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Jedder's Land
Through a wild and passionate love affair, two marriages, and the loss of children to disease, war, and their own excesses, Rachel Jedder holds her land against the predatory men who connive to take it from her
286 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 2, 1983
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September 8, 2018Rachel's parents died and she became an indentured servant to the Wame family. She was abused and food was withheld. At 16, she had not yet developed a woman's body. She was very small still and flat chested. The overseer to came to the Wame house and she was told to sign some papers. She refused to sign them because she hadn't observed anything good come to others she knew after they had signed papers. She couldn't read and didn't know what the papers were for. She grabbed the papers and ran out of the house and hid. She soon a bull loose and also the pigs. The disruption caused a distraction and she ran away. She hid the papers on her body and walked until she found a priest she could trust to read the papers to her. It was a long journey and she slept when she found a dry place along the way.
The priest she found told her that her grandfather had died and left his house and property to her in Devon, on the other side of England. She was forced to bathe and given food. The priest gave her some money and sent her on her way. She would have frozen her first night out but a large, gray dog found her and even though it ate her food, he kept her warm where she survived the cold. She called the dog Sam and he hunted for her.
She came upon a circus troop and became sexually involved with an acrobat. She noticed the subtle changes in the attitude of the others and was treated as if she belonged to him. He began to treat her as a possession too. She soon told him that it was time for her to leave and she continued on her journey.
She finally arrived at her grandfather's place, called Yellaton, to find a neighbor had claimed the land as his. He locked her up for the night then he and his uncle proceeded to take her into town. While they walked, they talked as if she wasn't there and spoke of killing her for him to keep the land. Sam attacked them and she got away. She was trying to decide what to do when she saw a man riding by. She quickly undressed and got into the lake and pretended to be swimming in the freezing water. He asked Rachel to come out of the water and she allowed him to have sex with her. He offered her money but she asked for help in getting the man away from her land rather than any money. He told her that he would see to it and she could move into her house that night.
Rachel stayed away for most of the day and arrived to watch them finish packing and leave. She felt like she was a part of the property and was happy to see what she had inherited. She had a horse, apple trees, Sam, a couple of pregnant milk cows, a vegetable garden and a room where onions were hanging and various food items buried in straw. She spent most of the second day cleaning up the house and making it hers. She took the next day to ride around her property so see what she had.
She was soon visited by a peddler who told her that she needed to make a trip into town. Others had heard of her and how she had kicked their neighbor out of the house. She was the outsider and needed to get herself accepted. He told her that she wouldn't get any help come harvest time if she didn't get to know the people in town. She told him she would make do and handled all the work herself. She brought in the hay after working hundreds of hours during three weeks. She was celebrating in her house when all the hay she stacked was set on fire by the man she had displaced and a couple of his friends. She became discouraged.
Shortly after the fire, she received another visitor and this man drew an instant attraction from her. Will Tresider tried to fight his attraction to her as well. He was a smuggler and offered her money that she badly needed to replace what she had lost. She allowed him the use of her land and barns. They became involved and he helped her with her land. He found wandering sheep that belonged to her grandfather and brought them home. He showed her how to care for them. He convinced her to get to know the people in town and she began going to church. She stayed out of Will's way in regard to his smuggling activities and hired someone to help her while he was away on his business. The man she hired ended up eavesdropping on their conversation and turned him in. Rachel had asked to accompany Will and his men on that particular night and they got away but he told her he had to leave. He asked her to come with him and they would get married but she wasn't ready to leave her land. It was shortly after he left that she realized that she was pregnant.
Rachel had been in church when she saw Jane Clarke come in and she was shamed due to the fact that she had a child out of wedlock. The woman was no longer welcomed around town because she was unmarried. Rachel attended church strictly with the intention of finding a husband. She decided upon a man that she felt could handle the work of her farm due to his build. She managed to get an introduction to Robert Wolcot and was surprised when he told her that he had been interested in her since she had arrived in town. He hadn't shown any interest because he knew she was involved with Will. They took three weeks to get to know each other and then he told her that he knew she was pregnant so they had better get married quickly. They married and she learned to depend on him and loved the way she could depend on him. They developed a close relationship that worked for the two of them.
She had a son and named him Jedder, her own last name. It wasn't too long before she became pregnant again and this son they named John. Their land was prospering nicely and they purchased a parcel that neighbored her land. Another year later, she had a daughter, Sarah. They continued to work the land and were becoming prosperous.
