotionally involved into books, whether it's negatively or to praise it. I relish books. I have a mental exhaust pipe, and after a deliciously wicked book, or sweetly twisted one, my brain exhales in utter gratitude. This is why the majority of my reviews will be written with spoiler flags flashing like marquees. I fail to curb my emotional output whilst reading/review, and I don't have to. I wish all books were thus, so memorable. :)

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Nov 23, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pre-victorian, uber-optimistic, vintage, dark-romance, epic-doorstoppers, historical, family-sagas-wtf, zz-2011, hoopy-good-reads, reviewed, incest-oh-noes, gloom-and-doom, keepers-vintage, zz-publisher-avon

4.5 stars.

Although this was a very good book, it has several differences from THIS OTHER EDEN. The latter is a claustrophobic gothic-style romance. It has very few characters & centers around three points of interest (foremost being Eden Castle & its grounds). Despite a gut-wrenching web of plots & counterplots, there is a HEA -- though it comes with great consequence, the aspects of which are known to the reader more than the characters.

...Or so the reader assumes.

PRINCE OF EDEN has...more 4.5 stars.

Although this was a very good book, it has several differences from THIS OTHER EDEN. The latter is a claustrophobic gothic-style romance. It has very few characters & centers around three points of interest (foremost being Eden Castle & its grounds). Despite a gut-wrenching web of plots & counterplots, there is a HEA -- though it comes with great consequence, the aspects of which are known to the reader more than the characters.

...Or so the reader assumes.

PRINCE OF EDEN has a few gothic elements, but it's primarily a Victorian-style novel of sensation. There is a nominal protagonist -- Edward Eden, the bastard infant from Book 1, who is now grown to adulthood -- but this is a book that uses the protagonist as a folcrum for the other major characters, & those characters range from Newgate to London opium slums to Eden Castle to Shropshire to Roe Head School (attention Charlotte Bronte fans, watch for her cameo :)) to bitchy innkeepers across the way. Edward's own story affects all these people in a significant fashion. But like a Collins or Dickens novel, the ways he affects them aren't made clear to the characters. Harris frequently watches from a safe distance as her creations bumble around in the bleary fog of fate.

The quickest way to describe this book is "flip-side to HEA." The reader knows Marianne's happiness in THIS OTHER EDEN must come with a price...and that price is THE PRINCE OF EDEN. Our hero is a lovable scamp. He's tender-hearted for the scum of the streets & generous with his friends, yet he has no concept of his blessed position in life. He's a bastard with little social standing, yet he holds the purse-strings & property of his long-standing family -- a footnote of Thomas Eden's guilt that allows him to do whatever he wants, even if what he wants has unintended consequences. (Very like his father, is Edward Eden.) He loves his mother. He tries to be kind to his brother. He encourages his sister to marry their childhood friend. He rescues hookers from Newgate. He funds Ragged Schools for orphans.

But if Edward has a major flaw (besides that pesky opium addiction :P), it's too big a heart. He gives & gives until it causes a rift with his son, a haughty young lad who can't understand his father's passive approach to money. Such vehement charity also frightens his weak-willed brother James, who inherits nothing but the title "Lord Eden." James, for his part, is a supremely unlikable character...but it's not all his fault. Anyone in his position would resent such dependence. He has the will to be a Lordly-Lord-o-Doom, but not the spine; even his most token rebellions (e.g., attacking a servant girl) are pushed aside by the aging Marianne, a heroine who has grown tragically soft in her years of pampering as Lady Eden. Here, then, is another price of the HEA in Book 1 -- Marianne's fiery independence has been slowly eaten away by passive acceptance. The most she can do is be certain James marries a woman of wealth & respectibility, & that unfortunate young lady is Harriet Powels. Harriet is an unusual heroine in that she's sympathetic but not entirely likable. How much of this book's tragedy could have been prevented if she'd swallowed her pride & run away with Edward like they originally schemed? The book offers no answers.

