The Glass of Time
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Product Description
Review
‘A satisfyingly sinister yarn’ (Daily Mail )
‘Engrossing . . . all the ingredients of a Gothic romance’
(The Times )‘A Gutsy 18-year-old heroine masquerades as a lady’s maid to uncover dark secrets. Sounds intriguing’
(Bookseller )‘Absorbing’
(Times Literary Supplement )‘This is a period mystery told with great skill, notable for its marvellous sense of the past and vividly drawn characters’
(Good Book Guide )Product Description
1876. Nineteen-year-old orphan Esperanza Gorst arrives at a great country house of Evenwood to be interviewed for the position of lady's-maid.
But Esperanza is no ordinary servant. She has been sent by her guardian, the mysterious Madame de lOrme, to uncover the dark and dangerous secrets that her new mistress has sought to conceal, and to set right a past injustice in which Esperanzas own closest interests are bound up.
Gradually those secrets are revealed, and with them the truth of who Esperanza really is, enmeshing her in a complicated web of intrigue, deceit, and murder that culminates in betrayal by those she trusted most.
A sequel to the widely praised The Meaning of Night, The Glass of Time is a page-turning period mystery and a gripping novel about identity, obsession and secrets.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just finished reading A Glass of Time, and have that wonderful glow of having read a truly satisfying and well written book. I loved Michael Cox's `The Meaning of Night', and this is a worthy sequel. Although it clearly carries on the story set out in the first book, A Glass of Time can actually be read without first reading its predecessor. For people who have read `The Meaning of Night', this book gives a wonderful continuance of the story and we see major characters in a different light. The twists and turns kept me absolutely gripped throughout and the end brought the tragic story to a satisfying conclusion. It is beautifully written and clearly a homage to Victorian authors such as Wilkie Collins. It is more than just a pastiche though, and I thought the characters had a wonderful ambiguity and depth. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, but especially to those who love Victorian novels.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite being a little bored with Victorian fiction lately, I've been totally engrossed in this wonderfully gothic story for the past couple of days.
With the help of forged references, Esperanza Gorst becomes lady's-maid and later paid companion to the cold, haughty Lady Tansor, Emily Duport (nee Cartaret), the lover of Phoebus Daunt who was brutally murdered by Edward Gliver twenty years earlier. At first Esperanza has no idea why her guardian has sent her on this mission, but as she delves deeper into the secrets of the Duport dynasty she uncovers shocking information about her own background and that of the Duport heirs, brooding poet Perseus and nice-but-dim Randolph. Along the way she meets some wonderful almost Dickensian characters, including the comedy double-act of Montagu Wraxall and Inspector Gully, and her quest takes her from the stately Evenwood to the dark, dirty streets of London and beyond.
As for the question 'Do I need to have read The Meaning of Night before reading The Glass of Time?', well strictly speaking no, but I really would recommend it in order to get the full benefit of Glass of Time, as the plot is so closely based on that of its predecessor and the ending is such a satisfying conclusion to the two books. However, if your memories of The Meaning of Night are a bit hazy (as mine were), then don't worry, there are lots of journals and letters flying backwards and forwards between the characters in Glass of Time which serve as helpful synopses of previous events, as well as providing Esperanza with the keys to unlock her past.
All the double-crossing and machinations we came love in The Meaning of Night are here, but this book is nowhere near as dark as its predecessor and some of the twists and co-incidences are a little predictable (thus enabling the story to be tied up quite neatly at the end).
I was really sad to read that Michael Cox died earlier this year after a long illness. His extensive knowledge and love of Victorian fiction shone through these two books and his writing will be greatly missed.
With the help of forged references, Esperanza Gorst becomes lady's-maid and later paid companion to the cold, haughty Lady Tansor, Emily Duport (nee Cartaret), the lover of Phoebus Daunt who was brutally murdered by Edward Gliver twenty years earlier. At first Esperanza has no idea why her guardian has sent her on this mission, but as she delves deeper into the secrets of the Duport dynasty she uncovers shocking information about her own background and that of the Duport heirs, brooding poet Perseus and nice-but-dim Randolph. Along the way she meets some wonderful almost Dickensian characters, including the comedy double-act of Montagu Wraxall and Inspector Gully, and her quest takes her from the stately Evenwood to the dark, dirty streets of London and beyond.