They went to a circus in town and it reminded her of being with the acrobat. They were getting ready to leave when she was approached by a fortune teller. Rachel let her tell her fortune and she was told that death would come soon. Robert told her to ignore the fortune teller and Rachel tried. It wasn't too much longer before Sarah got the measles and died. Robert took the death hard and soon became sick himself. He was the next to die. He never recovered from Sarah dying.
It took Rachel some time but she recovered from their deaths and she started to get out and see people again. She went to a neighboring town and saw a man that reminded her of Will. She let him ride home with her. She was at first rejected by him and she wondered at the reason. Eventually they made love and he told her that they wold be married now. She had instigated the sex and didn't notice that he wasn't really responding to her. He had to convince her that he was serious and they were married three weeks later.
Things changed after they married. Rachel found out how abusive he could be. Harry Blackaller drank and lost her money. He gambled and sold off things she owned. She got pregnant and he left her alone physically while constantly berating her. He took everything she owned other than her land. She was pregnant and couldn't work the land so it fell into disrepair. She had another daughter, Emma, and a set of twins that she named Richard (Dick) and Joel.
The children all witnessed Rachel being beaten when Harry Blackaller was at home. She had some money stored away but she was afraid to take it out and use it to buy food in case he found out and questioned her. The kids were starved and hid from him because he would beat them too. She knew she had to do something and went to find him one day when he was gambling. She found him in the company of a young boy at that time. She knew that she was in a bad situation and didn't know how to get out. He told her she would pay for embarrassing him in front of others. He surprised her one day when he came home and she had taken her money out of hiding intending to go to a neighboring town and use it to purchase food. He beat her again and took her money.
He had lost everything other than the land by now and told her that he was going to sell her land. A bad storm came next and portions of their roof blew off. He tried to get Rachel to climb up and work on fixing it but she refused. He climbed the ladder and yelled at her to steady it. She didn't and he fell off. He was unconscious and she hit him in the head with a heavy rock and killed him. No one questioned that it was an accident because no one thought she had the strength to lift the rock as big as it was.
Rachel relished her freedom and was determined that she would never again put herself in that position. It took her 7 years to get to where she was comfortable again. She sewed gloves by had to keep food on the table. Jedder killed rats and did odd jobs for neighbors. She let John go live with her in-laws until she went to see him and saw the abuse he was suffering and brought him back home. It was a struggle but they survived.
The children grew up and Will became a robber. He worked well out of town but she let him be. He was the favorite of her children. John had a way with animals and was often called on by the neighbors for help with their animals. He was well liked.
The squire who had helped her gain access of her land had gambled away and lost his money and land. Another was brought into replace him and he wanted Rachel's property. She refused to sell to him and told her that she would pay dearly for refusing him. He arranged for Joel to be arrested. He expected Rachel to sell her land to pay his debts but she didn't. Dick and Joel had always been trouble makers and she refused to help him. He was taken into the royal navy to work off his debt. Dick raped a neighbor and got her pregnant. He thought Rachel would be pleased for marrying her and gaining possession of her property which was next to hers. Rachel found out what he had done to get her pregnant and how the property had been acquired. Before they were married, Rachel took her to see her lawyer and acquired ownership of the property in trust for her child. Richard was furious when he found out what she had done. Rachel felt like he was like his father and would gamble away anything he owned and was determined to contain some of his wildness.
The squire had Jedder captured and hung for thievery. The new squire's men attacked Dick's wife while she was alone and out one evening. Their abuse caused her to miscarry and she died on her way home that night. Rachel learned of it from the men's bragging in town. She was determined to do something about the squire and went to see a woman whose son had also been taken away from her by the squire. The women knew a lot about herbs and such. She gave some powder to Rachel and Rachel mixed the powder with other ingredients and snuck out during the night to pour the potion in the squire's water supply. The squire's new son soon got ill and died. He squire's wife followed shortly afterwards. Men in his employment and household began to die too. The squire wasn't liked and had been rejected by others of his status and no one came to his aid. It was months before the source of the illness was tracked to the well. The well was plugged and a new one dug but by this time the squire had left the area and didn't return.
Rachel was out riding one day and ran across the old squire. She remembered the help he gave her in first gaining possession of her home and took him home. She fed him and gave him a place to live. In return, he became her bookkeeper and did a good job.
Rachel found a baby girl left on her doorstep one morning and didn't have any luck discovering her parentage. The child was left with money and Rachel used the money to replenish her stock and upgrade her tools. She was determined to never marry again and turned down the squire's offer of marriage. Dick took Rachel's pearls and set the squire up to look like he took them. Rachel told Dick that she knew he had arranged the set up and sent him away. She told him that she's had enough of his trouble and didn't want him around anymore. He tried to convince her to let him stay but she didn't give in.
