The Disinherited

The Disinherited exposes the dark side of English history, as ancient wealth mixes with modern manners 'Stranger than fiction, but twice as fascinating' Lucy Worsley On the morning of 3 June 1914, Henry Sackville-West, driven to despair by his failed claim to be the legitimate heir to one of the largest and stateliest houses in England, shot himself. His father, Lord Sackville of Knole, had had five children from an affair with a beautiful Spanish dancer. While the oldest became mistress of Knole, the other illegitimate children were erased from the historical record. The Disinherited tells how these siblings struggled for their father's love and against the 'stain' of illegitimacy which condemned them to lives of poverty and disappointment. An absorbing and moving tale of sibling rivalry, it reveals the secrets and lies that lay at the heart of an English dynasty.