There are several other memorable characters floating around this sprawling plot: the incestuous Cranford siblings, Marianne's elderly sister Jane, Edward's bipolar sister Jennifer, the poncy solicitor Sir Claudius, the rescued harlot Elizabeth, the gentle giant Daniel Spade (another flipside from THIS OTHER EDEN, in that his father was Thomas Eden's enforcer & the man who whipped Marianne's back to shreds), the loyal coachman John Murrey...and of course John Murrey Eden, the blooded fruit of Edward's bastardy. It's with sad finality that the book closes around John Murrey Eden instead of his father Edward...but a fitting prologue to the next three books, or so I'm told. ;)

As with all of Harris' earlier work, the writing is superb. I did think this one dragged a little in the London sections...but I'm wondering if that's because I was expecting a THIS OTHER EDEN clone of claustrophobic gothicness. Don't expect that here. Instead look for a tribute to elegant sensation novels -- with cameos from Bronte & Dickens, no less -- and a tangle of family drama. There are no easy answers to the problems posed in this book, nor should there be. Easy answers make for boring stories. ;)

Recommended for those who enjoy epic historical doorstoppers & (sometimes) overwrought drama. This book contains incest, violence, & much tragedy that is just barely offset by (very) brief snatches of mellow happiness -- no HEA here. If any of these caveats offend your tender sensibilities, either bring your big-girl panties or avoid it altogether.(less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of Victorian melodrama and tragedy and HEAs gone wrong

Shelves: cover-artists-tom-hall, historical-fiction, cover-sparklies, illegitimacy, eras-early-19th-century, keepers, 5-stars, eras-victorian, forbidden-love, hero-is-chained-in-my-basement, insane-characters, older-man-younger-woman, bring-your-big-girl-panties, made-me-emotional, heas-are-for-wussies

Marilyn Harris continues to amaze me with her ability to weave a compelling story with a cast of very flawed characters. I know it's clichéd to use words like "enthrall" etc., but really, that's how I can best describe it. This second novel in the Eden series is very different from the first in structure, but I enjoyed it just as much.

Opening over 35 years after This Other Eden ends, the reader is tossed into the mid-life of Edward Eden, first-born and illegitimate son of Thomas Eden and Mariann...more Marilyn Harris continues to amaze me with her ability to weave a compelling story with a cast of very flawed characters. I know it's clichéd to use words like "enthrall" etc., but really, that's how I can best describe it. This second novel in the Eden series is very different from the first in structure, but I enjoyed it just as much.

Opening over 35 years after This Other Eden ends, the reader is tossed into the mid-life of Edward Eden, first-born and illegitimate son of Thomas Eden and Marianne Locke. His parents did an awkward Solomon split of the Eden Legacy: Edward got the money and land, and James - the younger, legitimate brother - got the title of Lord Eden. He is not at all happy with the situation, an attitude that has been shaped and fostered by the conniving Sophia Cranford, head housekeeper, and her brother Caleb. Youngest Eden child Jennifer is also a creation of the Cranfords, and the entire Eden family has plenty of misery and tragedy in store for them.

Whereas This Other Eden was a dark romance with one character ruthlessly pursuing a goal and the plot was kept very linear, The Prince of Eden sprawled more in scope. It is really more of a family saga type novel -- but what a family, and what characters. Edward Eden holds it all together, as he makes a tremendous journey from rich and reckless wastrel who brawls so he can get tossed into Newgate for a night for fun, to a man cast into the depths of existence from opium and lost loves, to a man deeply-conscious of the world and his obligation and desire to help those poorer around him while creating a new Eden legacy from his own sweat and labor.

It's impossible to distill it down to a pithy sentence or paragraph and do it justice. There is so much in this book. The early Victorian era really comes to life here, and the way the story is told has a very retro Victorian flavor to it: a man's life and influence, a vivid cast of secondary characters, melodramatic tragedies and devices, the scenery and atmosphere of both rural and urban England, the author's unflinching hand at crafting misery, etc. It was a book that I couldn't bear to continue reading because it was so dark and gloomy and tragic, but I couldn't stop reading because the characters got under my skin and I had to see what fresh hell would happen next.

And there is plenty of fresh hell. I never thought it got oppressive, but I love sweeping, gloomy tragedies (even though I sometimes read them from between my fingers in a crouched, defensive position). The happy ending in This Other Eden is wiped out early on with the fair heroine Marianne now a woman over 60, lost and heartsick at the death of her beloved Thomas, and totally incapable of running the castle and her children. It's tragic, but I liked seeing this flip side to the HEA, where a couple's all-consuming love with each other can turn their children into collateral damage. While Thomas and Marianne went vacationing in Europe year after year, the raising of their children was left to the servants (as was common), and the Cranfords have cultivated the Eden crop into very bitter little seeds. It's a crushing failure that Marianne has to live with the rest of her life.

Special mention here for the character of Jane Locke, Marianne's half-sister and bane of her existence in Book 1. Here, Harris has turned her into a geriatric firecracker who is wholly sympathetic without losing the hard-nosed toughness that propelled the character in the first book. The author knows her characters and knows how to write them naturally, even if decades separate their appearances.