Rachel never forgot her loss of Jedder but time let her go on. Rachel ran into another man who reminded her of Will and found out that he was Will's son. Rachel bought a horse from him and spent a lot of time training and working with that horse. Rachel had also found out that the child, Jane, who had been left with her was the daughter of the squire's sister. Rachel was given more money when the sister passed on. Rachel used the wealth she now had and built a large house on her property. She had acquired more land and was doing well now. John married into a wealthy family and was happy. Emma married and her first daughter reminded Rachel of herself. Jane married and was happy too. Rachel realized that she hadn't allowed herself to get too close to her own children and Emma;s daughter, Radigan moved in with Rachel and never returned to her parents. She was allowed to run wild for the most part until she was 7 and was sent away to school. Radigan ran away from school and Rachel put her to work to teach her a lesson. Radigan went back to school and stayed this time.
It wasn't long before Radigan came home at 14 as a smart, beautiful young lady. She was taller than Rachel for she had been well fed. She had the same two-toned eye color as Rachel and was prettier now than Rachel ever was.
Rachel gave Radigan a purebred Arabian mare when she arrived home from school. She hugged Rachel and was told that they were going to a hunt the next morning. Radigan could ride her new mare and Rachel would ride the horse she acquired from Will's son, Tom.
The race began and Rachel saw Radigan ahead of her jumping a wall of their property. Rachel followed her and made the same jump, only Rachel's horse misstepped on the landing and threw Rachel. Rachel Jedder was dead. She was buried on her land and there was a crowd at her funeral. Rachel became a permanent part of Jedder's Land. There were many stories the day of her funeral about how she had traveled across England and obtained her land and the many trials she had overcome to keep it. The land was now owned by Radigan Jedder Spurway.
The priest she found told her that her grandfather had died and left his house and property to her in Devon, on the other side of England. She was forced to bathe and given food. The priest gave her some money and sent her on her way. She would have frozen her first night out but a large, gray dog found her and even though it ate her food, he kept her warm where she survived the cold. She called the dog Sam and he hunted for her.
She came upon a circus troop and became sexually involved with an acrobat. She noticed the subtle changes in the attitude of the others and was treated as if she belonged to him. He began to treat her as a possession too. She soon told him that it was time for her to leave and she continued on her journey.
She finally arrived at her grandfather's place, called Yellaton, to find a neighbor had claimed the land as his. He locked her up for the night then he and his uncle proceeded to take her into town. While they walked, they talked as if she wasn't there and spoke of killing her for him to keep the land. Sam attacked them and she got away. She was trying to decide what to do when she saw a man riding by. She quickly undressed and got into the lake and pretended to be swimming in the freezing water. He asked Rachel to come out of the water and she allowed him to have sex with her. He offered her money but she asked for help in getting the man away from her land rather than any money. He told her that he would see to it and she could move into her house that night.
Rachel stayed away for most of the day and arrived to watch them finish packing and leave. She felt like she was a part of the property and was happy to see what she had inherited. She had a horse, apple trees, Sam, a couple of pregnant milk cows, a vegetable garden and a room where onions were hanging and various food items buried in straw. She spent most of the second day cleaning up the house and making it hers. She took the next day to ride around her property so see what she had.
She was soon visited by a peddler who told her that she needed to make a trip into town. Others had heard of her and how she had kicked their neighbor out of the house. She was the outsider and needed to get herself accepted. He told her that she wouldn't get any help come harvest time if she didn't get to know the people in town. She told him she would make do and handled all the work herself. She brought in the hay after working hundreds of hours during three weeks. She was celebrating in her house when all the hay she stacked was set on fire by the man she had displaced and a couple of his friends. She became discouraged.
Shortly after the fire, she received another visitor and this man drew an instant attraction from her. Will Tresider tried to fight his attraction to her as well. He was a smuggler and offered her money that she badly needed to replace what she had lost. She allowed him the use of her land and barns. They became involved and he helped her with her land. He found wandering sheep that belonged to her grandfather and brought them home. He showed her how to care for them. He convinced her to get to know the people in town and she began going to church. She stayed out of Will's way in regard to his smuggling activities and hired someone to help her while he was away on his business. The man she hired ended up eavesdropping on their conversation and turned him in. Rachel had asked to accompany Will and his men on that particular night and they got away but he told her he had to leave. He asked her to come with him and they would get married but she wasn't ready to leave her land. It was shortly after he left that she realized that she was pregnant.
