ShortBookandScribes – The Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Over the past 20 months I have been engrossed in the Morland Dynasty series which numbers 36 books. I’ve read them every day since January 2025 as eBooks on my phone.

I’ve had a bit of an up and down relationship with eBooks but I’ve discovered a niche part of the day, first thing in the morning, that just lends itself to reading on my phone and one of the first books I chose to read in that way was The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.

I had been on the lookout for a series of books that followed a family, not just through a few generations but through centuries, witnessing all the changes both for the family and for the wider world. I’d considered the Morland series but was a tad put off by the starting point in the 1400s which I didn’t think was a time that particularly interested me (in this case I was wrong). I bought a paperback copy of the first in the series but when it arrived it was very thick, VERY heavy and hard to open as it was one of those print on demand type books and so it was relegated to my bookshelf for an unspecified ‘other time’.

A few months later, having spotted it was only 99p for Kindle, I thought it might be just the ticket for phone reading time and I went for it and never looked back. If you’ve seen any of my monthly round up posts you’ll know that I also have all the physical books. I decided early on that I wanted to own the physical copies too and I managed to pick up books 7-35 on eBay for a song, battered and well-read but just what I was after. The others I found piecemeal from various sites.

So I embarked on the series and have been through births, deaths and marriages with the Morlands, through civil wars in America and Spain, the War of the Roses, the Napoleonic wars and the First World War, through royal upheaval from Richard III to Edward VIII, through happy times and sad times, love, friendship, betrayal, illness and disease. I’ve witnessed the fight of the Suffragettes, I’ve been to the Crimea, I’ve visited the perilous court of Henry VIII, observed the industrial revolution, sailed on Titanic and witnessed the advent of flight. Like any family, some members have stayed close to home and others have moved away, starting new branches of the family tree, but the grand fortified manor house with moat and drawbridge called Morland Place is still at the heart of the family.

Those of us who regularly review books often talk in reviews about caring for the characters. I’ve been so engrossed with the Morlands, their long history and legacy, that I really have come to feel that I not only care about them but that I know them. I shed a tear when I finished the final book, knowing that was it, but I am certain I will read them all again in the not too distant future. I did consider going straight back to the beginning and reading them all again but I think I need a bit of time to forget some of the details before doing that.

A few facts about the series:

1. The original plan was for 12 books, to be written alternately by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and another writer. That soon became impractical and the whole series was given to CHE.

2. Morland Place is located very close to York. Whilst it’s inspired by several places, CHE mostly drew on Beningbrough Hall, just north of York.

3. Apart from the first four books which came along at two per year, the books were published at a steady one per year from 1980 until 2011. Book 35 took a further two years and came out in 2013 and then the publishers decided not to publish any more. Then, when CHE was about to publish her 100th book (wow!) she and her publishers decided that due to public demand for another instalment, the milestone book should be a final volume of the Morland Dynasty, winding everything up once and for all (😭).

4. I believe the plan was to bring the series up to the present day but instead The Gathering Storm ends on the day WWII broke out. A postscript tells the reader what happened to all the main characters after the war. I’d love to have followed the family through another World War but alas, it was not to be.

5. The series has been through several cover changes, the latest being the one that I have with a scene from relevant history on the cover and a strong looking female on the spine which fits well with the fact that the books are populated by strong women, keeping their family together, often whilst their reckless men do all they can to ruin it. Having got books 1-35 in the same livery I am a bit disgruntled to have book 36 looking completely different.

Spot the interloper 😐

Whilst these books are beloved by fans of the Morlands, I never see them mentioned anywhere which is a shame because they are the historical fiction lover’s dream and come highly recommended by me.