Sidney Sheldon’s "The Schemer," a summary

This book is a sweeping family saga about four generations of the South African MacGregor-Blackwell clan, rising from a poor mining camp to the heights of global power. Tragically, loved ones perish. Sidney Sheldon wrote the novel in 1982, drawing on actual accounts of the nineteenth-century diamond rush and archival documents from the De Beers corporation.

In 1984, the American television network CBS aired a three-part film based on the novel, starring Dyan Cannon. It was a resounding success, earning audiences and an Emmy nomination. Author Tilly Bagshaw later published an authorized sequel, "Mistress of Intrigue," which expanded the story into a two-part series about the Blackwell family, of which this novel is the first.

Diamond Coast and the thirst for revenge

Eighteen-year-old Scotsman Jamie MacGregor left his native farm for the illusory riches of the South African goldfields. Dusty Klipdrift greeted him with sweltering heat. Local trader Solomon van der Merwe entered into a servile contract with the trusting youth in an incomprehensible Afrikaans dialect, sold his skinny pack animal at an extortionate price, and sent the prospector off to the barren north. Mules died in the veld. Left alone in the rocky plain, the stubborn mountaineer tore out the heaviest granite boulders on the riverbank with his bare hands and washed the rock until his skin bled.

A vein opened near the Modder River. Twenty-seven transparent crystals the size of eggs stunned the appraisers. In Klipdrift, an enthusiastic young man dumped the mined crystals on the wooden counter of a trading post to file a joint, legal claim. The merchant pocketed everything. That night, the Dutchman’s miners broke the prospector’s bones with iron bars and threw his body to desert vultures. Secretly, Band’s farmhand saved the dying man.

A long-held hatred for his master united the rescued mountaineer with the chieftain’s black son. The partners cobbled together a rickety raft. From the shores of Port Nolloth, the fugitives set out for the open ocean, intending to skirt the impenetrable coastal reefs and penetrate the restricted territories of Namibia. Suddenly, sharks blocked their path. Jamie slashed open a tin can of beef with a knife, peeled back the sharp metal edge, and rammed the torn lid into the predatory eye of an approaching fish. The scarlet blood drove off the pack.

The ocean’s fierce waves smashed the wooden vessel to pieces against the coastal rocks. The sand was teeming with precious stones. A thick Atlantic fog hid the shore from the guard towers, allowing the brave souls to crawl on their bellies through dense minefields, compass in hand. The slightest weight triggered the mines. Distributing their weight with extreme caution across the sand, the travelers safely passed the deadly strip and disappeared among the farmhands emerging from the gates. Treasures glittered in their pockets.

A respectable wealthy man named Ian Travis moved into Klipdrift, the young man, gray-haired from his suffering. Revenge was merciless. Having quickly seduced the young Margaret van der Merwe, the stranger publicly disgraced the old man with news of his sin and financially ruined the shopkeeper. The outcast merchant shot himself. Years later, a workers’ revolt claimed the life of the dynasty founder’s seven-year-old firstborn, torn to pieces by vengeful natives in the desert. A stroke left the father bedridden forever.

The Rise of the Blackwell Trading Empire

Born in Klipdrift, Kate escaped reprisal thanks to the loyalty of an old servant. She grew up a rebellious and unruly girl. At fourteen, the young heiress saved Banda, who was being pursued by the police, hiding the rebel leader in her private train car during a raid at the station. David Blackwell managed the estate. The calm manager seemed the only person capable of curbing the unyielding nature of his beautiful charge.

During a business trip to America, the heiress purchased the luxurious Cedar Hill estate on Islesboro Island, enchanted by the tranquility and stories of the lighthouse keeper’s deaf watchdog, who pressed his ear to the brass bell to feel its vibrations. David unexpectedly met Josephine O’Neill. In San Francisco, her fiancé planned to launch commercial production of promising refrigerated trucks. Their plans fell apart instantly. Kate secretly purchased the patent for the invention through a Chicago meatpacking company, deprived her rival of her fiancé, and seduced her bewildered colleague in Rio de Janeiro.