I loved every bit of this book and didn't think there were any dull spots. The history was woven throughout, from King William IV's death to the construction of the Crystal Palace and Exposition in 1851. It has everything one could want in a family saga: birth, lust, death, sacrifice, envy and greed, corruption, love, and a doozy of a moody cliffhanger that made me immediately grab for Book 3.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 TerriC. rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the second book in a series of seven, published in 1978. I read it last year, in 2009.

In the second book, ‘The Prince of Eden’, it begins about 36 years AFTER the first book ended. Edward is about 42. He ends up getting addicted to laudanum in the novel.

In the beginning of the book, Edward meets a girl at Newgate prison named Elizabeth. He’d go there to bring the inmates treats and stuff. Elizabeth is a teenager, I think, and helps Edward and his friend run a school for poor kids. Edwar...more This is the second book in a series of seven, published in 1978. I read it last year, in 2009.

In the second book, ‘The Prince of Eden’, it begins about 36 years AFTER the first book ended. Edward is about 42. He ends up getting addicted to laudanum in the novel.

In the beginning of the book, Edward meets a girl at Newgate prison named Elizabeth. He’d go there to bring the inmates treats and stuff. Elizabeth is a teenager, I think, and helps Edward and his friend run a school for poor kids. Edward and Elizabeth are never together romantically. Edwards younger bother James is not a bastard like Edward so James is to inherit the title and lands and all that. Harriet is to marry James and she and Edward begin an affair. She gets pregnant by Edward, no one but her parents and a nurse know. She’s kept prisoner in her home until after the baby is born. It’s born and given away.

Coincidentally, Edward and Elizabeth are at an inn and they see the baby, and they don’t know it’s actually Edward’s and Harriet’s, being branded with the word ‘bastard’ by some man so they kidnap it and Edward raises the boy as his own. I just checked my book and the son is named John. About 15 years later, when John is 15, Edward dies in some accident with a piece of equipment and John goes to Eden to live with his father’s relatives. Neither he nor Harriet know that he is her son. That’s how that book ends. I think his mother Marianne, from the first book, dies in this one.

I started but never finished the third, though I still have it and the fourth, and I can already guess what’s about to happen in the third one. It’s looking like the teenage son is going to UNKNOWINGLY begin an incestious relationship with this own mother!! Remember, Harriet doesn’t know he’s her son, since he was taken from her at birth.

This series is pure fiction, not romance. This book was boring. But I know with book three this series will take a disturbing turn. I rate it 3 stars/C.
Here is the reading order for the series:

•This Other Eden
•The Prince of Eden
•The Eden Passion
•The Women of Eden
•Eden Rising
•American Eden
•Eden and Honor

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Nov 01, 2011 Rebecca Huston rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, england, historical-fiction, eden, series

A dark, deliciously Gothicky historical novel here, full of memorable characters and sinister secrets. Lots of family drama and quite a few surprises kept me on my toes, and wanting more when the book ended. One big surprise was the reintroduction of Jane Locke into the series, and finding her very sympathetic this time around. As to Edward and James, the two brothers in this story, I could have smacked them both at times. Plenty of set up for the next book in the series, and lots of little hist...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Lorelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star-book, emotional, historical-romance

Wow! A fantastic sequel that had me weeping at the end.

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Feb 13, 2013 Sherron rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was not prepared for that!!!

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Apr 01, 2013 Kelly marked it as get-back-to-later

On hold while I find a copy that is not coming unglued.

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Jul 19, 2008 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

the prince of eden by marilyn harris (1978)

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May 18, 2013 lyn added it

May 17, 2013 Anna marked it as to-read

Shelves: big-fat-saga, historical-fiction

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Shelves: romance-historical

May 12, 2013 Cynthia Mcarthur is currently reading it

Apr 24, 2013 Sarah Saad rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 21, 2013 Shaunaly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 12, 2013 Patti Reifenstahl marked it as to-read

Apr 09, 2013 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1978, favorite-series

Apr 06, 2013 Laura marked it as to-read

Apr 08, 2013 Donna/annodluvsbks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, books-read-2013

Mar 29, 2013 Mariah Courville rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Shelves: romance

Mar 17, 2013 Akansha Ganguly rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Shelves: marilyn-harris, eden, romance, historical-fiction

Mar 04, 2013 Terri Smilowitz-lockerby rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Marilyn Harris

Harris was born on June 4, 1931, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of John P., an oil executive, and Dora (nee Veal) Harris. Harris was educated in her home state, attending Cottey College from 1945 to 1951, then transferring to the University of Oklahoma, from which she received a bachelor of arts degree in 1953 and a master of arts degree in 1955.

Harris's first collection of short stories...more

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