Book Description
J. Christopher Herold vigorously tells the story of the fierce Madame de Stael, revealing her courageous opposition to Napoleon, her whirlwind affairs with the great intellectuals of her day, and her idealistic rebellion against all that was cynical, tyrannical, and passionless. Germaine de Stael's father was Jacques Necker, the finance minister to Louis XVI, and her mother ran an influential literary-political salon in Paris. Always precocious, at nineteen Germaine married the Swedish ambassador to France, Eric Magnus Baron de Stael-Holstein, and in 1785 took over her mother's salon with great success. Germaine and de Stael lived most of their married life apart. She had many brilliant lovers. Talleyrand was the first, Narbonne, the minister of war, another; Benjamin Constant was her most significant and long-lasting one. She published several political and literary essays, including "A Treatise on the Influence of the Passions upon the Happiness of Individuals and of Nations," which became one of the most important documents of European Romanticism. Her bold philosophical ideas, particularly those in "On Literature," caused feverish commotion in France and were quickly noticed by Napoleon, who saw her salon as a rallying point for the opposition. He eventually exiled her from France. This winner of the 1959 National Book Award is "excellent ... detailed, full of color, movement, great names, and lively incident" -- The New York Times "Mr. Herold's full-bodied biography is clear-eyed, intelligent, and written with abundant wit and zest." -- The Atlantic Monthly
Customer Reviews:
Front Row Seats on the French Revolution.......2006-09-14
Mistress to an Age is the lively and engrossing biography of Germaine de Stael, the French novelist and philosopher whose name is unfamiliar to most Americans. She was born, 1766, the only child of Jacque Necker, finance minister to Louis XVI. Author Christopher Herold gives a detailed a description of the Family Necker, whose ceaseless self-adulation made them their own best publicists. Necker and his wife were so obsessed with their own immortality that they arranged to be preserved in alcohol and laid to rest in a black marble basin in the family mausoleum. Germaine reputedly hated her mother and openly longed marry her widowed father. No morbid tension in this household.
Precociously intellectual and emotionally famished, the young Germaine agreed to marry a dull Swedish diplomat, Eric Magnus Stael von Holstein, and then proceeded to have affairs -- and periodically children -- with the intellectual elite of Europe. Her amours included Talleyrand and Benjamin Constant. In the process, she wrote Delphine and Corinne whose heroines revolted against the strictures of society. Above all, she exalted the "faculty of enthusiasm" in an age characterized by cynicism. Her most enduring work is De L'Allemagne which presaged the rise of modern Germany. Through Madame de Stael, Mistress to an Age tells the story of the The French Revolution (which she supported), the Great Terror (which she abhorred) and the rise of Napoleon, who was to become the chief antagonist of her later years. A National Book Award winner.
The Female Unique.......2003-02-07
I've always loved reading about European history, and several times over the years I've read about the famous salon of Madame de Stael. However, none of the books ever said anything except that it was a meeting place for the great intellects of the time and that Madame de Stael was a brilliant conversationalist. I wanted to know more about this woman, and was very happy to come across this biography by J. Christopher Herold. I just finished the book, and can say without hesitation that it's one of the best biographies I've ever read. It reads like a novel; indeed, Mr. Herold has the insight into character of a great novelist. Additionally, he writes well and is extremely witty. He is not blind to the faults of his subject. Actually, her faults probably outweighed her positive traits. She was remarkably selfish. Her needs were the only thing that mattered. Everyone had to be at her beck and call. She was also extremely manipulative. When one of her numerous lovers would threaten to break off with her she would threaten to kill herself or find some other way to make them so guilty that they would come back. She was fickle. She would write to one man and tell him that her life revolved around his love. Of course, at the same time she might be writing to two or three other men, telling them the same thing! Despite her reputation as a staunch foe of Napoleon, she could sometimes put her self-interest ahead of principle. She was willing to turn her head the other way and stop criticizing Napoleon when she thought that Bonaparte, as a quid pro quo, would be willing to repay some money that the government had owed her father. One of the difficulties in remaining open-minded concerning Madame de Stael's intellectual achievements is that her rather unruly and pathetic personal life tends to color one's judgement. At her home in Switzerland she surrounded herself with various intellectuals who were either past lovers, current lovers, or those hoping to be future lovers. The scenario played out like a Marx Brothers