Day 55: Hey! Summerset Abbey is like King Lear in reverse!

So I recently read and reviewed this book, Summerset Abbey, by T.J. Brown. It was okay, but I read it because it was recommended for "fans of Downton Abbey" (which I am) and I didn't feel it quite lived up to that recommendation. If, however, it had been marketed to "fans of King Lear" well, that might have been another story.

It wasn't until I started reading King Lear this week that noticed how much the book is influenced by the play. I mean, it's about three sisters (sort of) and it has themes of inheritance and illegitimacy (feel free to stop reading this if you don't want to know too much about the book...or the play, for that matter) but the more I think about it, the more I realize it's King Lear in reverse.


In the Shakespearean play, the aging king divides his kingdom among his three daughters but then capriciously cuts one of them out of the deal when she displeases him, disowning her. The remaining two daughters almost immediately cut off their father in turn, denying him his land, his servants, his home, everything (well, he did give it all to them, but he didn't expect them to stop taking orders from them). 

In Summerset Abbey, it's the other way around. The father dies at the beginning and the three girls are left without a head of household. They've inherited his fortune (well, two of them have) but are left in the care of an uncle until they come of age. Their uncle forces them to leave their home and insists they not be allowed to take any servants (except one, but they have to fight pretty hard for her).

Both stories are about mortality, transfer of power, legitimacy, parent-child relationships, family secrets and fear of change.

I seem to remember a lot less public eye gouging in Summerset Abbey though.