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Amazon.co.uk Review
Hester Prynne never had it so good! The year is 1899, and Olympia Biddeford, the headstrong daughter of a Boston Brahmin family, has decided to test the limits of her cloistered world. Spending the summer at her father's New Hampshire estate, the teenage heroine of Fortune's Rocks is entranced with the visiting salon of artists, writers and lawyers. She's especially captivated, however, by John Haskell, a charismatic physician who ministers to the blue-collar community in the nearby mill towns. This middle-aged Good Samaritan hires Olympia to assist him as a nurse and their collaboration soon evolves into a fiery love affair. Alas, it's only a matter of weeks before this passionate exercise in managed care is exposed--with disastrous consequences for the young, impregnated heroine. Even her adoring father now considers her "an over-plump, 16-year-old girl whose judgement can no longer be trusted" and insists that she break off her relationship:
"There is nothing more to be said on this subject", he says. She bites her lip to keep from crying out further. She holds the arms of her chair so tightly she later will have cramps in her fingers. She will refuse to obey him, she thinks. She will accept his implied challenge and set off on her own. But in the next moment, she asks herself: How will she be able to do that?
Without her father's support, she cannot hope to survive. And if she herself does not survive, then a child cannot live."
In the end, Anita Shreve's seventh novel is a polished, supremely entertaining variation on Wuthering Heights, with Olympia and Haskell sitting in for Catherine and Heathcliff. The author did some meticulous research for her New England background, which gives this study of one particular wayward woman some extra historical heft. Some readers may find the plot twists a bit pat. And despite Olympia's efforts to be an independent woman, she overcomes her trials largely as a result of her family's wealth and station, which takes the edge off Shreve's feminist message. Still, Fortune's Rocks is a romance in the classic sense of the word and should be enjoyed as such, unless the reader is absolutely allergic to happy endings. --Ted Leventhal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Exceptionally fine . . . Shreve writes with power and passion (DAILY EXPRESS )
A powerful portrait of that dangerous limbo of a girl's adolescence when she is no longer a child but not yet a woman (LITERARY REVIEW )
A quiet but highly charged novel in which intense emotion is counterpointed with an evocation of landscape (Elizabeth Buchan, THE TIMES )
It seems like a mighty poem. FORTUNE'S ROCKS, you know, will prove much more than a place name (OBSERVER ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
A powerful portrait of that dangerous limbo of a girl's adolescence when she is no longer a child but not yet a woman (LITERARY REVIEW )
A quiet but highly charged novel in which intense emotion is counterpointed with an evocation of landscape (Elizabeth Buchan, THE TIMES )
It seems like a mighty poem. FORTUNE'S ROCKS, you know, will prove much more than a place name (OBSERVER ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found the book "Fortunes Rock" completely absorbing... once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I read it all through math, social studies, English and Spanish! Olympia's and Haskell's love for each other is captivating. It's the kind of love everyone longs for. Though society and age threatens to keep them apart they will do anything for the love they have... all this mixed in with a girls coming of age and a mothers fight for her son....its a must read! I am now working my way through all of Anita Shreve's books.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio Cassette
This is a well crafted and lyrically written narrative, evocative of an era gone by. It tells the story of Olympia Biddleford, the unusually erudite and well educated fifteen year old daughter of a Boston Brahmin. One hot and steamy summer in turn of the century New Hampshire, she falls passionately and utterly in love with her father's friend, forty one year old John Haskell, a physician and man of letters, who has a wife and four children. Captivated by his intelligence and crusade on behalf of exploited mill workers, she and he, drawn to her youth, intelligence and beauty, leave all thought of propriety behind and, breaking every moral and social taboo of the time, enter into a forbidden, illicit love affair, that is ultimately doomed, with cataclysmic ramifications for all whom the affair touches.
The book explores how this young woman copes with the loss of her life in a larger social milieu, once the affair enters into the public domain through the machinations of another. She, the doctor, and their respective families are tainted with scandal and presented with the fruit of that illicit love. The book explores how Olympia must reconstruct the tatters of her life into one in which she is finally able to expiate her youthful indiscretion within the context of the mores of the time. In doing so, she goes on a voyage of self discovery. Yet, through it all, she never once renounces her devotion to the man who introduced her to the throes of a passion so deep and profound that she gave herself over to it, body and soul. How these star crossed lovers finally come to terms with their grand passion is a story which the author seamlessly weaves into a book that will hold the reader in its thrall.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first Anita Shreve book that I read and have since read all the others and bought Fortune's Rocks for all of my friends. It's fantastic in every way - from the wonderfully descriptive style of her writing to the great characters and content, the book contains real passion and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it - as did all my friends. Took me a little while to get into it, but was really glad that I did as I got completely absorbed and was sad to finish it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Believable and Moving Romance
'Fortune's Rocks' was Anita Shreve's first novel not set in the 20th century. It tells the story of an unconventional but utterly believable romance between the 15-year-old Olympia... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kate Hopkins
amazing book
I would say its in the top 5 of my favorit books. makes you feel the salty summer night on your skin, while your reading you can feel the heat on your cheeks as if you've had a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by heidi
Excellent
I was introduced to Anita Shreve and Fortune's Rocks by my grandaughter in Australia who said it was one of the best books she had read. Read more
Published 9 months ago by jonjo
Brilliant
Book arrived in really good condition (as described) and the price was brilliant. Why pay full price when you can get fantastic quality used books like this.
Published 13 months ago by Mrs. V. A. Lambourne
Awesome
I wasn't sure what to expect when I began this book, having never read anything by Anita Shreve previously. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mrs. N. Millican
Best read
This is one of my top ten books ever! I did not think so when I first started reading it, but once I had got into it, couldn't put it down. FANTASTIC!!
Published 14 months ago by robdeb
Culd not even finish the book!!!!!!!!!!
This is the first book that I have bought from this author. I bought this book because I was looking for a novel on romantic love however after 80 pages. I gave up completely. Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2009 by Modupe Oriyomi
Disappointing
I am upset! I have found an Anita Shreve book that I don't like! And I don't like it to such an extent that I've given up after 27 pages! Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2008 by Kelly A19
Not great, but not that bad either
I think I'm one of the ones in the minority here. I had a difficult time getting into the book at first -- perhaps if Olympia had been a couple of years older at least. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2007 by Misfit
One of my favourite books
I read this book a number of years ago and this is the book that got me hooked on reading. The fact that i felt so transported in to the book made me want more. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2007 by Jessica Green
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