- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Fawcett Books; Reissue edition (Oct 1985)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0449208184
- ISBN-13: 978-0449208182
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,250,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
"A tale told in delicate brushstrokes of a relationship in which two hearts came almost literally to beat as one."
Newsday
In the late 18th century, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby defied all conventions of their Irish homeland and eloped to Wales as a married couple.
There, over many years, they forged a romantic paradise from a simple country cottage and a few acres of land. They called it "Plas Newydd" the New Place. Their home was filled with light and love, with the pursuit of enlightenment, with exquisite expressions of their devotion. Their land contained gardens and quiet paths for walking, fruit trees and flowers and bees, sheep and chickens and cows.
Eleanor and Sarah lived in almost utter solitude. When the outside world eventually discovered them, many people journeyed to Wales out of curiosity to meet the renowned "Ladies of Llangollen." All of them came away with profound respect for their way of life, their love for each other, and their courage to be themselves.
"Understated and elegant, this slim book is a true classic on that rarest of relationships, companions of the heart."
San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle
Newsday
In the late 18th century, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby defied all conventions of their Irish homeland and eloped to Wales as a married couple.
There, over many years, they forged a romantic paradise from a simple country cottage and a few acres of land. They called it "Plas Newydd" the New Place. Their home was filled with light and love, with the pursuit of enlightenment, with exquisite expressions of their devotion. Their land contained gardens and quiet paths for walking, fruit trees and flowers and bees, sheep and chickens and cows.
Eleanor and Sarah lived in almost utter solitude. When the outside world eventually discovered them, many people journeyed to Wales out of curiosity to meet the renowned "Ladies of Llangollen." All of them came away with profound respect for their way of life, their love for each other, and their courage to be themselves.
"Understated and elegant, this slim book is a true classic on that rarest of relationships, companions of the heart."
San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
She stands looking out the long window, the toe of her silk slipper hard against the sill. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
She stands looking out the long window, the toe of her silk slipper hard against the sill. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating read based on a true story about two ladies in 18th Century rural Ireland. They come from the "Big Houses" of the time. They meet, fall in love and run away to England together. The book is well written and the story is captivating. It is all the more interesting to me because I live only a few miles from Borris House in County Carlow where one of the ladies hailed from
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
The Ladies
1 Jan 2002
Format:Paperback
This is just a sweet old fashioned love story... a lesbian love story that is. I happened upon a hardcover copy in a used bookstore. The cover looked idyllic, pastoral... two ladies dressed in riding habits, surveying the english countryside. It is a story of the enormous risks they took to be together, and the creative life of beauty that they shared until death. I loved the descriptions of their daily lives... how they passionately strove for their own peaceable kingdom. They lived in an eden of their own makng. Please read this book and be inspired by their example to create your own heaven on earth with those you love...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A Historical Novel of a Lesbian Couple in 18th Century Ireland
9 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
This is a lovely historical novel about two lesbians in 18th century Ireland. They are totally devoted to one another and overcome all sorts of obstacles in order to establish themselves as a family unit on the 'Plas Newydd'. They are quite an eccentric pair. They are a classic 'masculine' (butch) and feminine couple. They entertain critics, writers, royalty, etc. in their home.
The novel hypothesizes how a cultured couple such as Eleanor and Sarah would have intermingled with respected, wealthy and knowledgeable personages of their time. They are quite secure financially and never have to contend with poverty.
The language is sedate and descriptive, evoking a clear picture of their lives without delving into the passion that is obviously one of their mainsprings. Grumbach mentions it but her style is 'literary divorcee' ' ' she is viewing their lives at a linguistic distance.
"They had learned the lessons that made living together possible: to bear each other's failings with fortitude and to freely indulge their own without guilt. They grew more and more like each other. Their faults became common to them both, their virtues a kind of mutual feast that they celebrated together". (p. 180).
This quote sounds like the description of any successful relationship that has weathered time and circumstance and still holds together strongly.
The novel hypothesizes how a cultured couple such as Eleanor and Sarah would have intermingled with respected, wealthy and knowledgeable personages of their time. They are quite secure financially and never have to contend with poverty.
The language is sedate and descriptive, evoking a clear picture of their lives without delving into the passion that is obviously one of their mainsprings. Grumbach mentions it but her style is 'literary divorcee' ' ' she is viewing their lives at a linguistic distance.
"They had learned the lessons that made living together possible: to bear each other's failings with fortitude and to freely indulge their own without guilt. They grew more and more like each other. Their faults became common to them both, their virtues a kind of mutual feast that they celebrated together". (p. 180).
This quote sounds like the description of any successful relationship that has weathered time and circumstance and still holds together strongly.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Young Love Never Dies
2 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback
Having first read this novel in January of 1992, I found the novel initially irritating, even more irritating than Eleanore's atheism and superstition in contrast to Sarah's Methodism and religious faith.
These characters' characteristics were brought into conflict not to bring out anything purposeful to the meaning of these women's lives in the end.
In January of 1992, I found the writing vague and stilted, antiquated and clumsy, and the story itself it just an outline of a narrative that wanted fleshing out. This story is the product of seeing someone at such a great distance through the pages of history and legend, the imagination strains for a detailed image.
Still, the ending of the novel was as sweet as anything it attempted to proffer for the reader from its beginnings - when the two lovers were sworn to each other in their hearts while young.
Reading the novel a good ten years later, this reader found the entire novel remarkably touching and sweet, like an engraved old broach with a lovely face on it.
These characters' characteristics were brought into conflict not to bring out anything purposeful to the meaning of these women's lives in the end.
In January of 1992, I found the writing vague and stilted, antiquated and clumsy, and the story itself it just an outline of a narrative that wanted fleshing out. This story is the product of seeing someone at such a great distance through the pages of history and legend, the imagination strains for a detailed image.
Still, the ending of the novel was as sweet as anything it attempted to proffer for the reader from its beginnings - when the two lovers were sworn to each other in their hearts while young.
Reading the novel a good ten years later, this reader found the entire novel remarkably touching and sweet, like an engraved old broach with a lovely face on it.
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