Rachel had been in church when she saw Jane Clarke come in and she was shamed due to the fact that she had a child out of wedlock. The woman was no longer welcomed around town because she was unmarried. Rachel attended church strictly with the intention of finding a husband. She decided upon a man that she felt could handle the work of her farm due to his build. She managed to get an introduction to Robert Wolcot and was surprised when he told her that he had been interested in her since she had arrived in town. He hadn't shown any interest because he knew she was involved with Will. They took three weeks to get to know each other and then he told her that he knew she was pregnant so they had better get married quickly. They married and she learned to depend on him and loved the way she could depend on him. They developed a close relationship that worked for the two of them.
She had a son and named him Jedder, her own last name. It wasn't too long before she became pregnant again and this son they named John. Their land was prospering nicely and they purchased a parcel that neighbored her land. Another year later, she had a daughter, Sarah. They continued to work the land and were becoming prosperous.
They went to a circus in town and it reminded her of being with the acrobat. They were getting ready to leave when she was approached by a fortune teller. Rachel let her tell her fortune and she was told that death would come soon. Robert told her to ignore the fortune teller and Rachel tried. It wasn't too much longer before Sarah got the measles and died. Robert took the death hard and soon became sick himself. He was the next to die. He never recovered from Sarah dying.
It took Rachel some time but she recovered from their deaths and she started to get out and see people again. She went to a neighboring town and saw a man that reminded her of Will. She let him ride home with her. She was at first rejected by him and she wondered at the reason. Eventually they made love and he told her that they wold be married now. She had instigated the sex and didn't notice that he wasn't really responding to her. He had to convince her that he was serious and they were married three weeks later.
Things changed after they married. Rachel found out how abusive he could be. Harry Blackaller drank and lost her money. He gambled and sold off things she owned. She got pregnant and he left her alone physically while constantly berating her. He took everything she owned other than her land. She was pregnant and couldn't work the land so it fell into disrepair. She had another daughter, Emma, and a set of twins that she named Richard (Dick) and Joel.
The children all witnessed Rachel being beaten when Harry Blackaller was at home. She had some money stored away but she was afraid to take it out and use it to buy food in case he found out and questioned her. The kids were starved and hid from him because he would beat them too. She knew she had to do something and went to find him one day when he was gambling. She found him in the company of a young boy at that time. She knew that she was in a bad situation and didn't know how to get out. He told her she would pay for embarrassing him in front of others. He surprised her one day when he came home and she had taken her money out of hiding intending to go to a neighboring town and use it to purchase food. He beat her again and took her money.
He had lost everything other than the land by now and told her that he was going to sell her land. A bad storm came next and portions of their roof blew off. He tried to get Rachel to climb up and work on fixing it but she refused. He climbed the ladder and yelled at her to steady it. She didn't and he fell off. He was unconscious and she hit him in the head with a heavy rock and killed him. No one questioned that it was an accident because no one thought she had the strength to lift the rock as big as it was.
Rachel relished her freedom and was determined that she would never again put herself in that position. It took her 7 years to get to where she was comfortable again. She sewed gloves by had to keep food on the table. Jedder killed rats and did odd jobs for neighbors. She let John go live with her in-laws until she went to see him and saw the abuse he was suffering and brought him back home. It was a struggle but they survived.
The children grew up and Will became a robber. He worked well out of town but she let him be. He was the favorite of her children. John had a way with animals and was often called on by the neighbors for help with their animals. He was well liked.
The squire who had helped her gain access of her land had gambled away and lost his money and land. Another was brought into replace him and he wanted Rachel's property. She refused to sell to him and told her that she would pay dearly for refusing him. He arranged for Joel to be arrested. He expected Rachel to sell her land to pay his debts but she didn't. Dick and Joel had always been trouble makers and she refused to help him. He was taken into the royal navy to work off his debt. Dick raped a neighbor and got her pregnant. He thought Rachel would be pleased for marrying her and gaining possession of her property which was next to hers. Rachel found out what he had done to get her pregnant and how the property had been acquired. Before they were married, Rachel took her to see her lawyer and acquired ownership of the property in trust for her child. Richard was furious when he found out what she had done. Rachel felt like he was like his father and would gamble away anything he owned and was determined to contain some of his wildness.