movie, with Madame de Stael as the Margaret Dumont character. Everyone lived in the same house, yet when it came to dealing with feelings rather than with intellectual topics everyone communicated by letter rather than by discussion. Everyone engaged in histrionics- there was much swooning and talk of suicide. One man, August Schlegel, in a letter which is reproduced in the book, promised to be Madame de Stael's willing slave. Some lovers, such as Benjamin Constant, would break free but when summoned by Germaine would crawl back like a whipped dog. The home of Madame de Stael was a bouillabaisse of the debased. One thing that Mr. Herold can never satisfactorily explain is how Germaine was able to exert this gravitational grip on the men in her orbit. Despite having flashing eyes and an ample bosom, she was not attractive. Mr. Herold tells us that she had superhuman energy and was a brilliant conversationalist. Perhaps that is where the problem lies......we can't be present at the conversations, and Madame de Stael lived in the days before radio and newsreels. But, somehow, she attracted the "best and the brightest" of her day, and that was enough to worry Napoleon and cause Germaine's exile from Paris. One amusing thing about Madame de Stael is that she was always tongue tied in Napoleon's presence. Mr. Herold relates a story concerning one time when Germaine was invited to attend a function where Napoleon would be present. She vowed she would be ready for the occasion and prepared answers for every possible question. Unfortunately, on the big night Napoleon took one look at her low-cut dress and merely remarked that is was obvious she must have "fed" her own children when they were babies. Alas, Germaine once again didn't know what to say. She did get her revenge years later when Napoleon's second wife gave birth to a male heir, the King of Rome. When asked to say something "nice", Germaine thought a moment and said, "I hope they find a good wetnurse!" Score one for Madame de Stael....
Amazon.com
On a mythic island of women "where on our skin, the warm rain fell like pomegranate seeds" powerful spices like cinnamon, turmeric, and fenugreek whisper their secrets to young acolytes. Ordained after trial by fire, each new spice mistress is sent to a far-off land to cure the life pains of all Indian seekers, while keeping a cool distance from the mortals. Only stubborn, passionate Tilo, disguised as an old woman merchant in present-day Oakland, California, fails to heed the vengeful spices' warnings. Fragrant with spice and sensuality, this winning tale rolls off the tongue. Written in the soaring, poetic tradition of China Men and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
Book Description
Magical, tantalizing, and sensual, The Mistress of Spices is the story of Tilo, a young woman born in another time, in a faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. Once fully initiated in a rite of fire, the now immortal Tilo--in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman--travels through time to Oakland, California, where she opens a shop from which she administers spices as curatives to her customers. An unexpected romance with a handsome stranger eventually forces her to choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life. Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy and sorrow and one special woman's magical powers.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, born in India, is an award-winning poet who teaches creative writing at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, where she also serves as president of MAITRI, a helpline for South Asian women. In 1995 her short story collection Arranged Marriage was awarded the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Prize for Fiction, the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for Fiction, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Her fourth poetry collection, Leaving Yuba City, was published by Anchor in August 1997.
Customer Reviews:
Absolutely delicious!.......2007-10-06
Tilo was a pain in the neck as a child. She had "powers" and her powers made life very good for her family but she developed into quite a naughty little brat. However, her fame as "seer" managed to get her kidnapped by pirates and, ultimately, landed her on an island where she learned the ministry of spice. Thus our stories begins.
The story of Tilo, running a spice bazaar in a contemporary American city, is entertaining but even more engaging is the lush and beautiful use of language that Divakaruni uses so well. Tilo becomes involved in the lives of the Indian's who come into her store an her compassion for them grows. Then one day another "Indian" arrives in the person of a handsome, sexy, and seductive Native American man who sees through Tilo's appearance and falls in love with her.
Reading this book is as delicious as the spices Tilo uses. I particularly loved her descriptions of the "bouganvilla girls" with their "fizzy" laughter. This is a lovely book and a real treat to savor.
Not a favorite.......2007-07-16
This book was reviewed by my book club.The only member who enjoyed it was
the one who recommended it to us. I thought it was boring until the end,
which was slightly interesting.
