---
title: "Cashelmara by Susan Howatch"
description: "Summary: A multi-generational family drama based around the Irish estate Cashelmara. Cashelmara was originally published in 1974. It is a good example of the importance of the digital book market. Ope..."
url: https://bookwi.se/cashelmara/
date: 2013-07-29
modified: 2026-07-15
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Book Reviews"]
tags: ["KindleUnlimited"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Cashelmara by Susan Howatch

[![Cashelmara by Susan Howatch](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cover-22170.jpg)](http://www.amazon.com/Cashelmara-ebook/dp/B009DA5BZC/)**Summary: A multi-generational family drama based around the Irish estate Cashelmara.**

Cashelmara was originally published in 1974. It is a good example of the importance of the digital book market. Open Road is a publisher that mostly focuses on former bestsellers that are now out of print.

After reading Susan Howatch’s Church of England Series this spring, I have decided to pick up anything written by Susan Howatch when it goes on sale.

I was surprised that Cashelmara was told in a very similar format to the Church of England series (just compressed into one very long book.) Both have six sections, each with a different person narrating the story from their perspective.

 In Cashelmara the story starts with Edward, the patriarch of the family and the one who has made the family great. He is a Barron, an important member of the House of Lords. He owns an English estate and a London home in addition to the vast estate of Cashelmara. But while he is still healthy and in the prime of his life, his wife and four of his children have died. The book starts right before he meets and falls in love with Marguerite, a young, distant cousin of his former wife from New York.

The story then switches to Marguerite’s perspective, then Edward’s son Patrick, Patrick’s wife, then Maxwell Drummond and ends with Patrick’s son Ned. The sections are titled, Duty, Fidelity, Loyalty, Passion, Ambition and Revenge.

This is a long historical fiction book, nearly 700 pages and I spent most of the week while I was at the beach reading it. It does not have the brilliance of the Church of England series. Howatch is a very good story teller. And the characters are the central focus of the book.

The main plot, which does not really show up until nearly 2/3 of the way through the book is very much a soap opera. The problem with this method is that it is not clear to me what the first half of the book is really doing in the book. It gives background. But do you need more than 300 pages to just give background? And the main plot seems wildly different from the early character given marriage drama that is the root of the first half of the book.

The characters are interesting, but I wish Howatch has done more with Marguerite and picked a different plot. I am glad I read it, but it is a far less important book than the Church of England series.

I am mixed about whether I should give a content warning or not. There are several murders (although who does some of them is a bit unclear). There is some graphic descriptions of pretty brutal rape and some other sexual content. But this not romance or erotic book. They are part of the plot and not nearly as descriptive as many other books.

*(I have been reading more English history and I have been seeing the inspiration. Roughly this is based on the Kings Edward I, II and III. I should probably go back and read it Cashelmara again to see if I like it more with a better understanding of the historical inspiration.)*

**Cashelmara by Susan Howatch Purchase Links: [Kindle Edition](http://www.amazon.com/Cashelmara-ebook/dp/B009DA5BZC/)**

**Other Bookwi.se Reviews of Susan Howatch Books**

- [Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (Church of England Series #1)](https://bookwi.se/glittering-images/)
- [Glamorous Powers by Susan Howatch (Church of England #2)](https://bookwi.se/glamorous-powers/)
- [Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch (Church of England #3)](https://bookwi.se/ultimate-prizes/)
- [Scandalous Risks by Susan Howatch (Church of England #4)](https://bookwi.se/scandalous-risks/)
- [Mystical Paths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #5)](https://bookwi.se/mystical-paths/)
- [Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #6)](https://bookwi.se/absolute-truths-by-susan-howatch-church-of-england-6/)