Books like The Round Tower

I'm sure many of you avid readers take your books to that dreaded place called "work" in hopes that you might read a few pages on your breaks and lunch and those of you that do this will occasionally have a book that makes you declare, "Screw the boss! I gotta read just a few more pages!" This was one of those for me. This is an old novel (my copy was published in 1968) full of family scandal and rags to riches.. or riches to rags. The scandalous issues begin with upstarts, bitter neighbors, infidelity, and underage sex and end with unhappy marriages, in laws from hell, unwed mothers, and suicide. Vanessa is sixteen, well to do, and very sexually curious and well, it is the sixties. Needless to say, some bloke is more than willing to help Vanessa satisfy her curiosity and before you know it, she is "with bairn." Her upstart parents cannot force her to divulge who the father is and choose to lay the blame at Angus Cotton's feet, the son of their maid. Angus's mother and sister attempt to talk him out of being a good samitarian but much to their dismay, he marries the pampered Vanessa. Well, Vanessa's dad is furious. His daughter in pregnant and married to a "common" man. Angus's mom is furious. She is worked off her feet and now she has to take care of Vanessa too. Angus's sister is furious for reasons of her own. Everybody is furious! It's only a matter of time before the you know what hits the fan! I don't see myself ever reading this again, but I am still giving it five stars because depsite the fact I didn't like a single character, I couldn't put it down! I was dying to find out what happened next. Will Vanessa name the baby's daddy? Will her and Angus get along? How far will Vanessa's dad go to exact revenge on all the parties involved? A fun, entertaining page turner. A must for lovers of the occasional scandalous read.