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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?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
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. No one is portrayed as necessarily all bad or all good - rather, the way they make decisions and react to situations in their life can be read as either good or bad, evil or not.
This is a fantastic read. A great way to start a series.
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. No one is portrayed as necessarily all bad or all good - rather, the way they make decisions and react to situations in their life can be read as either good or bad, evil or not.
This is a fantastic read. A great way to start a series.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
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!
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 1 month ago by The Reader
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
To start with 'Gemma' does not ring true as a name for a 19th century girl. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rose
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 9 months ago by Emily Mitchell
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 11 months ago by Emma Woodhouse
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 16 months ago by Alice Leathley
It was well done, although there were portions of the book that seemed...
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... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Rebecca
Lovely Read
I found this book in my local book shop a few years ago and at that time I didn't know it was geared more towards an older teen/young adult audience. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Booknerd
Great teen read
A Great and Terrible Beauty plays on the atmosphere of the old gothic novel and the girls' boarding school vibe, making a great magical teen novel. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Katherine Radcliff
Great, beautiful, and nothing terrible here!
I love this book. Love love love it. I've never written a review, but with "A Great and Terrible Beauty" I feel have to. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Briony
Outstanding
This has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. It starts off fairly slow at first, but once Gemma Doyle (the heroin) arrives at her boarding that all changes! Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by J. Hammill
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