The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle

By: Kirsty Wark

Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond

Born just before the First World War, Elizabeth Pringle has been a familiar yet solitary figure on the Scottish island of Arran. A dutiful daughter, an inspirational teacher, a gardener. But did anyone really know her? When Elizabeth dies, her will contains a surprise. She has left her home and her belongings to someone who is all but a stranger, a young mother she watched pushing a pram down the road more than 30 years ago. Now it falls to Martha, the baby in that pram, to find out how her mother inherited the house in such strange circumstances, and in doing so, perhaps leave her own past behind. But first she has to find the answer to the question: who was Elizabeth Pringle?

A captivating and haunting story of the richness beneath so-called ordinary lives and the secrets and threads that hold women together.

Dear Mrs Morrison,

A long time ago, almost thirty-four years past, you wrote to me requesting that I contact you should I ever wish to leave my home. I knew then that I would never live anywhere else, and so there was no point in my replying to you.

I saw you almost every day, pushing your pram along Shore Road. You looked very young. I remember that on one occasion you waved to me, and I think I tilted my head towards you. Perhaps you did not see. There have been times when that scene has come to me vividly, and I have wondered what has become of you both.

I am instructing my solicitor to write to you at the address on your letter. Holmlea is yours if you still wish it.

Elizabeth Pringle

©2014 Black Pepper Media Ltd (P)2014 John Murray Press

lovely prose and story

this was a well written magical story of lives intertwined. Absolutely loved it and highly recommend.

I couldn't stop listening!

Once I started listening, I could not stop. Before I knew it the book was done but not before there there a few twists and turns. I enjoyed the thorough descriptions in the author made of the island, the people and their seemingly ordinary lives, which were not so ordinary underneath. I look forward to more by this author.

Uneven and Ultimately Annoying

I bought this audiobook from Audible on the rec. of Karen of Cornflower Books, whose taste I generally appreciate. In the long run, however, I found it uneven: in the beginning, it's too sad, with two parallel stories of women who are dealing with the inevitable losses of old age; then it becomes too predictable, with WWi and WWII stories that we've all heard before and miraculously "I knew he was The One" relationships; it winds up with a big helping of "spooky-wooky" "I could feel her spirit near me" intimations and that revelation of the hidden secret that we had no idea had existed from the very beginning of the tale. So. I guess I'd say that there are some interesting/lovely aspects of the story, and the narration is beautifully done. However, my "okay" rating remains. Overall, it became an annoying book.
*Reader was great, though Saul's "American accent" grated a bit.

Disappointing

Though the narration was excellent and the author demonstrates a fine command of the language, the story rambled with no point. The main character Elizabeth could have been anyone with a story that simply did not matter. Elizabeth's "tragedy" did not lead to any moment of self-awareness. The plot dragged to a conclusion with no point.

The parallel contemporary story was equally pointless with characters that were neither compelling nor unique.