What would you be willing to give up for love?.......2006-09-17
The author's love for her characters (even just her walk-ons) is all over this book. The Main character, Tilo, the `Mistress', is a work of art in herself ... headstrong, bold, and caring she introduces us all to the magic of spices and made me wish for someone like her in everyone's life.
Spiced up by spin-off stories of her customers as well as by the stories of the spices themselves, this is a novel to be savored.
Why?.......2006-08-04
I have tried to pick up this book twice and tried reading it sincerely but I couldn't go past chapter 2.
I couldn't understand Tilo's worlds (more of a fantasy) and I felt very bored very quickly, which is usually a big sign for me to get rid of the book in my hand and find a better replacement.
Now I have even viewed the trailer of the film made on this movie, acted by Aishwarya Rai...I couldn't bear to watch it!
I'm sorry Ms. Chitra, this one didn't digest too well. Better luck next time, hun!
The Power of Sacred Vows and Spicey San Francisco.......2006-07-01
This is the most heart stirring tale of a woman on an intense spiritual path in San Francisco. A mystic Indian mistress of spices brings the magical seeds ordained by fire in a special island to heal the ails of Indian-Americans in California. The challenge with vows is that they are stronger than promises... they are binding. And betraying your vows is asking for some serious karmic trouble. Of course, what else can tempt the betrayal of vows other than love? Even though Tilo is unmarried as is her suitor, she incurs the wrath of the spices nonetheless to consequences that she cannot avoid.
Average customer rating:
- Mistress Anne
- Reads like a spy thriller,even better it's all true.
- Extremely dull
- She's on my list of worst "historians"
- Awful
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Mistress Anne
Carolly Erickson
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
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ASIN: 0312187475 |
Book Description
As Maureen Quilligan wrote in the New York Times Book Review of The First Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn "was a real victim of the sexual scandals her brilliant daughter escaped, and a subject Ms. Erickson's sensitivity to sexual and political nuance should well serve." Indeed, Carolly Erickson could have chosen no more fascinating and appropriate a subject.Alluring and profoundly enigmatic, Anne Boleyn has eluded the grasp of historians for centuries.Through her extraordinarily vivid re-creation of this most tragic chapter in all Tudor History, Carrolly Erickson gives us unprecedented insight into the singuarlity of Anne Boleyn's life, the dark and overwhelming forces that shaped her errant destiny, and the rare, tumultuous times in which she lived.
Customer Reviews:
Mistress Anne.......2007-07-13
Very well documented piece on Boleyn. Fairly neutral in presentation, as to Anne's character; etc. Entertaining, and it contains info on Henry, Mary and Elizabeth (as well as the entire host of Henrican supporting actors) that is unique to this book. In other words if you read all of Erickson's works on the Tudors, each book offers different info, as well as being historically written in an engaging way.
Reads like a spy thriller,even better it's all true........2006-11-10
this book although alot longer than the brief paragraphs i've read about Anne Boleyn,doesn't give alot of new info.One interesting interpretation presented though seems to indicate that Henry the 8th may not have wanted Anne executed but more pushed aside as he had previously done with Queen Catherine. Erickson gives a strong case that the execution of Anne may have been pushed forward by Henry's advisors who were afraid of Anne's influence over the king.It seems by this book that the Archbishop of Canterbury,Thomas Cranmer and the king's right hand man,Thomas Cromwell,wanted Anne Boleyn and her friends and family at court out of the picture(permanently). This way there would be no way the Boleyn's could reenter the picture with a bigger hand.One of the lessons of the Wars of the Roses was that too often leaving political enemies to "lick their wounds"was a certain way to lose one's head (on the block)!The Boleyn family had spent about twenty years living in the French court at Paris when relations between France and England were a scant better,Anne's father was a French diplomat for Henry the 8th.It seems the English public believed Anne had picked up some permiscuous habits during her years there and craftily used them to entice and capture Henry's heart.Whether it was true or not didn't matter,and given this Anne was off on the wrong foot right from the start.Not to mention she had supplanted the popular Queen Catharine. One slip by the Boleyn's and it wouldn't be hard to imagine the consequences,both the"man (or woman)in the street and the king's advisors against the Boleyn's from the outset.The book emphasized the family of Anne Boleyn and their rise and fall in Henry's capricious court.A dangerous place to be. Another interesting part of the book deals with how the women of the king's court would make themselves desirable to capture the men's favor.It actually seems they treated their skin with mercury and white lead to give themselves that"wasted by amours" look.Looking good for a few brief years was more important than a long life for them. Beneath all the pomp and jollity of Henry's court there were alot of corpses."Great Harry" comes off as an almost certain mean spirited alcoholic covered with a thin veneer of hospitality and hardy har-har.The Boleyn's according to what I read from Erickson's book knew the stakes they were playing and overestimated their ability to "thrive and survive". Primary sources in regard to the Boleyn's are rare,and i'll bet Henry's "buddies" had alot to do with it so we'll never know the complete story but this book is about as good as will ever be found.The assertion about Anne's lose morals by Henry were probably not true but a classic case of pointing the finger,that is three pointing back at the lecherous Henry.
