"PENMARRIC" (1979) Review

 

"PENMARRIC" (1979) Review

British author Susan Howatch had a prolific career as a novelist for roughly thrity-nine years. Three of them were family sagas, whose characters paralleled the lives of one of Britain's royal families - the Plantagenets. The first of those novels, 1971's "Penmarric", ended up being the only one adapted for the screen.

Paralleling the life of King Henry II of England, his wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and three sons; "Penmarric" told the story of the Castallack family through two generations, spanning between 1890 and 1945. The story was told from the viewpoint of five characters - landowner-historian Mark Castallack, his older wife Janna Castallack, Mark's younger illegitimate son Adrian Parrish, his and Janna's third son Philip Castallack and their youngest child, Jan-Yves Castallack. When the BBC adapted the novel in 1979 as a twelve-part miniseries, the screenwriters changed the story's setting between the mid-to-late 1860s and 1940. Apparently, the miniseries' producer(s) wanted to include the backstory of Mark's mother, Maud Penmar Castallack, and her failed attempts to secure inheritance of the Penmarric estate. The miniseries had included another major change. The screenwriters ended the Castallacks' saga in 1940, five years before Howatch did in her novel.

Overall, I thought "PENMARRIC" proved to be a good, solid adaptation of Howatch's novel. Aside from the changes, there seemed to be no other major diversions from the story's main saga. Through twelve episodes, I thought the miniseries did an excellent job of conveying the fortunes and misfortunes of the Castallack family. I also found myself impressed by how the production conveyed how three particular incidents - Maud Penmar Castallack's failure to gain inheritance of her father's estate, the violent breakdown of Mark and Janna Castallack's marriage and a major disaster involving one of the Penmarric's tin mines - had such major consequences on the family's fortunes and their lives.

In a production as large as "PENMARRIC", it was only natural I would encounter scenes I found very enjoyable or satisfying. Some of my favorite sequences featured the Penmars' reactions to the death of Maud's only brother, Maud's verbal conflicts with both her father and her Penmar cousins, Mark and Janna's volatile courtship, Philip and Adrian's conflicts following the breakup of the Castallack marriage, Jan-Yves' affair with his widowed sister-in-law Rebecca, his relationship with his first wife, Felicity Cranforth, Philip's relationship with the miner Alun Trevose, the Senen Garth mine disaster and Jan-Yves' ever changing relationship with both Philip and Janna. I believe these aspects of the miniseries highlighted the screenwriters' ability to re-capture the complex nature of Howatch's characters and their relationships. This especially seemed to be the case of the marriage between Mark and Janna, whose failed marriage stemmed from class division, resentment, bigotry and a violent act that permanently damaged their relationship. Fiction tends to romanticize mixed marriages, especially those between people from different classes.

The production values for "PENMARRIC" seemed to veer from solid to first-rate. It seemed clear to me that the film stock used for the miniseries may not have been of best quality. I could tell that some of the footage - namely the exterior scenes - have begun to show signs of aging. I am aware that "PENMARRIC" had aired thirty-five years ago. But I have seen television productions from both sides of the Atlantic that have aged a lot better. However, I cannot deny that I found Erik Messerschmidt's cinematography a bit mind-blowing. I thought he did an excellent job of utilizing the Cornwall and Devon countryside for the miniseries' exterior shots. I also have a high regard for the costume designs team of Anne Bailey, Doreen James and Janet Tharby. Each woman designed costumes for at least four episodes and all three did an excellent job of recapturing the fashions of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century.

Most of the performances featured in "PENMARRIC" struck me as solid . . . competent, including those from Gene Foad, Patsy Kensit, Ralph Bates, Kim Braden, John Patrick, Lesley Dunlop, Shirley Steedman, a young Alan Cox and especially Rosalind Ayres. There were one or two that struck me as a bit over-the-top. One of those "dramatic" performances came from John Castle, who portrayed Mark Penmar - Maud's father and young Mark Castallack's maternal grandfather. Castle has always struck me as a very skillful and subtle actor. Yet, he seemed to have given an exaggerated portrayal of an eccentric Victorian landlord. Another performance that rubbed me the wrong way came from Holly de Jong, who portrayed the volatile Rebecca Rosalyn Castallack - Mark and Janna's daughter-in-law, Hugh Castallack's widow and Jan-Yves Castallack's sister-in-law and mistress. De Jong had her moments as excellent acting, especially in those poignant scenes featuring Rebecca and Jan-Yves. But when it came to Rebecca's more emotional moments, de Jong seemed incapable of reigning in or controlling her performance.

