- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Australia (29 May 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140255745
- ISBN-13: 978-0140255744
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.9 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,311,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Twenty years ago Simon Donovan betrayed one of his college students. Out of the blue, the dying scholar of antiquities receives a letter from her. Sidonie summons him to her secluded northern home for unknown reasons.
Matthew Donovan, a struggling painter, undertakes the journey in place of his dying father. Deep in the wilderness he meets the mysterious Sidonie Moreau in her fantastic mansion. He finds the darkness that surrounds Sidonie engrossing even though it also repels him.
When Matthew asks how his family can make up for the wrongs done to her, the answer is shocking! She wants his blood, given freely! She promises never to harm him, yet he can never leave. He must remain with her. Each night she will ask for his blood. Each night he must answer. Matthew vows never to surrender to her, but each night it becomes harder to deny her.
***** An astounding read that will suck readers in quickly and never let them go! This book was first printed in 1996. Haunt your local stores, Amazon, eBay, and used book stores ... anywhere to find a copy! It is a dark role reversal of the "Beauty and the Beast" tale. Only this time, SHE is the beast and HE is trapped. An awful, yet compelling dark novel. *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Vampire fiction that doesn't suck
27 Sep 2008
Format:Paperback
The book is called A Terrible Beauty, which is more like Terribly Cheesy for a title. Between that and the art on the cover of a black-haired pale skinned woman with dark red lips, I figured someone had sent me wanky vampire romance fluff. I've read some of that before, to be brutally honest, but sort of with the same air that you watch really bad horror movies and are amused by them anyway.
I was curious though, and started reading the book, discovering that it didn't have the tone really of wanky romance fluff unless it was going to suddenly jump into it later. The prose was engaging, the tale was told in a way that unfolded slowly, leaving you curious. The narration was a nice third person... err, wow, all my studies of literature fail me as I forget the term, omniscient perhaps? Where you know what the person is feeling. The author managed to successfully switch back and forth between points of view occasionally without it feeling strange and without giving too much of the mystery away. The cadence of the lines and the introspection of the character exploration has stuck with me even after finishing it. As I finished the story, the way things came together at the end moved me to tears.
I LOVED this book.
I was curious though, and started reading the book, discovering that it didn't have the tone really of wanky romance fluff unless it was going to suddenly jump into it later. The prose was engaging, the tale was told in a way that unfolded slowly, leaving you curious. The narration was a nice third person... err, wow, all my studies of literature fail me as I forget the term, omniscient perhaps? Where you know what the person is feeling. The author managed to successfully switch back and forth between points of view occasionally without it feeling strange and without giving too much of the mystery away. The cadence of the lines and the introspection of the character exploration has stuck with me even after finishing it. As I finished the story, the way things came together at the end moved me to tears.
I LOVED this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Off the well-beaten path of vampire literature
16 Feb 2010
Format:Paperback
A Terrible Beauty is an interesting and thoughtful revision of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. It's very well written and has fully developed characters and beautiful imagery. This is the type of writing to which other sci-fi/horror authors should aspire. It is a travesty that Baker's books are no longer in print.
not quite as good as her other vampire novels.
5 Jun 2007
Amazon Verified Purchase
If you like this, do yourself a favour and read Nancy Baker's other vampire novels... They are wonderful, while this one is merely interesting.
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