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Something Dangerous (Spoils of Time Trilogy)
 
 

Something Dangerous (Spoils of Time Trilogy) (Hardcover)

by Penny Vincenzi (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 720 pages
  • Publisher: Orion (27 Sep 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 075283200X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752832005
  • Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 16.8 x 6.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 669,193 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #54 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > V > Vincenzi, Penny

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Particular skills are required in a novel the size of Penny Vincenzi's Something Dangerous: strong, powerfully drawn characters, yes; colourful, authentic scene-setting, of course. But what's needed above all else is organisation: an author must know how to bring together all the elements to create an inexorable hold on the reader. It's no surprise to find Vincenzi doing just that. Through such engrossing novels as Another Woman, Forbidden Places and No Angel, she has effortlessly woven an unbreakable spell that ensures few readers will be able to put her intelligently written romantic sagas down.

Something Dangerous (like No Angel) introduces a sharply observed element of social commentary into its epic-saga format, along with a vivid panoply of international history from the frantic 20s to the two World Wars. Adele and Venetia Lytton are twins enjoying all the social prestige and wealth that their position as daughters of the founder of a highly successful publishing empire can give them. At the age of 18, they make up for a lack of formal education with a confidence and cheek that isn't too far from arrogance. As the 30s begin, the twins put the horrors of the 1914 conflict behind them--but their adulthood coincides with the sinister rise of Nazi Germany. Soon, their privileged position comes to seem hollow indeed: Venetia finds that being trapped in a grim marriage is only the beginning of her misery, while Adele struggles to bring up two young children in a Paris that is being engulfed by the war. Then there is Bart Miller, taken from the slums by the twins' mother and more able to cope with life than Adele or Venetia. And crucial to the narrative is Laurence Elliott, scion of the family's New York members, single-mindedly pursuing an almost obsessive love. The interaction of Vincenzi's fascinatingly rendered cast is choreographed with her usual aplomb, and the epic backdrop never dwarfs the agonies and ecstasies of her characters.--Barry Forshaw

Review
In a highly competitive field - the blockbuster women's novel - Penny Vincenzi stands alone. Her plots and characters may be as outrageous as many of her less talented rivals, but the craftsmanship and energy of her work may be the reason her sales put other practitioners to shame. In Something Dangerous, her heroine Celia has broken the rules by demanding a job in her husband's young publishing company. This is, after all, the belle poque and Edwardian England, when women were expected to be hausfraus and nothing more. With the help of her sister-in-law, Celia soon demonstrates her business skills, and her legacy is followed by Vincenzi into the war-shadowed years of the Thirties. The trick here is making all the challenges set for the doughty heroine (from struggles in a man's world to the grim rigours of war) equally interesting, and all the indications are that Vincenzi's highly successful No Angel has a worthy follow-up.

Dangerous? Only if you drop this endless sequel (No Angel, 2003) on your foot. Meandering tale of privileged twins, penned in typically effulgent style, spanning several decades and a continent or two. Venetia and Adele Lytton, spoiled darlings of the Lytton family of publishing fame, prove to be among the most popular, charming, witty, and irresistible debutantes of the year 1928: not only are they pretty, they are unarguably pretty (a much overused word in Vincenzi's lexicon, along with extremely, hugely, desperately, terribly, extraordinarily, hideously, dreadfully, and their poor little relation, very.) The twins pooh-pooh the ineffectual scolding of their concerned mummy, Celia, who pretends to disapprove of their modern manners-she's scandalized when Venetia powders her perfect nose at the table! Though her daughters seem to be wasting their excellent education, Celia is pleased by their social success, perhaps because they are no match for her. "The beautiful, brilliant Lady Celia Lytton moved among the great literary figures of her day . . . ." But doesn't she have a dark secret or something? Well, yes-but Vincenzi doesn't get around to it until hundreds of pages later. The twins must grow up in an uncertain world, fall in and out of love with toffee-nosed prigs, learn that life isn't always fair, explore New York when Lytton opens a branch there, etc. In the meantime, that silly Hitler-such a common man-is making stiff-armed salutes and rabble-rousing in Europe. And if someone doesn't put a stop to his fascist manias, what will happen to all the dear little cuckoo clocks? Will the twins have to give up waltzing because of its Viennese connection? But they have other worries: Barty, a redoubtable bluestocking with a certain horsy charm, is jockeying for control of Lytton. Oh, and Celia's dark secret? Kit, her fair-haired boy, doesn't look so very much like her long-suffering husband, does he? Trees of the world and dauntless readers, take note: The author gives warning on the last page that "this story is far from over." (Kirkus Reviews)