There were a handful of performances in "PENMARRIC" that struck me as exceptional. One of them came from Angela Scoular, who portrayed the ambitious and single-minded Maud Penmar Castallack. I thought Scoular did an excellent job in conveying Maud's more prominent traits - her arrogance, eccentricity, ambition and emotional desire for the Penmarric estate - while maintaining control of her performance. Thomas Ellice struck me as equally skillful as the domineering Mark Casallack, whose arrogance, self-involved and controlling nature led him to make questionable decisions that had major impacts on his family. I might as well be frank. Mark proved to be one of my least favorite characters in the story. Yet, Ellice still managed to convey certain traits in Mark's character that made him occasional sympathetic in my eyes. One of my favorite characters in this story happened to be Janna Castallack, the beautiful daughter of a Cornwall fisherman, who became Mark's wife. I might as well be frank. Janna was no saint. She could be evasive, reactionary and quick-tempered. I thought Annabel Leventon did a superb job of conveying Janna's emotional journey - from the financially struggling young widow who became acquainted with a well-born man of a higher class, to the angry wife estranged from her husband and finally to the aging matriarch of the Castallacks who struggled to hold her family together.

One of the most complicated characters in Howatch's novel proved to be Philip Castallack, Mark and Janna's third son and the latter's favorite. Superficially, Philip struck me as a hot-tempered and righteous (perhaps too righteous) personality, who could be very obsessive over people or issues that mattered to him. I thought Rupert Frazer did a superb job in capturing these many facets of Philip's personality in a performance that struck me as both emotional and skillful. At times, I found myself wondering if Philip Castallack might prove to be Frazer's best role. My favorite character in the 1971 novel ended up being the youngest Castallack sibling, Jan-Yves. Jan-Yves proved to be such an entertaining, cynical, yet complicate character. I had been worried if the miniseries would cast the right actor for this role. Eric Deacon ended up portraying Jan-Yves. Granted, he was handsome in compare to the plain-looking Jan-Yves from the novel. But I might as well admit it . . . Deacon did an excellent job in conveying everything about Jan-Yves I found fascinating. Everything, which included Jan-Yves' wit, cynicism, insecurities, intelligence, and vindictiveness. If someone ever decides to do another adaptation of Howatch's novel, I hope and pray that person would find someone just as perfect as Deacon was in the role.

If I had any serious issues regarding "PENMARRIC", it would have to be the narrative. At first I did not mind the narrative's detailed look into Maud's backstory, her attempts to acquire the Penmarric estate for herself and how she ended up securing her son Mark as her cousin's heir. At first. But this entire sequence featured a great number of flashbacks that dragged into Mark's own narrative. Come to think of it, his initial romance with his mistress Rose Parrish, his courtship of Janna, his discovery of Janna's relationship with his father and his encounters with his Penmar cousins were conveyed within three-and-a-half episodes. Mark and Jenna's wedding did not occur until at least by mid-Episode Four. I do not recall Howatch taking this long to reach the couple's nuptials in her novel. It took three-and-a-half episodes for Mark and Janna to get married. It took fourteen years and one-and-a-half episodes for their marriage to fall apart. Wow.

Due to the producers' decision to stretch out the beginning of "PENMARRIC", the miniseries featured twelve episodes. Unfortunately, not even twelve episodes were enough for the screenwriters to do full justice to Jan-Yves Castallack's own arc. They cut it short once Jan-Yves became the master of Penmarric. Yes, the miniseries had conveyed his courtship of and marriage to Isabella Clay. But not long after the wedding, the miniseries did not take long to jump to the outbreak of World War II and the final scene. The miniseries never bothered to reveal the fate of Jan-Yves' sister-in-law, Rebecca Castallack. It never bothered to convey the clash between Jan-Yves and Rebecca's son, the churlish Jonas. It never bothered to reveal Jonas' fate, let alone Jan-Yves' wartime experiences. And if that was not enough, the series' portrayal of Isabella Clay Castallack proved to be nothing like her literary counterpoint. The literary Isabella was a ethereal, yet pragmatic woman with a penchant for witticisms. This television version of Isabella proved to be another one of those mild-mannered, "angel-in-the-house" types straight from a Charles Dickens novel.  In other words . . . BORING. I do not blame actress Deborah Makepeace. I blame the producer(s) and screenwriters.  As much as I had enjoyed the miniseries, both its portrayal of Isabella Castallack and the ending proved to be very disappointing to me.