The squire had Jedder captured and hung for thievery. The new squire's men attacked Dick's wife while she was alone and out one evening. Their abuse caused her to miscarry and she died on her way home that night. Rachel learned of it from the men's bragging in town. She was determined to do something about the squire and went to see a woman whose son had also been taken away from her by the squire. The women knew a lot about herbs and such. She gave some powder to Rachel and Rachel mixed the powder with other ingredients and snuck out during the night to pour the potion in the squire's water supply. The squire's new son soon got ill and died. He squire's wife followed shortly afterwards. Men in his employment and household began to die too. The squire wasn't liked and had been rejected by others of his status and no one came to his aid. It was months before the source of the illness was tracked to the well. The well was plugged and a new one dug but by this time the squire had left the area and didn't return.
Rachel was out riding one day and ran across the old squire. She remembered the help he gave her in first gaining possession of her home and took him home. She fed him and gave him a place to live. In return, he became her bookkeeper and did a good job.
Rachel found a baby girl left on her doorstep one morning and didn't have any luck discovering her parentage. The child was left with money and Rachel used the money to replenish her stock and upgrade her tools. She was determined to never marry again and turned down the squire's offer of marriage. Dick took Rachel's pearls and set the squire up to look like he took them. Rachel told Dick that she knew he had arranged the set up and sent him away. She told him that she's had enough of his trouble and didn't want him around anymore. He tried to convince her to let him stay but she didn't give in.
Rachel never forgot her loss of Jedder but time let her go on. Rachel ran into another man who reminded her of Will and found out that he was Will's son. Rachel bought a horse from him and spent a lot of time training and working with that horse. Rachel had also found out that the child, Jane, who had been left with her was the daughter of the squire's sister. Rachel was given more money when the sister passed on. Rachel used the wealth she now had and built a large house on her property. She had acquired more land and was doing well now. John married into a wealthy family and was happy. Emma married and her first daughter reminded Rachel of herself. Jane married and was happy too. Rachel realized that she hadn't allowed herself to get too close to her own children and Emma;s daughter, Radigan moved in with Rachel and never returned to her parents. She was allowed to run wild for the most part until she was 7 and was sent away to school. Radigan ran away from school and Rachel put her to work to teach her a lesson. Radigan went back to school and stayed this time.
It wasn't long before Radigan came home at 14 as a smart, beautiful young lady. She was taller than Rachel for she had been well fed. She had the same two-toned eye color as Rachel and was prettier now than Rachel ever was.
Rachel gave Radigan a purebred Arabian mare when she arrived home from school. She hugged Rachel and was told that they were going to a hunt the next morning. Radigan could ride her new mare and Rachel would ride the horse she acquired from Will's son, Tom.
The race began and Rachel saw Radigan ahead of her jumping a wall of their property. Rachel followed her and made the same jump, only Rachel's horse misstepped on the landing and threw Rachel. Rachel Jedder was dead. She was buried on her land and there was a crowd at her funeral. Rachel became a permanent part of Jedder's Land. There were many stories the day of her funeral about how she had traveled across England and obtained her land and the many trials she had overcome to keep it. The land was now owned by Radigan Jedder Spurway.
September 29, 2016
An episodic tale of a young, abused, indentured servant's rise to a wealthy landowner in 18th century England. Girls grandfather dies and wills his property on the other side of England to his servant granddaughter. She walks clear across the country alone, except for a big gray dog she picks up. Her many adventures and loves comprise the book, and it is a good one. I would give this 4 1/2 stars if I could. Highly recommended.
January 12, 2011
This is the first book I ever remember reading from beginning to end. It was the book that started my lfe long love of reading.
August 21, 2020
Qui se soucierait de quinze acres de terre et d'une masure au milieu d'une lande lointaine ?
Un héritage symbolique même pas apte à éveiller des rêves d'enfant !
C'est pourtant assez pour une jeune fille fille de 16 ans abandonnée aux mains d'un couple de paysans brutaux et cupides.
Ce personnage principal va entreprendre à pied un long voyage semé d'embûches....
Maureen O'Donoghue est une romancière scrupuleuse...
Titre français : Ma terre, mon héritage impose un voyage afin de connaitre de cette Angleterre rurale du XVIIIème siècle.
Un héritage symbolique même pas apte à éveiller des rêves d'enfant !
C'est pourtant assez pour une jeune fille fille de 16 ans abandonnée aux mains d'un couple de paysans brutaux et cupides.
Ce personnage principal va entreprendre à pied un long voyage semé d'embûches....
Maureen O'Donoghue est une romancière scrupuleuse...
Titre français : Ma terre, mon héritage impose un voyage afin de connaitre de cette Angleterre rurale du XVIIIème siècle.
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July 5, 20191766-1815 Devon about hard life of paupers and farmers
October 29, 2011
Great Reading, could not put it down,I am now looking for more of her books
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews