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Birds of Prey

M. E. Braddon

103 ratings
Birds of Prey | M. E. Braddon

Birds of Prey

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The first part of the book builds the characters of four con men who become interconnected and attempt their schemes on each other. This book is the first of a two part story, the second part is the book Charlotte's Inheritance.
the toyshop. She found her father sleeping placidly in his easy-chair, while a young man, who was a stranger to her, sat at a table near the window writing letters. It was a dull November day—a very dreary day on which to find one's self thrown suddenly on a still drearier world; and in the Westminster-bridge-road the lamps were already making yellow patches of sickly light amidst the afternoon fog.

The Captain twitched his silk handkerchief off his face with an impatient gesture as Diana entered the room.

"Now, then, what is it?" he asked peevishly, without looking at the intruder.

He recognised her in the next moment; but that first impatient salutation was about as warm a welcome as any which Miss Paget received from her father. In sad and bitter truth, he did not care for her. His marriage with Mary Anne Kepp had been the one grateful impulse of his life; and even the sentiment which had prompted that marriage had been by no means free from the taint of selfishness. But he had been quite unprepared to find that this grand sacrifice of his life should involve another sacrifice in the maintenance of a daughter he did not want; and he was very much inclined to quarrel with the destiny that had given him this burden.

"If you had been a boy, I might have made you useful to me sooner or later," the Captain said to his daughter when he found himself alone with her late on the night of her return; "but what on earth am I to do with a daughter, in the unsettled life I lead? However, since that old harridan has sent you back, you must manage in the best way you can," concluded Captain Paget with a discontented sigh.

From this time Diana Paget had inhabited the nest of the vultures, and every day had brought its new lesson of trickery and falsehood. There are men—and bad men too—who would have tried to keep the secret of their shifts and meannesses hid

Roderick 12/26/2023
I have enjoyed about 5 other books by Mary Elizabeth Braddon but not this one. There were too many despicable characters and not enough on the heroines I could root for.
Mbuye 10/14/2023
Classic ME Braddon, the novel begins with a gruesome, satisfying murder, goes on to blackmail, and from then on gets better and better as a pack of rascals try to get rich quick on the same get-rich-quick scheme. Evil stepfathers, shady lawyers and cardsharps all form part of the background

This sc
Dan 08/06/2022
Very enjoyable, despite and maybe a little because-of having read the sequel first by mistake. It's fun to see the story your mind invents for the first half of these characters' lives set against what's actually there. It reminds me of renting RPGs as a kid and just picking a save file that existed
Miriam 09/16/2020
First of all I must warn you that this book is only the part one of a story that goes on in a following book called "Charlotte's inheritance".
And now my review: maybe four stars could be too much for a sensation novel, but it was so absorbing that I couldn't give it less than this.
It starts well,
Julia 03/26/2018

Birds of Prey is Part 1 of Charlotte and her family and friends' story, with Charlotte's Inheritance being Part 2. Birds of Prey is a bit confusing at first, because each of the first several chapters is a separate vignette about one of the characters, without any seeming reference to the others. Bu

Peter 04/14/2016
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Birds of Prey is the first of two books you will need to read if you want the story to come to its conclusion. The second book is Charlotte's Inheritance.

Birds of Prey is well titled. Two brothers, both of whom dwell on the fringes of respectability and the law eagerly look
Ian 07/29/2011
This is the first of two books which do not stand alone. I didn't realise this until the end of the novel. Glad I didn't attempt to read the second one (Charlotte's Inheritance) first.

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