Okay . . . yes, "PENMARRIC" had some disappointments that prevented it from being a truly excellent adaptation of Susan Howatch's 1971 novel. But the 1979 miniseries had virtues that outweighed what I believe were its flaws. Aside from a problematic beginning and ending, I really did enjoy "PENMARRIC", thanks to the production values, the team of screenwriters and a talented cast led by Annabel Leventon, Thomas Ellice, Rupert Frazer and Eric Deacon. However, I would like to see the BBC produce a better effort.

"PENMARRIC" (1979) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from "PENMARRIC", the BBC's 1979 adaptation of Susan Howatch's 1971 novel. Directed by Tina Wakerell and Derek Martinus, the twelve-part miniseries starred Annabel Leventon, Thomas Ellice, Rupert Frazer and Eric Deacon:

"PENMARRIC" (1979) Photo Gallery

"CASHELMARA" (1974) Book Review

"CASHELMARA" (1974) Book Review

My experiences with novels by Susan Howatch are rather limited. If I must be honest, I have only finished three of her novels. I tried reading two other novels - "THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT" (1977) and the first novel in The Starbridge Series, "GLITTERING IMAGES" (1987). However, I could not maintain any interest in the last two novels. Neither focused upon the history of an upper-class British family, which happened to be my main interest when I was in my late teens and early twenties. 

One of the three novels I did finish was 1974's "CASHELMARA", a saga that focused upon an Anglo-Irish family called the De Salis. The story began in 1859 when Edward Baron de Salis journeyed to antebellum New York City to visit his late wife's cousins, the Marriotts; and ends some 32 years later in 1891 with his grandson Edward, resorting to extraordinary means to regain control of the family's Irish estate called Cashelmara. During this 32 year journey, readers become acquainted with six main characters and a fascinating cast of supporting characters that add to Howatch's tale.

Before reading "CASHELMARA", one has to understand that it is one of three novels that are based upon one of the British Royal Family's royal houses - that of the Plantagenets. The 1971 novel, "PENMARRIC" focused on characters based upon the Plantagenet line that stretched from King Henry II to one of his younger sons, King John. However, Howatch skimped a generation and decided to continue her focus on the Plantagenet line with John's grandson, King Edward I and finished the novel with a character based upon the latter's grandson, King Edward III. "CASHELMARA" is divided into six segments. Those segments are narrated by the following characters:

*Edward, Baron de Salis - a middle-aged English aristocrat and owner of both Woodhammer Hall (in England) and Cashelmara (based upon King Edward I)
*Marguerite Marriott, Baroness de Salis - a 17-18 year-old adolescent from a wealthy New York family who becomes Edward's second wife (based upon Margaret of France, later Edward I's second consort)
*Patrick, Baron de Salis - Edward's only surviving son, who loses Woodhammer Hall ten years after his father's death via gambling debts (based upon King Edward II)
*Sarah Marriott, Baroness de Salis - Marguerite's oldest niece and Patrick's wife (based upon Isabella of France, later Edward II's consort)
*Maxwell Drummond - an Irish tenant farmer on the Cashelmara estate, who becomes Sarah's lover and Patrick's enemy (based upon Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, Isabella's lover)
*Edward "Ned", Baron de Salis - Patrick and Sarah's oldest son (based upon King Edward III)

Another aspect about "CASHELMARA" that Howatch fans might find fascinating is that "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" could be considered a direct sequel to the former novel. Remember . . . "CASHELMARA" ended with Ned as the novel's narrator. And Ned is supposed to be based upon Edward III. "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" began with Robert Goodwin, who is based uponEdward the Black Prince, Edward III's oldest son. Since Robert's father was still alive in the first half of the 1984 novel, this means that Howatch based two characters on Edward III - Ned de Salis and "Bobby" Goodwin. Really, one might as well view "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" as more of a direct sequel to "CASHELMARA" than "PENMARRIC". In fact, Bobby Goodwin's background story in the 1984 novel is practically a re-enactment of what happened between Ned and his parents, Patrick and Sarah in "CASHELMARA", but with a few changes.

How do I feel about "CASHELMARA"? I thought Howatch had created a very fascinating tale. On one level, she took a family saga and placed it within a setting that gave readers a look at how British Imperial policy worked in Ireland. And we saw this policy in motion via the viewpoint of an aristocratic family - except for the Maxwell Drummond character. And although there are many novels set within the British Empire - even in Ireland - "CASHELMARA" is probably the only one that I can recall that had been written by Howatch. More importantly, Howatch's description of the Cashelmara estate left a stark image in my mind that I found rather interesting. It was interesting that half of the major characters regarded the Irish estate with a negative view. The other three major characters seemed to have different views of Cashelmara. Edward de Salis seemed to have a mixed view of the estate. Cashelmara reminded him of the period he had enjoyed as a child. Yet at the same time, it stood as a reminder of his failure to offer genuine help to his tenants during the Great Famine of the 1840s. Ironically, the de Salis family and their tenants would find themselves facing another famine over thirty years later. Maxwell Drummond seemed to regard Cashelmara as a symbol of his ambition to become a landowner and a gentleman. And he would try to achieve these goals through Sarah with disastrous results. As far as Ned de Salis was concerned, Cashelmara was his home, and a family legacy that he would go through great lengths to regain. After all, his father Patrick had lost the family's English estate, Woodhammer Hall, sometime before his birth.