Extremely dull.......2006-02-06
I have to agree with the other reviews I've read. I was thoroughly disappointed with this book. I bought it because I am interested in anything having to do with Anne Boleyn/Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I.
While there was some good factual information in this book, that's all it really was- information. The book itself was very dry and had no real substance to it. I've never read a book by this author before, so I don't know if this her usual delivery or not. But, she took what could have been an outstanding book about a very intriguing period of history and basically wasted a lot of good paper.
She's on my list of worst "historians" .......2006-01-14
I am a specialist in British Renaissance literature and history. This book made me so angry that I literally threw it at the wall--before I threw it in the trash. As others have noted, Erickson is biased and the book is full of stale anecdotes and cliches. Worse still is her nauseatingly florid writing style. I'll never read another book by this author again.
Awful.......2005-03-13
I started reading this book at the same time I was reading another biography of Anne Boleyn(eric ives) and the difference is striking. I confess that I didn't finish Carolly Erickson's attempt. That's how utterly I disliked it. This is popular history at it's lowest, full of clichés and stereotypes with Anne a sex pot on the loose in Henry VIII's England.
Do not read this book if you want to get a clear, complete and true image of Anne Boleyn.
Book Description
DESCRIPTION: An illuminating biography of Anne Bradstreet, the first writer--and the first bestseller--to emerge from the wilderness of the New World. Puritan Anne Bradstreet arrived in Massachusetts in 1630, 18 years old and newly married to Simon Bradstreet, the son of a minister. She was accompanied by her imperious father, Thomas Dudley, and a powerful clutch of Protestant dissenters whose descendants would become the founding fathers of the country. Bradstreet+s story is a rich one, filled with drama and surprises, among them a passionate marriage, intellectual ferment, religious schisms, mortal illness, and Indian massacres. This is the story of a young woman and poet of great feeling struggling to unearth a language to describe the country in which she finds herself. And it also offers a rich and complex portrait of early America, the Puritans, and their trials and values; a legacy that continues to shape our country to the present day.
Customer Reviews:
What are her sources? .......2007-06-29
DO NOT TRUST THIS BOOK. It is more fiction than fact. I looked at it in the process of researching Bradstreet's life in England. Gordon makes claims for which there is absolutely no evidence. She talks about things like how Anne felt about the Earl of Lincoln's sisters or how Anne's father felt about interacting with the Earl's widowed mother, as if there were a paper trail. There is not. I know--because I have read all the Bradstreet biographies and criticism and because I have been looking for similar information. This book may be "readable" but it is completely unreliable.
History & Literature combined!.......2007-05-07
This book was really interesting. It offered thorough insight into what America was like in our early years, detailing how they managed day-to-day tasks. Understanding Bradstreet's daily struggles and the times in which she lived helped the reader appreciate how she became our first poet. The author conveyed her love for Bradstreet throughout the book, and the reader knew how exciting it was for America's first poet to have been a woman.
"This Task Befits Not Women.".......2006-09-09
I too bought this book believing that I was related to Anne Bradstreet, but after reading Charlotte Gordon's long and intensely interesting biography of the Puritan poet, I now know that I must have been mixing her up with some other legend of the day, so in a way it was a fruitless journey of exploration for me, and now I feel I have no poetic genes. Yet when I consider the religious doctrines that the 300 Puritans were laboring under when they emigrated here to the USA, or as they knew it, the "colonies," I feel that there must have been some mistake.