The marriage strengthened the growing syndicate’s position. At the height of World War I, the enterprising wife ignored her husband’s pacifist beliefs, organizing the supply of heavy tanks, shells, and rifles to the Allies. The officer volunteered for the front. David’s death in an explosion at an African mine coincided with the premature birth of their long-awaited son, Anthony. From then on, the infant became the mother’s primary goal.

The collapse of the heir’s hopes

From an early age, Tony suffered from a severe stutter due to his mother’s overbearing care. The son dreamed of painting. In Paris, the student rented a squalid attic with a bathtub on lion’s paws and stored apples behind the windowsill to save his meager funds. His strict mentor, Cantal, taught him anatomy. Soon, he fell in love with his model, Dominique Massot, who shared food and shelter with the modest artist. The days passed easily.

Upon learning of her son’s success, Kate secretly bribed the renowned Parisian critic André d’Usseau, who wrote a scathing commissioned article to immediately restore the fugitive to the helm of the family’s multi-billion-dollar corporation, Kruger-Brent Limited. Tony abandoned his easel. In New York, a young clerk accidentally uncovered details of his mother’s cynical conspiracy with a Parisian model and a corrupt newspaper columnist. The betrayal shattered trust. To spite Kate, the heir threw in his lot with the German aristocrat Marianne Hoffmann.

Due to the risk of a cerebral hemorrhage, doctors strictly forbade the young woman from giving birth. Her mother-in-law concealed the threat. The birth of twins, Eve and Alexandra, resulted in an instantaneous fatal hemorrhage. Grief suddenly clouded her mind. Upon learning of Kate’s involvement in his wife’s death, the distraught widower shot her mother twice with a revolver, permanently losing her mind after the irreversible surgical lobotomy doctors performed.

In a closed Connecticut sanatorium, a patient spent long days in front of a blank canvas. Kate visited her son. Forgotten images of the past no longer troubled the quiet recluse’s fading consciousness. In the morning, the orderlies brought paint. The patient methodically covered the canvases with meaningless splashes of color, smiling at his own hidden thoughts.

The failed heir turned into a silent plant.

In a New York mansion, the corporation’s vast holdings were temporarily left without a direct, capable successor. The aging owner sought a solution. A hired French governess, Solange Dune, took charge of raising her orphaned twin granddaughters in the New York mansion, tirelessly monitoring the development of the young heiresses. The twins seemed exact copies. The sisters’ mirror-image resemblance sparked an irreconcilable, bitter feud from their earliest years.

Twins and Retribution

The grown-up Eve displayed extreme selfishness, forcing Kate to cut her wicked granddaughter out of her will. A brutal revenge ensued. The rejected granddaughter entered into a secret criminal conspiracy with the vicious Greek adventurer George Mellis, who agreed to marry the gullible Alexandra only to commit the cold-blooded murder of the wealthy heiress and appropriate her colossal fortune. A bloody denouement unfolded in the bay. Eve stabbed her accomplice to death with a sharp blade, escaping prison thanks to a false alibi from her grandmother. The investigation reached a dead end.

Retribution soon followed. Plastic surgeon Keith Webster forced Eve into marriage and deliberately disfigured her face with a scalpel, turning her into a lifelong recluse. At home, the tyrant enjoyed absolute power. The mutilated victim of her own treachery was terrified to leave the dark, isolated bedroom. Her former attractiveness was gone forever.

With the caring Dr. Templeton at her side, Alexandra finally found long-awaited family peace. A long-awaited son was born. On Kate’s ninetieth birthday, her great-grandson Robert masterfully played complex piano etudes for guests. The boy dreamed of the stage. Behind the scenes of the lavish celebration, the syndicate’s old mistress was already plotting secret maneuvers to subordinate the young pianist to the dynasty’s commercial interests.