Most of the novel proved to be interesting in its own right. The first two segments - narrated by Edward de Salis and his second wife, Marguerite - also proved to be interesting. Howatch did an excellent job in painting a portrait of both antebellum New York City and mid-Victorian England at the end of the 1850s and into the 1860s. Readers got a peek into Edward's fascination with his future bride, along with his the disappointment he felt regarding his children. But I especially enjoyed Marguerite's narration. I found it interesting to read how this 18 year-old girl struggled to maintain a healthy and happy marriage with a man over thirty years her senior. Marguerite's narration also revealed the struggles that she had to endure as an American in a foreign country. Between others - including her husband - making assumptions about her American nationality, dealing with the British high society's reactions to the American Civil War, and struggling to act as a mediator between Edward and her stepchildren; the 1860s proved to be somewhat difficult for Marguerite. However, being a strong-willed young woman in her own right, she survived.

Also, I found "CASHELMARA" to be the most disturbing tale of the three family sagas written by the author. What made this novel so disturbing? It has to be the marriage between Patrick and Sarah de Salis. Howatch based their marriage on the lives of Edward II and his wife, Isabella. But from what I have read, the private lives of the Plantagenet monarch and his consort were not as disturbing as the marriage between Patrick and Sarah. The novel's third segment, told from Patrick's point-of-view, revealed their courtship and the first four years of their marriage. It also revealed how Sarah's spending and especially Patrick's gambling habits managed to dwindle away his fortune. Their financial problems had only added to the existing strain caused by Patrick's continuing friendship with his childhood friend, Derry Stranahan. But the segment narrated by Sarah also proved to be the novel's nadir in terms of what occurred and how low her marriage to Patrick had sunk. And for Sarah and Patrick, their marriage had sunk to alcoholism and loss of property for him; imprisonment and rape for her. Despite the ugliness that permeated Sarah's segment, the latter also proved to be one of the two most interesting in the novel. 

Like "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE", the novel's last segment proved to be the most difficult for me. Narrated by Sarah and Patrick's oldest child, Ned, I had some difficulty relating to the character. Perhaps Ned was simply too old. After all, he aged from thirteen to seventeen or eighteen years old during this last chapter. But I recall that one of the segments of "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" had been narrated by a character named Christopher "Kester" Goodwin, who aged from nine to nineteen years old. I had no problems with the Kester character from "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE", but I did with the Ned de Salis character. Why? Perhaps I did not find him that fascinating. Or perhaps I found his penchant to view his father as a hero, Maxwell Drummond as a villain and his mother as a stooge for Drummond a little too simple for me to stomach. I find it difficult to relate to characters who harbor one-dimensional views about life and other people. And because Howatch ensured that Ned never learned what his mother had endured at the hands of Patrick and the latter's lover/estate manager, Hugh McGowan, I found my ability to relate to him even more difficult.

I have read some reviews of "CASHELMARA' and discovered that a good number of readers managed to enjoy this family saga very much. Only a handful seemed to regard the characters as unsympathetic and not worthy of their interest. I believe that a first-rate author could create a sympathetic character with unpleasant traits, if he or she had a mind to do so. Susan Howatch certainly managed to create some very interesting characters - aside from one - for "CASHELMARA". She also created a first-rate family saga that still remains fresh after forty-one years.

"THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" (1984) Book Review

"THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" (1984) Book Review

Several years ago, I once posted a list of my top ten favorite historical fiction novels of all time. Susan Howatch's 1984 novel, "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE"made the list. In fact, I would go as far to say that it would have also made the list of my top favorite novels . . . period. I love it that much. 

