REVIEW: The Women of Eden by Marilyn Harris (1980)

Burke & Mary catch a rare moment of happiness.

★★★★★
I was a bit nervous when I picked this one up. John Murrey Eden (henceforth "JME") didn't thrill me as much in The Eden Passion as his daddy and grandaddy did, so I wasn't really looking forward to him being the "hero" again for an entire novel. Of course I shouldn't have been trepidatious, since Marilyn Harris upended all my expectations and delivered a juicy wallop of psychological terror and manipulation with JME as the main antagonist, lording it over a cast of characters. He's not put into any heroic situations, and he's not meant to be likable. Complex, yes; likable, no. In fact, he's a brutal, malicious, megalomaniacal, insane son of a bitch, and he leaves a bunch of broken lives in his wake. It's a story of Victorian Patriarchy Meets Fascist Dictatorship.

The story was so relentlessly grim that I procrastinated horribly in the last 50 pages, picking it up and reading a page or two, then setting it down to find something to do, because there was still enough room for horrendous misery and I felt I couldn't bear to read anymore. By the time I finally reached the end, I was relieved but emotionally wiped out. And yet, after a half day's respite, I grabbed the next book in the series. Marilyn and her twisted and tortured family saga has turned me into a helpless masochist.

When the book opens, JME has taken the rubble of Eden Point's finances and reputation and created a huge construction business, one of the richest in the entire British Empire. Despite his efforts, he lacks the respect of the blue bloods due to his being a bastard and a mere "businessman." Undaunted, he throws a huge shindig at the newly-renovated Eden Point with all the gaudy show of a nouveau riche, including the unveiling of a portrait of "The Women of Eden" by young artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. (From its description in the book, it sounds like it is nearly the same as his A Coign of Vantage.) The whole point of the affair is to show off his possessions, including the real Women of Eden: "stepmother" Elizabeth, half-sister/cousin Mary, mistress Dhari, and wife Lila. It doesn't take long for JME's various manias to make a total wreck of his grandiose plans, and he is on the warpath against all his enemies, real and imagined (mostly imagined), for the rest of the book.

Tadema's fictional "The Women of Eden"

JME doesn't just have baggage, he has a whole train car of it. Maybe even a cargo carrier. The boy has problems, stemming from his father's cavalier treatment of the family wealth and heritage, and when the book opens he has reached a point of such wealth and power of his own making that he is already on the fast track to insanity. Because he "rescued" Eden Point from bankruptcy, he feels he is owed PLENTY by everyone in the family and is ruthless and feels justified in whatever he does, no matter the results.

Having built his empire in London and his world at Eden, the incredible force known as John Murrey Eden had to turn his energies elsewhere. Unfortunately he'd tried to remake human beings in his own image, and had found flesh and blood to be less malleable to his will than iron and brick.

He has no qualms about mental, physical and verbal abuse. He dishes it out to friends and family alike, and everyone has their own conflicts about the situation. They do feel their indebtedness to him, and so they have tolerated and enabled him. They fall back on their love and regard for his father to excuse their refusal to bring JME in line or leave him entirely. It's JME's world, they just live in it...but they also each did their own bit to create that world as well.

The author: she writes some seriously
awesome fucked up shit, y'all.

If there is a "hero" and "heroine" in the book, it is JME's half-sister/cousin Mary and Confederate exile Burke Stanhope. JME has conflicted feelings over Mary (sexual and paternal), and when Mary realizes he won't exert the former, she tries to break free from the stifling latter and carry on a secret romance with Burke. For JME, his beloved Madonna becomes a Magdalen and it sets in motion an unbelievable amount of revenge and tragedy that drags the whole Eden "family" into the pit with a crazed JME.

Like I said, it was emotionally draining. This series has been amazingly consistent over the course of four books in emotional impact, historical detail, memorable characters, and crackerjack writing that rarely exists in historical romance or historical fiction today. I especially appreciate Harris' willingness and ability to delve into the dark and shadowy world of Victorian morality, where marriages were legal tyrannies, the burden of sexual integrity was a one-way street, and corporal punishment served as a furtive kink as much as behavior modification for the betterment of society.

I could fill a whole review with spoilers alone, detailing the dark and dreary events, but suffice to say, This Book Is NOT For Wussies. JME has no limits for punishing and manipulating people, and the results are not pretty.