Seeds of Yesterday (1984)

from back cover:

   Cathy and Chris, Entwined With The Evil That Haunts Their Children, Awaiting The Shuddering Climax-Prisoners of a Past They Cannot Escape...
   Cathy and Chris are now in their fifties, and they finally seem to have put the past behind them. Bart has just recieved his law degree, and Jory has a prestigious career as a ballet dancer. Now Foxworth Hall has been rebuilt and Bart will inherit it when he turns twenty-five. But no one is prepared for the suprised return of a presumed-dead relative! Joel Foxworth, Corrine's brother, was lost in the Swiss Alps over sixty years ago, and everyone presumed he had perished. Now he has turned up out of no where, and Cathy and Chris are going to find out even more bizarre things about their family than they ever knew. Before long there is a terrible tragedy and they have to live in Foxworth Hall.



My Opinions and Rating


Impressions:
   Thousands of miles away, and still their dark family history haunts them...
   Once again, I am involved in their saga. I feel what they feel, I see what they see, and I hear what they hear.
   I was horrified when Cathy and Chris lived in California, and Bart grew stranger and stranger and bad things began to happen.
   I wanted to shout out to Bart that his mother did her best. And that the turmoil they went through could never be understood. I wanted so much for Bart to believe his mother loved him.
   My heart tore when Corrine died saving Cathy. I cried when Cathy finally cried out to her mother, saying that she forgave her. Only, Corrine was being buried... But its never too late.


Quotes:

I ran forward to lift her up and carry her to Dad. "Neither one of you has to die," I said with a sob in my throat. "Your mother has saved at least one of her children." But cries and screams were in the air. My grandmother's black clothes were on fire! I saw her as one sees a nightmare. "Fall down and roll on the ground!" roared Dad, releasing my mom so quickly she fell. He ran toward his mother, seized her up and rolled her on the ground. She was gasping and choking as he slapped out the fire. One long wild look of terror she gave him before some kind of peace came over her face-and stayed there. Why did that expression just stay there? Dad cried out, then leaned to put his ear to her chest. "Momma," he sobbed, "please don't be dead before I've had the chance to say what I must... Momma, don't be dead..." But she was dead. Even I could tell that from the glazed way her eyes kept staring up at a starry winter night sky. "Her heart," said Dad with a dazed look. "Just like her father had... it seemed her heart was about to jump from her chest as I rolled her about. And now she's dead. But she died saving her daughter."
- from:
Redemption

Rating:
   Although there is a lot of intriguing actions in this book, I found myself a little bored. This was most likely due to the fact that I already knew what the main characters didn't know.
   In this book, Cathy's sons take over and narrate the story. We see what the effects from Cathy and Chris' relationship do to both of them.
   The most rewarding moment out of the book is when Corrine saves Cathy and Cathy finally forgives her mother.
   It was also interesting to see John Amos and Malcolm Foxworth's influence on Bart Jr.
   The majority of this book had plot that we already knew. So it loses points on the intrigue scale.
[3/5]