Back in the 1970s, Howatch wrote several family sagas in which the main characters were based upon members from a certain group from Britain's Royal Family known as House of Plantagenet, which ruled the country between 1154 and 1485. The characters from 1971's "PENMARRIC" were based upon the Plantagenet line that began with King Henry II and ended with King John. 1974's"CASHELMARA" featured characters based the line that began with Edward I and ended with his grandson, Edward III. "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" also featured a character based upon Edward III, but he turned out to be a supporting one. The novel's main characters were based on his children, two of his grandsons and a great-grandson, starting with Edward, the Black Prince and ending with Henry V."THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" followed the fortunes of the Godwins, an Anglo-Welsh upper-class family that lived on an estate called Oxmoon, located near Gower in South Wales. The novel is divided into six major chapters, narrated by the following:

*Robert Godwin - oldest son in the family and a successful barrister who becomes a Member of Parliament
*Ginevra "Ginette" Godwin - Robert's wife, distant cousin and childhood obsession, who was previously married to an Irishman named Conor Kinsella
*John Godwin - third son in the family and a diplomat with the Foreign Office
*Christopher "Kester" Godwin - Robert and Ginerva's second son, who becomes master of Oxmoon upon his grandfather's death
*Henry "Harry" Godwin - John's oldest living son and Kester's rival
*Henry "Hal" Godwin - Harry's oldest son and a musician

"THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" spanned at least fifty to sixty years - from 1913 to the late 1960s or early 1970s, covering at least four generations and two world wars. Although the novel is told from the point of view of six major characters, it also featured other never-to-be-forgotten characters from the Godwin family. The ones that really come to mind are Robert and John's complicated parents - the emotionally unstable Bobby and his very disciplined wife Margaret; Declan Kinsella, Ginette's oldest son from her first marriage; Bronwen Morgan, John's mistress and third wife; Robert and John's youngest brother, the somewhat coarse and unimaginative Thomas Godwin; and Harry's first wife, the sexy and not-so-bright Belinda "Bella" Stourham Godwin, who becomes obsessed with conceiving a girl after an aborted teenage pregnancy.

What I found amazing about "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" is that it more or less continued the de Salis family saga from "CASHELMARA", but with different characters. A family scandal involving Bobby's mother and a sheep farmer named Owen Bryn-Davies ends up having a major impact upon the Godwin family. Both Bobby and Margaret spend most of their married lives trying to overcome the past with an ideal family life, living up to the twin creeds - "doing the done thing" and"drawing the line". Unfortunately, Bobby's ability to project an ideal image also leads him to become an emotional time bomb, with a penchant for womanizing. This penchant also leads to another family scandal - one that not only has an impact on Robert and Ginette's relationship, but also on the question of Oxmoon's true master, which culminates into an ugly rivalry between cousins Kester and Harry.

It is a skill to Ms. Howatch's talents that I found the novel's first two chapters fascinating. She did an excellent job in creating the novel's setting and characters, and delving into the fascinating, yet problematic marriage between Robert and Ginette. But the chapters featuring John, Kester and Harry's narrations prove to be the novel's highlights. Howatch allows the readers to see how Bobby and Margaret's efforts to maintain an ideal family fractured John's personality - almost transforming him into some kind of Jekyll-and-Hyde. The ironic thing is that his "Hyde" persona proved to be a lot more beneficial for him. But John's fractured personality, along with his twisted efforts to live up to his parents' (actually, I should say his mother's) creeds of "doing the done thing" and "drawing the line"seemed to have a negative impact on both his son Harry and nephew Kester.

The last chapter, which featured Hal's narration, proved to be less fascinating than the previous chapters. This particular chapter featured a murder mystery within the family and Hal's efforts to revive the family fortunes. Mind you, this story line did not strike me as compelling as the previous chapters, but I had no problems with it. But I did have a problem with two aspects of the novel. One, Howatch had an annoying habit of labeling certain characters via their nationalities. Celtics - especially the Welsh and the Irish - seemed to be described as emotional or almost fey. And the English are described as emotionally stunted, yet rational and clear-minded. I found this penchant rather infantile for a first-rate novelist like Howatch. Nor did I care for some the dialogue she had Bronwen's mouth. It almost seemed as if Howatch tried to transform John's Welsh mistress (later third wife) as some kind of Celtic mystic. And I really found it annoying. It is a miracle that Bronwen managed to remain one of my favorite characters.

Although I can honestly say that "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" is not perfect, I can also state that it is also one of my favorite novels of all time. In fact, I became so fascinated with it after my last reading that I found myself re-reading some of of the passages over and over again, until I realized that I need to put it down. It really is one of the best family sagas I have ever read . . . period. And I am amazed that there has been no television adaptation of this novel. A movie adaptation would be out of the question. The time constraints on the latter would make an adaptation out of the question. But as a television adaptation . . . "THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE" could prove to be as exceptional as the novel itself.