As for the question 'Do I need to have read The Meaning of Night before reading The Glass of Time?', well strictly speaking no, but I really would recommend it in order to get the full benefit of Glass of Time, as the plot is so closely based on that of its predecessor and the ending is such a satisfying conclusion to the two books. However, if your memories of The Meaning of Night are a bit hazy (as mine were), then don't worry, there are lots of journals and letters flying backwards and forwards between the characters in Glass of Time which serve as helpful synopses of previous events, as well as providing Esperanza with the keys to unlock her past.
All the double-crossing and machinations we came love in The Meaning of Night are here, but this book is nowhere near as dark as its predecessor and some of the twists and co-incidences are a little predictable (thus enabling the story to be tied up quite neatly at the end).
I was really sad to read that Michael Cox died earlier this year after a long illness. His extensive knowledge and love of Victorian fiction shone through these two books and his writing will be greatly missed.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a pastiche of a 19th century novel, complete with an Upstairs Downstairs cast of goodies and baddies with names like Armitage Vyse, Phobeus Ranford Daunt, Perseus Duport and Colonel Zaluski*.
It is told in Jane Eyre-style by a female narrator who is pretending to be the maid of the head of the household, Lady Tansor, in order to fathom a mystery that it is dragged out in agonizing detail over almost 600 pages.
I gave up by page 226 and never fathomed the mystery although I guessed within the first couple of chapters where the plot was leading.
The painstaking descriptions of Victorian houses and landscapes and twee chapter headings - e.g. "An Announcement in The Times" - are as wearing as the ins and outs of the plot.
The book is skilfully done and many readers like this style but it requires considerable patience and stamina, particularly the dialogue which is excruciating.
*There is also a character called Maggs, perhaps a tribute to "Jack Maggs", the Peter Carey pastiche of Dickens published a decade earlier.
It is told in Jane Eyre-style by a female narrator who is pretending to be the maid of the head of the household, Lady Tansor, in order to fathom a mystery that it is dragged out in agonizing detail over almost 600 pages.
I gave up by page 226 and never fathomed the mystery although I guessed within the first couple of chapters where the plot was leading.
The painstaking descriptions of Victorian houses and landscapes and twee chapter headings - e.g. "An Announcement in The Times" - are as wearing as the ins and outs of the plot.
The book is skilfully done and many readers like this style but it requires considerable patience and stamina, particularly the dialogue which is excruciating.
*There is also a character called Maggs, perhaps a tribute to "Jack Maggs", the Peter Carey pastiche of Dickens published a decade earlier.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Glass of Time
I bought this having recently read 'the meaning of night', and looked forward to reading a good mystery with the same high level of writing. Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. Smith
Earlier Flaws Largely Erased
I read Cox's first novel, The Meaning of Night, prequel to this one, at its publication, and both enjoyed its mastery of the Victorian detective novel genre, but also had... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Lady Fancifull
A stunning sequel
This is the sequel to Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night. Although I don't think it's absolutely necessary to read the books in the correct order, it would make sense to do so. Read more
Published 19 months ago by H. Skinner
On the whole, short-comings forgiven
I read The Meaning of Night first and was gripped by the plot. This one had its short-comings here and there - a few too many co-incidences, some unlikely allegiances, a somewhat... Read more
Published on 28 May 2010 by Isobel
Too easy to work out
I bought this book not realising that it was linked to Cox's first book Meaning of Night which I have not read so was worried that I may not be able to follow it. Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by Lori
A very silly book
Thank goodness I didn't buy this but having read the dust cover blurb, borrowed it from a library. Utterly pretentious: unbelievable plot and characters: too many extra dei ex... Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Book Worm
Gothic Victoriana
Having read rave reviews of 'The Glass of Time' when it was in hardback, I tracked down 'The Meaning of Night' and devoured a brilliant labyrinth of deception and betrayal, of... Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2010 by Bookworm79
Worthy sequel
Having enjoyed The Meaning of Night, this was really interesting to find out what the characters did next, and how they aged. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by A. Collett
A novel that gets better and better
I found this book in the library and it is so very very good. I longed to get back to read it, but I didn't want it to finish. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2009 by Ms. S. Gunn
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