ABEAUT]FUL WOMAN of high sensibilities,

frustrated in her attempt to conquer Beacon Hill

society; a driven man whose consuming ambition is

revenge on a world that scorned him--these are the

passionate antagonists whose conflicts blaze at the

heart of the splendid new saga by the author of THIS

IS THE HOUSE,

Against the gradual decline of Cape Coifs maritime

trade, THE HOUSE OF KINGSLEY MERRICK follows

the turmoils and dynastic tangles of the progeny of

Molly Deems and her seafaring husband, Elijah

Merrick. As steam shipping and the railway come to

the Cape, the old authority of the Clipper captains is

eroded. But their long and autocratic domination of

Cape society has left its mark on many, chief among

them:

KINGSLEY MERRICK: Kingsley is a lonely, driven man,

bound to revenge himself on the town of Waterford

for the slights he endured as a boy when his wastrel

father drank himself to death and became the town

pariah. Kingsley s plan to "bring Waterford to heel"

involves a respectable marriage to his lovely cousin,

Julia, and the investment of his fortune made in

Australia s coaching trade in enterprises destined to

scandalize Waterford s leading citizens: sponsoring

the hated Cape Cod Railway; forcing the industriali-

zation of Waterford s mill district; engineering the

merger of its churches, and re-designing the

workings of th town to suit his own whim. The

single error in his carefully calculated scenario of

revenge is his choice of Julia as his bride;

JULIA MERRICK: is virtually forced into marriage to

Kingsley to save her family s waning fortune. Still

"smarting from her failure to penetrate Boston s elitist

Beacon Hill society, and from an attempt on her

virtue by an aristocratic Boston rake,Julia is in no way

prepared m be either bed- or soul-mate to Kingsley

Merrick. And, inevitably, the shadow of their ill-

starred union reaches into the next generation to

cloud the happiness of their daughter;