- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (5 Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316860573
- ISBN-13: 978-0316860574
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,412,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
The author of The Actresses and A Dangerous Vine has produced an historical novel full of the atmosphere of the period. The year is 1849 and cholera is rampant in London, but no-one knows what exactly is the cause. Sir Charles Cooper, MP, has two daughters: Mary, a cripple, and the younger, Harriet. Mary keeps house for him now that their mother is dead, but then Mary dies of the plague, and Harriet finds herself in a dreadful position: she has to look after the father who has molested her. Somehow she manages to escape on a boat going to New Zealand, but her father chases after her... It is a cracking good story told with verve and assurance.
Book Description
* A captivating, rich, historical novel that moves from cholera-infested early nineteenth-century London to the new colony of New Zealand - 'a cracking good story told with verve and assurance' Publishing News
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To begin with I found the storyline a little bit ponderous. There were veiled hints at the heroine's dark secret which I found a tad pretentious and the plot didn't seem to be going very far. However, when this story finally gets going the reader is hit with crisis upon crisis and the tension mounts until finally I for one just couldn't put it down!
At times the heroine seemed a bit too weak and biddable, but as a character she's actually very well developed because I found myself thinking "come on Harriet...stand up for yourself!!"
Without giving the plot away (these details are covered on the jacket blurb) it seemed for a short while that an unlikely number of people had followed Harriet to the other side of the world, which suspended credibility for a short while. But it all fell neatly into place in the climax and resolution of the plot.
Having finished the book I finally decided it had been a very well crafted story indeed and one I thoroughly enjoyed.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. Barbara Ewing is able to describe the times of Victorian London so that I could almost smell and taste the air. And her descriptions of life on board a ship sailing to New Zealand almost had me feeling sea-sick. The characters are perhaps slightly lacking in 'roundness', but her powers of description make up for this fault completely.
If you like to read a book that transports you to another time in history, this is the one for you.
If you like to read a book that transports you to another time in history, this is the one for you.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a great read. I have not been so absorbed by a book for a long time. I could not put it down. The author skilfully enabled me to empathise with the main character's plight and my heart was in my mouth thumping uncontrollably many times.
Beautifully written, gripping and emotional, there was nothing about this book that I didn't like. Actually there was, the fact that it ended! This was one of those books where I was sad to read the last page...in that vein I do wish the relationship at the end could have been explored more fully. Brilliant.
Beautifully written, gripping and emotional, there was nothing about this book that I didn't like. Actually there was, the fact that it ended! This was one of those books where I was sad to read the last page...in that vein I do wish the relationship at the end could have been explored more fully. Brilliant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An excellent evocation of Victorian Britain and emigration
It was a rare treat to find a historical novel with the typical stunningly beautiful heroine, magnetically attractive to all men who gaze upon her beauty, which somehow (for... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Katie Stevens
A brilliant evocation of Victorian England.
This is one of my all time favourite novels. I must have read it hundreds of times and it grips like the first time. Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by N. Bratby
Brings history alive
I loved this book and I would highly recommend it to any reader,
Barbara Ewing brought the constraints and restraints placed on women in Victorian times, albeit women who were... Read more
Barbara Ewing brought the constraints and restraints placed on women in Victorian times, albeit women who were... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2009 by Ainm eile
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