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A Great and Terrible Beauty
 
 
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A Great and Terrible Beauty [Kindle Edition]

Libba Bray (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £6.99
Kindle Price: £4.98 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Product Description

It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's being followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls - and their foray into the spiritual world - lead to?

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 480 KB
  • Print Length: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (1 July 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002RI9URM
  • Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #66,102 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty cannot exist on its own - everything must have its opposite 2 Mar 2008
By Brida TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY is, quite simply, a fantastic novel. Although it is directed at young adults, older readers can easily find something in this cleverly written piece of work. As others have also said, A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY has many components - love, freindship, family betrayal, passion, desire, duty . . . the list could go on.

The story is about Gemma Doyle. At the age of 16, following the death of her mother, she is shipped off to London from her life in India to attend a boarding school. The girl that she shares a room with, Ann, is similar to Gemma in that they are both misfits at this well-to-do school. Ann is an orphan and Gemma feels as though she is an inconvenience to her father and brother.
Life at Spence, the school, is not an easy one for Gemma. She and Ann have to suffer being on the 'outside' of the popular group and so their isolation is more acute than some of the other girls. For Gemma, there is the added problem of her terrifying visions. She does not understand why she has them or how to control them, but they seem to have a horrible habit of coming true.
Yet someone has followed her from India, someone who knows that she has these visions, someone who is warning her that they are dangerous.

This is only part of the plot. There are many elements to this story that enhaance it, keeping you eager to carry on reading and reach the end. There are a few plot twists that are easy to figure out before they are confirmed within the story, but that does not take away from the enjoyment of reading.

What I really like about this book is that the characterisation is so well done. Gemma and her friends are not two dimensional; each has their own personality that has complex elements to make that character whole.... Read more ›
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Gothic Excellence for older kids. 5 May 2006
By Whimsical Witch
Format:Paperback
I do admit that the first thing that attracted me to this book was the wonderful cover. As a bookseller I should know NOT to judge by the cover, but I cant help it. However, this was one time when it wasnt such a bad idea. The story of a very independent, mature and troubled girl of 16 is fetching and you take a whirlewind trip with her towards finding her self. Troubled by guilt over her mothers death, her fathers illness and her mystical powers that scare her, she arrives at Spence school for girl in England. Branded as an outcast, she fights her way to the top, and befriends the most powerful girl at school. Bringing together four unlikely friends in a great, but terrible beauty. Access to the other realms of our world. But is everything as shiny and nice as it seems, or is darkness and shadows hunting her down behind her back. Terrifying, powerful and moving story! Well worth reading!
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Girl Power 2 July 2004
By Spy Groove
Format:Hardcover
Finishing this novel is like having been reminded of the question like Who am I?, Have I found myself yet?

The story itself is about a sixteen-year old girl Gemma Doyle, who had her biggest biggest surprise for her birthday that turned her world upside down.
Being sucked into the magic realms, being left with a horrible vision of the death her mother and hunted down by terrifying shadows are only part of the surprise. Plus the adjustment she has to make among new people and custom in a girl dorm school, where she found her circle of friends.

Set in the end of nineteenth century, Gemma was a girl with some very revolutionaire independence thoughts and some of them clicked something in me and reminded me of the power of female gender (so awesome). There are also a companion character, Miss Moore, her teacher, who gave more sights on choices in life and the balance between light and dark in lessons she had, accompanied with a famous poem by Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott.

And there was also a romantic part in it (which I'm very grateful of) between Gemma and an mysterious young Indian man, who followed and watched her whereever she goes. I think this can be developed into an intense relationship.

I do hope there will be sequel to this because the journey of Gemma and her friends has just begun and there is no turning back, as once you make a choice, whether it would turn out to be a good or a bad one, you just have to accept the consequences and live with it.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars It was well done, although there were portions of the book that seemed a bit forced. 17 Sep 2010
By Rebecca
Format:Paperback
I must make an important note here, digress and ask: has anyone else noticed that using the word "gingerly" is practically a prerequisite for young adult authors to consider themselves thus? Seriously, I could (and if I ever have the time, will) make a list of young adult lit that employ that infamous word! Nowhere else have I seen that adjective/adverb so frequently used. It's certainly never used in common speech. I'm going to test it out-just to see whether or not people look at me as though I have three heads if I actually say something like: "I gingerly took the antique mirror from its place, high upon the wall." Seriously, who says it? Do publishers force young adult authors to throw the word in for good measure? Is it an ingredient, like paprika, that the potato salad of young adult lit just wouldn't be the same without? For Libba Bray's sake, I must note that she used it only once, if I'm not mistaken...and it wasn't poorly used, by any means...It just makes me smile every time I come across it.

Back to the book-It was well done, although there were portions of the book that seemed a bit forced.

Great & Terrible Beauty is set (during the first 30 pages in India) in turn-of-the-century England, at an all girls preparatory school. Gemma, the main character, has experienced a mysterious tragedy, and enters the school with a sense of foreboding that she cannot shake, or seem to share with anyone. After a very short time, the reader is introduced to what will become an unlikely group of friends, consisting of the archetypal cruel, power-hungry beauty (Felicity), the fickle follower (Pippa), the spirited upstart (Gemma) and the dowdy outcast (Ann).

Certain aspects of the book annoyed me.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery,magic,suspense and girl power
You'll find this book very hard to put down - it is a period novel, the action takes place at an english girls boarding school. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Bella-talk
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great and Terrible Beauty
A Great and Terrible Beauty is an incredible book. It has girl power, magic, teen drama, the whole lot! Read more
Published 9 months ago by F.L
4.0 out of 5 stars Strange but lovely,
First of all, I couldn't put it down so that's always a good sign, I'm now nearing the conclusion of the third book. I warmed to Gemma (Victorian name? Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ms. Stephney Girvan
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Novel!!
Two words. Loved it! A Great and Terrible Beauty is about a girl who is struggling to deal with being different. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Shadow33
3.0 out of 5 stars Predictable and so many errors
I don't normally leave reviews for things, but this was so predictable and there were so many grammatical/spelling errors in the Kindle edition that I was frequently frustrated.
Published 10 months ago by Louise
2.0 out of 5 stars A Great and Terrible Beauty
I was looking forward to this as a fan of historical and fantasy novels, but found myself disappointed. Read more
Published 14 months ago by The Reader
2.0 out of 5 stars unconvincing historical setting
Well, unfortunately I was unimpressed with this novel.
To start with 'Gemma' does not ring true as a name for a 19th century girl. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Rose
4.0 out of 5 stars The Book Geek
I don't know why for so long I just assumed I wouldn't like historical fiction, it's not as if I don't love history - I picked it for one of my A levels in college. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Emily Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars Magical.
This trilogy is splendid, yeah i HAVEN'T read the last one but i know that it will be just as enticing as the first two. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Emma Woodhouse
5.0 out of 5 stars wow
A Great and Terrible Beauty is just such an amazing book. It's the sort of book where, once you've started to read it, it's impossible to put back down. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2011 by Alice Leathley
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You can never really know someone completely. That’s why it’s the most terrifying thing in the world, really – taking someone on faith, hoping they’ll take you on faith too. &quote;
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