Skip to main content

Sunday Salon


The book I’m reading right now is All This, and Heaven, Too, by Rachel Field. Field is better known for her Newberry-award-winning book, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, inspired by an antique doll that Field owned.

All This, and Heaven, Too is historical fiction, and it’s about Field’s great-aunt Henriette Duluzy-Desportes. In 1843, Henriette went to be the governess for the Praslin family in France, after having spent eight years working for a family in England. The Duc and Duchesse de Praslin had a stormy marriage, characterized by her jealousy, paranoia, and (what seems to be) mental instability). Then, a scandal broke out based on false rumors that the Duc and Henriette were having an affair, and Henriette left the Praslins’ employ. That’s as far as I’ve gotten (about 250 pages in), and I’ve been promised that a brutal murder, trial, and flight to the United States are in store for me. So far, I like Field’s writing style, but I feel as though the story drags a bit in places.

Other things I’ve done this week:
I’ve posted reviews for:
The Four Seasons, by Lauren Corona
Nefertiti, by Michelle Moran
The Greatest Knight, by Elizabeth Chadwick

I’ve also talked a little about Victoria Holt, whose novel Mistress of Mellyn I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet.
Labels:

Comments

Ladytink_534 said…
I read Hitty when I was in middle school I think I can only remember bits and pieces of it now but I remember liking it.
November 9, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Quirky Cafe said…
Bette Davis starred in a gorgeous film based on the story. I love the film but have never read the book - it's going on my list :-)
November 9, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Sandra said…
This is the first I've heard of Hitty, or this writer. The movie of it must be interesting too. I only managed one review this week.
I've joined Sunday Salon now and I'm really enjoying it.
November 9, 2008 at 6:49 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.
194 comments
Read more

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars
115 comments
Read more

Six Degrees of Barbara Pym's Novels

This year seems to be The Year of Barbara Pym; I know some of you out there are involved in some kind of a readalong in honor of the 100th year of her birth. I’ve read most of her canon, with only The Sweet Dove Died, Civil to Strangers, An Academic Question, and Crampton Hodnet left to go (sadly). Barbara Pym’s novels feature very similar casts of characters: spinsters, clergymen, retirees, clerks, and anthropologists, with which she had direct experience. So it stands to reason that there would be overlaps in characters between the novels. You can trace that though the publication history of her books and therefore see how Pym onionizes her stories and characters. She adds layers onto layers, adding more details as her books progress. Some Tame Gazelle (1950): Archdeacon Hoccleve makes his first appearance. Excellent Women (1952): Archdeacon Hoccleve gives a sermon that is almost incomprehensible to Mildred Lathbury; Everard Bone understands it, however, and laughs
6 comments
Read more