Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year 2010.

July 2010 Debut of the Month.

Voted the public's favourite TV Book Club Summer Read 2010.

Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 11 July 2010.

August 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.

July 2010 Editor's Choice.

A superb family drama, full of secrets and betrayals, love and resentment. Two sisters return to the house of their grandmother, following her death, and while sorting out the family affairs the uncover secrets long held buried. A really absorbing read and an author to definitely keep an eye on.

Dear Reader

You hold in your hands an extraordinary debut novel. The Legacy is a sweeping, multi-generational drama that moves from turn-of-the-century America to present day England. It immediately reminded me of one of my favourite novels: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher.

Katherine's novel is a hauntingly beautiful, deeply satisfying read, exploring themes of individual and collective identity, of loss and of atonement. Most of all, it is a novel about two women from two different generations; the truths they hide, the lies they live, the secrets they uncover and the hidden ties that bind them.

I simply cannot wait to publish this absorbing ad unforgettable read. I hope you enjoy it.

 
Sara O'Keeffe

Senior Commissioning Editor, Orion Books

Synopsis

In the bitter winter of 2009, following the death of their grandmother, Erica Calcott and her sister Beth return to Storton Manor, a grand and imposing Wiltshire house where they spent their summer holidays as children. When Erica begins to sort through her grandmother's belongings, she is flooded with memories of her childhood - and of her cousin, Henry, whose disappearance from the manor tore the family apart. Erica sets out to discover what happened to Henry - so that the past can be laid to rest, and her sister, Beth, might finally find some peace. Gradually, as Erica begins to sift through remnants of the past, a secret family history emerges; one that stretches all the way back to turn-of-the-century Oklahoma, to a beautiful society heiress and a haunting, savage land. As past and present converge, Erica and Beth must come to terms with two terrible acts of betrayal - and the heart-breaking legacy left behind. THE LEGACY is an unforgettable, deeply satisfying story that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

Reviews

About the Author

Katherine Webb was born in Kent in 1977 and grew up in rural Hampshire. She was educated at a local comprehensive school and sixth form college, before reading History at Durham University. A childhood fascination with ruined castles and the secrets of the past has carried forward into her fiction, which incorporates historical story lines and explores how past events can reverberate in the present. Since graduating from Durham in 1998, Katherine has had various day jobs – from kiln operator in a pottery, to waitress, librarian and seller of fairy costumes. In recent years she has worked in service as a housekeeper for high status families; in formal households where age-old structures of class behaviour are alive and well, uniforms are worn and staff are expected to be both invisible and omnipresent; and (currently) in pleasantly relaxed households with more up-to-date attitudes. After a nomadic period in her twenties, having lived in London and Venice, Katherine has now settled in a cottage in the countryside near Newbury, Berkshire. DIY is more of a necessity than a hobby, and her other interests include cookery, running and horse riding. The Legacy is Katherine’s seventh completed novel, and the first to be published. Unusually, The Legacy came to Orion’s notice, not through a literary agent, (Katherine didn’t have one at the time) but through the peer-review website, YouWriteOn.com. The Legacy won YouWriteOn.com’s Novel of the Year Award 2009, garnering huge support from other aspiring writers on the site. Orion has signed Katherine on a two book deal, launching The Legacy as a major debut in 2010. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation