A Secret Inheritance - Hardcover

Elizabeth Lord was born in the East End of London but has lived in Essex most of her life. She has a son and two daughters. Ruth Rendell describes her as a natural storyteller .

Thérèse Daurignac was raised on her father’s tales of the inheritance that was allegedly just waiting for him, while her mother supported the family with her lingerie shop in their small town outside of Toulouse, France. When her mother dies, Thérèse, the eldest child in their large family, becomes responsible for everyone, including her idle father. Having inherited his gift for gab, Thérèse starts telling stories calculated to arouse the sympathy of their neighbors until trouble with the law leads to the family’s move to Toulouse. There Thérèse again uses her wiles, until, thanks to the connections of her husband and his father, an esteemed member of the senate, her Ponzi scheme takes them all to Paris in grand style. But her ambition grows beyond her capabilities, and the family’s woes worsen as her tall tales lose their power as modernization changes everything at the turn of the twentieth century. Lord gives her readers a self-absorbed character who simultaneously charms and repels in an utterly fascinating story. --Patty Engelmann