Wideacre went on and on and on and on and on and on, same blather on and on. Could have been an interesting story (hence the "2" stars instead of the "1" I was tempted to give it) if the author had not felt the reader wouldn't catch on to the theme unless she hit us over the head with it a million times. Had to fill those hundreds and hundreds of pages, I guess. I ended up skipping whole chapters I was so tired of Beatrice and Wideacre, and still knew what had happened and what was going to happen; the author was so hamfisted with the "suspense". I regret to say I have all 3 of the trilogy, not sure I'll ever pick up the other 2 as this one has been such a monumental waste of time. It left me feeling cheated (out of my money) and sorry (that I had read it).