- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (13 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340830913
- ISBN-13: 978-0340830918
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,504,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Gypsy Madonna
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Product Description
Review
‘Out of the horrors of the past, the author has created a story that is epic in scope and emotion, but also brilliantly observant and truthful. It is surprising, moving and skilful.’
(Elizabeth Buchan )'Santa Montefiore brilliantly captures the intrigue and skulduggery of a country at war in a very absorbing romance.' (Red on LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALENTINA )
'Romantics will adore this story of yearning love.' (Daily Express on THE SWALLOW AND THE HUMMINGBIRD )
'Engaging and charming' (Penny Vincenzi, Mail on Sunday on THE BUTTERFLY BOX ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
‘Out of the horrors of the past, the author has created a story that is epic in scope and emotion, but also brilliantly observant and truthful. It is surprising, moving and skilful.’
(Elizabeth Buchan )‘Santa Montefiore’s world of Italian peasants and partisans, Nazis and aristocrats is flamboyant and suspenseful. Anyone who likes Joanna Harris or Mary Wesley will love Montefiore’s atmospheric fifth romance.’
(Mail on Sunday on Last Voyage of the Valentina )'Santa Montefiore brilliantly captures the intrigue and skulduggery of a country at war in a very absorbing romance.' (Red on Last Voyage of the Valentina )
‘Romantics will adore this story of yearning love.’
(Daily Express on The Swallow and the Hummingbird )'Engaging and charming'
(Penny Vincenzi, Mail on Sunday on The Butterfly Box ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hardly ever fail to finish a book but The Gypsy Madonna brought me close. I thought it would be a light fluffy read for my holidays but I was bored within the first few chapters. I kept going in the hope that htings would improve but the pacing never picked up and the main characters just became more and more annoying. The only saving grace for this book were the minor characters, such as the staff and guests at the hotel where much of the story plays out. The main characters were stiff and one dimensional. If you are looking for something like Joanne Harris' earlier books then dont look here!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Another enjoyable read from Santa Montefiore, a love story with an underlying mystery. Mischa is the protagonist, born during WWII in France to Anouk and her German husband. After the liberation they are ostracized by the majority of the villagers in Maurillac where they live and work in a local chateau. Mischa has been severely effected and the trauma is thought to be the reason for his inability to speak. He has no friends apart from Pistou, a young ghost whom only he sees, a young local girl Claudine and Joy a regular guest at the chateau.
When Coyote a mysterious and enchanting American turns up at the chateau with his guitar he has a dramatic effect on the lives of Anouk and Mischa. So much changes with his arival and they leave France for a new life in America with him.
It is only after his mother's death many years later that Mischa discovers and unravels a mystery from his childhood involving a valuable unrecorded painting by a famous artist.
A good book to curl up with for an easy and relaxing read.
When Coyote a mysterious and enchanting American turns up at the chateau with his guitar he has a dramatic effect on the lives of Anouk and Mischa. So much changes with his arival and they leave France for a new life in America with him.
It is only after his mother's death many years later that Mischa discovers and unravels a mystery from his childhood involving a valuable unrecorded painting by a famous artist.
A good book to curl up with for an easy and relaxing read.
Format:Paperback
This is the story of Mischa who when his mother dies leaving a piece of priceless art to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, embarks on trying to find out the truth about who this art really did belong to and how his mother came to have it and he knew nothing about it.
Santa Montefiore takes us back to France after the war, where Mischa was born to a German father and where his mother paid for this sin watched on by a local crowd and the priest. This action rendered Mischa mute until a mysterious American, Coyote comes into their lives and changes everything.
Coyote has power over everyone, and Mischa believes that someone else loves him as much as his mother does, and through this love and belief his voice comes back one Sunday during Mass. Prompting the locals to believe that God has had an influence and that the priest must know. But the priest is harbouring his own secret? And what exactly is Coyote doing in this part of France?
Mischa moves to America with his mother and Coyote and begins the next stage of his life, where when one day Coyote walks out and never comes back, Mischa turns to crime, hurting people and sheer hatred. Although his actions can be seen as mere teenage excessiveness the hatred he has seems to go with him throughout his life. Only when he tries to discover the truth about the painting does this hatred disappear and love seems to flow from him.
I found this book rather wishy washy. Montefiore portrays the young Mischa with all the knowledge of a man and the older Mischa with the naivety of a boy and this although perhaps intentional actually annoyed me. I could not warm to Mischa, nor any of the other characters and I felt that this affected the whole plot for me. The conclusion and the truth behind the painting seem to have happened within a few pages, and I felt that I had missed something?
Montefiore has written in my opinion far better books than this one. And whilst the premise is a good one, there was too much chopping and changing around for me in terms of characters and places and I felt that I did not get time to know them as I have in her other books.
Santa Montefiore takes us back to France after the war, where Mischa was born to a German father and where his mother paid for this sin watched on by a local crowd and the priest. This action rendered Mischa mute until a mysterious American, Coyote comes into their lives and changes everything.
Coyote has power over everyone, and Mischa believes that someone else loves him as much as his mother does, and through this love and belief his voice comes back one Sunday during Mass. Prompting the locals to believe that God has had an influence and that the priest must know. But the priest is harbouring his own secret? And what exactly is Coyote doing in this part of France?
Mischa moves to America with his mother and Coyote and begins the next stage of his life, where when one day Coyote walks out and never comes back, Mischa turns to crime, hurting people and sheer hatred. Although his actions can be seen as mere teenage excessiveness the hatred he has seems to go with him throughout his life. Only when he tries to discover the truth about the painting does this hatred disappear and love seems to flow from him.
I found this book rather wishy washy. Montefiore portrays the young Mischa with all the knowledge of a man and the older Mischa with the naivety of a boy and this although perhaps intentional actually annoyed me. I could not warm to Mischa, nor any of the other characters and I felt that this affected the whole plot for me. The conclusion and the truth behind the painting seem to have happened within a few pages, and I felt that I had missed something?
Montefiore has written in my opinion far better books than this one. And whilst the premise is a good one, there was too much chopping and changing around for me in terms of characters and places and I felt that I did not get time to know them as I have in her other books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
mistake
I recently bought a. Book from the book factory i was asked2review my. Order and send feedback,unfortunately i hit the wrong rate button the service from the book factory was... Read more
Published 7 months ago by dimps
book review
Very good service, Bought book for my mother who says it is a really good read
Published 23 months ago by Mr. J. F. Cornish
Awful
This is a book that richly deserves no stars, but the minimum you can award is one. The main character, a six year old boy appears to think like an adult woman. Read more
Published on 12 April 2007 by Paul
The Gyosy Madonna - What is her secret?
I found this book very slow at the start, but once getting into it I really loved and enjoyed it. This book not only caught my attension, but its a book that i really couldnt put... Read more
Published on 6 April 2006 by Mel
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