The Ravenscar Dynasty

The Ravenscar Dynasty
Barbara Taylor Bradford

The Ravenscar Dynasty, introducing the house of DeRavenel, launches Barbara Taylor Bradford’s epic new series spanning a century.Ravenscar: A house, a legacy and a dynasty.On a bitterly cold day in 1904, the DeRavenel family's future changes for ever. When Cecily DeRavenel tells her 18-year-old son Edward of the death of his father, brother and cousins in a fire, a part of him dies as well.Edward is comforted by his cousin Neville Watkins, who is suspicious of the deaths. The two men vow to seek the truth, avenge the deaths and take control of the business empire usurped from Edward's great uncle sixty years before. And so begins an epic saga about an astonishing family, set in extraordinary times.Handsome, charismatic and a notorious womaniser, Edward battles his cousin, Henry Grant, for control of the family empire. Elizabeth Wyland, a young widow and a great beauty, stands by his side, and they are secretly married. She is power hungry, and ambitious. But Edward also has a mistress: Jane Shaw, a constant in his life. And as Elizabeth's jealousy damages their marriage, Edward's only solace is his work and Jane.Edward's position as the glamorous head of the DeRavenels is fatally rocked when betrayal comes from within. Soon, catastrophe threatens to destroy the family and the business…Power and money, passion and adultery, ambition and treachery – all illuminate a dramatic saga set against the backdrop of the Edwardian Era and the Belle Epoque, just before the First World War.

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

The Ravenscar Dynasty

Copyright (#ub7b0b04c-a0c3-5954-8f70-4723c4224835)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

FIRST EDITION

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006

Copyright © Barbara Taylor Bradford 2006

Barbara Taylor Bradford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins eBooks.

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2006 ISBN: 9780007279593

Version: 2017-10-25

For my husband Robert Bradford, who has lived with these characters for over twenty-six years, and has never lost patience with them or with me. With my love.

Contents

Title Page (#u56edf06e-ae81-5bc5-be9f-c6cbe8d998e7)

Copyright (#ulink_ec4fc6d4-84c7-5fc3-9320-6f6d765e0d60)

Dedication (#ufaf5b358-db42-596a-a4e8-c325909cb85d)

Part One

Powerful Allies

Edward & Neville

Chapter One: Yorkshire—1904 (#uf156ed8b-4c9e-5760-af6e-22930d052810)

Chapter Two (#u0e5a698d-b058-5f8b-81ba-90d71ff3d8a5)

Chapter Three (#u5ecf7c6c-1074-5436-aec7-d7feafa800b5)

Chapter Four (#u9366b6aa-25f4-5ba5-9d5b-eb212b4ba978)

Chapter Five: London (#u8f9911fb-d33f-5264-988c-f4ecacd4e331)

Chapter Six (#u2db199ab-9507-565d-805f-4995e2b7a7a3)

Chapter Seven (#u6b2471ea-1f2a-5e78-9bc1-a2e392a8efca)

Chapter Eight (#u70e7f754-c469-5912-a3f7-2b511d715329)

Chapter Nine: Florence (#ud4262f26-2594-527d-973d-add8dd20d474)

Chapter Ten (#u2be8dfbd-5dcf-5874-ab7c-e805d6066295)

Chapter Eleven: Carrara (#u01f74ba2-ff25-5a13-acdd-87e69516c3a1)

Chapter Twelve: Kent (#u0aa7c218-0a98-5373-9b9c-772b96d52bcc)

Chapter Thirteen: London (#u54343915-b29d-59b8-97e8-81ac9a6d3963)

Chapter Fourteen: Ravenscar (#u0d13e6dd-7670-51a2-bafb-08cc3eeddc37)

Part Two

Golden Boy

Edward & Lily

Chapter Fifteen: Kent (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen: London (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)