The Wheel of Fortune (1984) is a novel by Susan Howatch and recounts the trials and tribulations of a fictitious British family, the Godwins, who appear to be part of the minor aristocracy.
As the title of the novel and Boethius' comments on Fortune as printed on the first page of the very first part suggest, defying the ravages of time and fate forms a central theme to this novel, where the six primary characters seek to challenge fate or to make their own destinies regardless of the social norms or circumstances of the time.
Synopsis
The book's main events all revolve around a stately Georgian era home named Oxmoon, and are set on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, spanning a period of over fifty years in which the owners of Oxmoon all have to face immense challenges, financial hardship and even personal tragedy.
The book is divided into six parts, each one based on the point-of-view of several characters, namely:
Robert "the Winner" Godwin (Part 1) The eldest of five brothers (the others being John, Lionel, Edmund and Thomas) Robert is a successful lawyer based in London and the heir apparent of a family of Welsh rural gentry which while seemingly happy, successful and prosperous, has a skeleton or two in the closet that as usual involves murder and adultery. His high-handed attitude and dominating personality makes him aloof from his siblings, with two exceptions being... Ginevra "Ginette" (Part 2), Robert's cousin and later Robert's wife. Ginevra is haunted by an even darker secret from her past that threatens her relationship with Robert's family and her marriage to Robert; and ... John Godwin (Part 3), Robert's brother, a sensitive soul trapped in spiritual limbo following the death of his first wife, torn between convention and passion. Kester (Part 4), Robert and Ginevra's son (and John's nephew), a gifted writer but a terrible financial manager. Harry (Part 5), John's son and Kester's cousin, who resents Kester's inheritance of Oxmoon and is engaged in a lifelong feud over the same that ends only with Kester's death. Hal (Part 6), Harry's son, who unlike his father is close to Kester. Hal's story is in fact more of a detective story, in which he investigates the circumstances revolving around Kester Godwin's apparent suicide.
Part 1: Robert (1913) Upon the death of her husband Conor, Ginevra decides to leave New York City, entrust her young children to her late husband's family from Ireland, and return to Wales to stay with her childhood friend, the lawyer and politician Robert Godwin (who is also heir presumptive to the Godwin family estate, Oxmoon). Robert, who usually prizes logical thinking, willpower and level-headedness, initially expresses annoyance and worry with his feelings for Ginevra (which are mutually reciprocated), but eventually gives in.
As Robert and Ginevra revive their childhood relationship and eventually consummate it, he then decides to marry Ginevra but the marriage is vehemently opposed by his mother Margaret, and Robert soon learns why when he discovers several dark secrets in his family revolving around his father Bobby and his grandmother. Bobby killed his mother's lover, Owen Bryn-Davies, to keep him from defrauding the Godwin family of Oxmoon, and has been psychologically damaged ever since. With Margaret's resigned tolerance and understanding, Bobby engaged in many sexual affairs to relieve himself of the guilt of having murdered Owen and one of the women he slept with was a teenaged Ginevra.
Part 2: Ginevra (1913–1919) Notwithstanding the opposition of his family, Robert goes ahead and marries Ginevra, and despite the abrasive differences inherent in their own individual personalities (Ginevra's describes her mind was all "splashes of colour" and Robert as "emotionally colour-blind") as well as the opposition of Ginevra's children with Conor, Robert and Ginevra stay together as husband and wife in London (where Robert has his practice as a lawyer), eventually having two sons of their own together, Robin and Kester.