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Something Dangerous (Spoils of Time Trilogy)
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Something Dangerous, 22 Oct 2002
By Helen Viollet (Jacksonville, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
"A total Vincenzi junkie", I supply many friends in America with her wonderful yarns. A recently hooked Bostonian buddy had this to say in a recent e-mail after I sent her "Something Dangerous'along with "The Dilemma", ...........

Now....about Penny Vicenzi....the thing I don't like about her books is
that when I start one I do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE until I finish
reading it. After a few days the house looks trashed and I lie on the
couch, sit on my chair, sit on the potty, sit at the dining room table -
reading the ENTIRE time. I take the book in the bathroom, in the
bedroom, out on the balcony, etc. Her books are extremely addictive and
I have LOVED the two I have finished. I will mail the latest one this
week.

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Vincenzi delight, 4 Oct 2001
By Booklover (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
As always with Penny Vincenzi's books, I bought and devoured the hardback the moment it hit the shelves.

A fat delightful and utterly compelling read, following on from her last novel, No Angel, and developing the stories of the characters who came alive on the page the last time.

Celia is as dreadful as ever, Michael as long suffering and LM as wise. The social and political climate of the time are brilliantly evoked and skilfully used as the backdrop for the usual page-turning, compulsive plot.

It really isn't wise to start reading this if you have things you must do, as I found I resented every moment spent away from it until I had finished it.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, 30 Aug 2002
By A Customer
This must be one of the most un-put-downable books I have ever read. The stories of the individual characters made some of the most compelling reading I have ever experienced in this type of book. Penny Vincenzi made them and the huge problems they faced so totally believable. So many books these days attract such hype and praise and I've been disappointed with other best-sellers. But certainly not this one. I'd give it more stars if I could!! It really was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read the final title in the trilogy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Something missing
I believe I will upset a fair few Penny Vincenzi fans here: I have just finished the second book in the trilogy ("Something Dangerous") and to my surprise and slight... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Andrea Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Something Dangerous by Penny Vicenzi
This was a present for my wife, who could not put it down ! She intends to keep it to read again in the future. Need I say more ?
Published 5 months ago by Roger A. Davis

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as superb as "No Angel" but still marvellous reading!
The second book in the trilogy about the Lytton family is yet another wonderful achievement by Penny Vincenzi, as we follow the family through the frivolous thirties and WWII... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Sissel M. Østdahl

5.0 out of 5 stars Chance Meeting
I found this book on a shelf in a Hall in which I had just attended a meeting. Fortunately it was for sale and I paid the massive sum of 50p for it. Read more
Published 19 months ago by P from GS

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it
Having devoured No Angel I was delighted to read Something Dangerous and it did not disappoint. I thought that it may not live up to No Angel, it was a little different but still... Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2007 by M. Lugg

3.0 out of 5 stars A good holiday book
This is the first Penny Vincenzi book that I have read, coming across this second in the trilogy by accident. The story is set in the glamorous Thirties and on through WWII. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2006 by K. Baker

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY UNPUTDOWNABLE!!
I had bought this book to read on holiday. Started it on the coach trip from Bury St Edmunds to Alassio in Italy. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2005 by rachellindo

5.0 out of 5 stars AT LAST!!!
Something Dangerous is a follow up to No Angel and is the second in the trilogy of The Spoils Of War, which is full of surprises, wonderful expectations and anxious... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2002 by Heather Marshall Negahdar

5.0 out of 5 stars the best ever by ms vincenzi !
The best ever yet by Ms Vincenzi!!
I was hooked from the first page to the last. The Lytton twins come of age in the first chapter, but do not truly come of age until the last... Read more
Published on 6 May 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Continuation of the Lytton Family Saga
I could not stop turning the pages of "No Angel" and the second book in this trilogy is just as fantastic. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2001 by weston@marastina.freeserve.co.uk

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