Hidden Legacy

by Margaret Hodapp

During the late seventeen hundreds, Tessa O'Donnell's husband is attacked and killed by thieves as he returns home one evening, drunk, from the local pub in their small Irish village. Tessa, secretly relieved to be rid of her abusive husband, sorts through his meager belongings after the dreary funeral and finds a small, concealed box. Tessa is amazed to discover a boarding ticket and a small amount of cash inside the locked box. Furious, she realizes that her husband had plans to desert her and sail alone on a ship bound for America. Tessa is frightened to leave her familiar surroundings in Ireland but is determined to seek a better life for herself. She bravely uses the ticket and boards the huge ship to journey to America. A fascinating new friend whom Tessa meets aboard ship has an important influence on her life. Upon her arrival in America, a curious twist of fate and a conversation with a ghost draws Tessa deep into a daring adventure. The lonely widow attempts to unravel a series of confusing and puzzling clues in the exciting months following her arrival to search for a hidden legacy, unsure if the discovery will bring her happiness or more heartbreak.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Fantasy, Ebooks

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

I am retired and enjoying life. I love to write and create stories and poems for others to read. In my novels, the main characters are women over forty who handle problems with grown children, divorce, and romance.
Too many books today tell of gals who are twenty, cute and dimpled; life goes on for women after we reach forty and I love to tell these stories.
Other than writing, I like to garden and to preserve what I raise. I love spending time with my family and I volunteer on our local EMS unit as a certified EMT.
My husband and I have been married for 47 years and have three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was o.k., but I cannot believe the editor or publisher allowed some of writing to be included. You would be reading along about the main character's day and all of the sudden the author would explain exactly how the character made rye bread, barely soup, corned beef, etc. The author also would be writing about one thing and suddenly switch to a whole other thought, it kind of got annoying.

The book contains a love story, but if you blink you might miss it. One day she is a widow who thinks a man is cute and has said about two words to him and the next her cow is giving birth and he gives her a long passionate kiss; a little unbelievable especially for the time.

I did not hate the story I really just think it needed a lot of editing.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very light reading and very improbable.
Recipes and instructions for making things are included in the text as part of the story while trying to be part of the story line. An interesting writing tool.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very nice read that held my interest all the way through. Some of the situations were a little too much of a coincidence, hence my 4 rather than a full 5 stars. I did really enjoy it, however. It centers around Tessa, an Irish woman whose abusive, alcoholic husband has just been murdered. As Tessa is going through his belongings, she finds a ticket for passage to America. She is furious to realize that her late husband, Sean, had bought this ticket for only himself and had never told her about it. She decides that there is nothing but poverty left for her in Ireland. Sean had wanted a son to carry on his family name but Tessa had never been able to carry a child. Actually a family name is something of a sore subject for Tessa since her grandfather had left England in a dispute with his family and had changed hus name from Duncan to Douglas. As Tessa boards the ship, she learns, with the help of Melissa Douglas, a fellow passenger, that her ticket is for steerage in the male section. Melissa takes pity on Tessa and shares her private room with her. Tessa and Melissa become close friends but Melissa actually has a terminal illness and dies not long after they reach America. Melissa had come to America to care for an aging, ill uncle. Tessa tries hard to care for Melissa but she dies anyway, probably of lung cancer. Tessa once again seizes the opportunity made available to her and impersonates Melissa. When "Melissa" (Tessa) gets to the uncle's home, she finds that he has recently dies, which makes her sole heir to his home and lands. It's not a fortune but is very nice and much more than she could ever have hoped to have back in Ireland. Along the way, there is a very mean farmer manages to expose her true identity but he has skeletons in his own closet. Tessa gets a little help from a very friendly ghost and some good friends that she has made. She's a hard worker with a good heart. Even when she does some things that are morally doubtful, she tries to make things as right as possible. She ultimately shows just how kind and generous she truly is. I enjoyed this book and would readily recommend it.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly this book should receive 3.5 stars... I really liked it, however; it was very repetitive (if you read one chapter every month, it would be helpful to be reminded of where Tessa came from, what the dog's name is, who the attorney is, etc., but since you read a book every day straight through, it got pretty annoying - yes, we know that Tessa came from Ireland and she stumbled upon a huge fortune, thank you for the reminder!). Overall, it was a fantastic story & I really enjoyed all of the characters, how they came together, and how they ended up; truly enjoyable. One thing I really LOVED about this book is all of the tid-bits I learned about canning, recipes, preparing meat, all of the veggies she planted and how to use them, how she prepared a meal to be eated several months from today - very interesting and I wish I knew how to do all of that.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an engaging story, although I was not convinced of its historicity nor its complete plausibility. The settlement pattern seemed more characteristic of the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, when the Native Americans were long gone from the east coast, and the system of law was firmly established. And in the seventeenth century the Irish were often considered less than fully human by their English neighbors, not easily accepted into the community as Tessa was.

But the story was engaging, if somewhat contrived. Once I suspended my disbelief over my feelings of anachronism and just went with it, I found it enjoyable.

[Merissa (Archaeolibrarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable, went along at a fairly good pace and I enjoyed reading about how cooking etc was done during those times. There were a few parts in it that I didn't think had been written to their full potential. For example, the character of Charles comes across as sly, untrustworthy and possibly violent but nothing is much said to follow this up and in the next chapter the heroine of the book is using his services as a lawyer as though nothing has happened. A lot of coincidence and luck in this book.

A good book but not a keeper for me.

[Donna Cleary]

historical romance

I enjoyed reading this book as it was an interesting story of love and friendship. Tessa the main character starts out meek, but with her move to America she becomes brave and resourceful, which was good but a curious change of character. Sometimes things to just work out a little too easily, but it was a pleasant read. If you are in need of a comforting, historical romance novel you will like this book

[H.S. Contino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the storyline to be intriguing and I loved many of the different characters, but I found that the book tends to drag in a few places. I liked the details about Tessa's way of life-- the way she prepared and preserved food, etc-- but at times the paragraphs of detail distracted from the plot of the story. Overall, the book was a pretty good read.

[JJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story but too quickly written

Interesting story but too quickly written

the story felt rushed. the author spent more time describing the characters' clothing than she did their interactions. she needed to spend more time researching the setting, winter in Virginia is not as she described.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free Kindle book. I wouldn't go out and buy it, but for free it was good for a quick read. Predictable, but still good. I need to read really well written book pretty soon though. And I'm finding that kindle books have so many TYPOS it drives me crazy!

[Therese]

$0.0

[Terry]

Free on kindle 4/27/12

[Judy Bullard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Some intrigue, mystery, clean romance - best kind of read!

[Margaret Hodapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't review this book since I wrote it but there are reviews on AMazon and Barnes&Noble.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribly written book. Avoid.

[Debra Odom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like historical fiction. This book was an easy read and it had a couple of twists and turns.

[Maureen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far too many huge coincidences to be remotely believable. The story dragged and then finished in a rush. The dialogue did not fit the time frame; too much slang.