Gordon shows us how, in the New World, human life was cheap and many babies, including Anne Bradstreet's children, died before they were even two years old. The marshes and forests of New England became a cemetery of white babies, and understandably hostile Indian tribes gave the settlers no quarter. In the end guns, not poetry, made a new nation, and Gordon reads Bradstreet's poetry from a post colonial position that sometimes shows her up as an apologist for empire. However, Bradstreet is a tricky subject, and no two views of her writing will ever be the same, for "apology" itself might be her greatest subject. Was she personally fearless? No, no one is, but no poet has even been more apologetic to her readers, who are forever being asked to forgive her lack of learning--this from a woman who was the Athena of her day and who knew classical Greek and Latin the way she knew the native flowers and plants of Ancover and environs. Or apologizing for being a woman and thus unfit to write. Or for being a colonist or whatever. Did she suffer from low self-esteem or was it all a calculating pose to attract sympathy?
There was a love triangle going on, underneath their prim Scarlet Letter uniforms of brown serge. It was Anne, her sister Sarah, and Sarah's husband, John. (Confusingly there were two Mercys, a sister and a daughter of Anne's.) Even more confusingly, Anne Hutchinson, an actual feminist firebrand, was the one who all the exciting things happened to, like being banished, etc. while Bradstreet continued to apologize her way to an early death, at age 59. She was never really the same after Mercy Junior died from the complications of childbirth; all the wind had gone out of her sails. Gordon paints a fully rounded picture of a woman for whom we have surprisingly full records. Unlike Shakespeare, she was always writing about herself and people remarked her presence as the "Tenth Muse." She was a woman people talked about. I felt sorry for her, especially with the awful dentistry of the period, and also, for the sorrow in her life; in her tragic stillness she reminded me of none other than Maria Callas after Ari married Jackie.
Big surprise.......2006-05-02
I bought this by a geneological accident. Anne Bradstreet is my great (to the ninth) grandmother and so the book was expected to offer a few tid-bits of an ancestors life in between probably too much dull poetry. As you can tell I am not a student of feminist literature and had rather low expectations for Gordons effort and boy was I surprised! This turned out to be a "page turner". Charlotte Gordon is an entertaining writer and skillfully intermingled all manner of puritan lore, english history, and life-on-the-frontier gossip with a fascinating story of Annes life. By the time we finally got to the poetry I was actually ready and eager. The ambience of the times was so well described that Anne's poetry full naturally into place and was a fit and welcomed presence. This is an epic tale of hardship and the distress of puritan belief. If Oprah got a hold of this book it could easily end up as major best seller. Do not stay your hand. BUY IT!
A good biography of America's first female poet.......2005-12-04
After working on a detailed project about Anne Bradstreet's poetry and prose (I argued whether or not she should be considered as only a Puritan poet) for my Master's class, I feel I have a good understanding of her life and work. Charlotte Gordon's book offers a refreshing biography on Bradstreet. It reads more like a story rather than a fact by fact accounting of Bradstreet's life. As such, it covers Bradstreet's life starting in England and ending in Andover in the New World. This makes the book accessible to nearly any reader interested in Bradstreet's life. The bibliography at the end of the book is fantastic - anyone doing research on Bradstreet will find what they are looking for here. Clearly, Gordon did a ton of research before writing the book.
However, the book includes only small amounts of Bradstreet's poetry and prose - that material which supports Gordon's topic. I recommend having Bradstreet's original material next to you in order to read the full references, or read Bradstreet's work first, then her biography. In addition, the other problem I had with Gordon book is that several of the scenes about the hardships of life in the New World seem to be a combination of stories about that time. In other words, we dont really know what happened during Bradstreet's childbirths. But we do know what women experienced in the 1630's. Several of these sections felt as if they were conveying the hardships of people in general rather than an actual biography of Anne Bradstreet. That is why I felt this was a story about Bradstreet. Also, I would have liked to see an actual timeline of events in Bradstreet's life for quick and easy reference.
Overall, if anyone is interested in Bradstreet's life and what she dealt with in the New World, I would recommend this book. There are better books out there that are more biographical and do a better job describing Bradstreet's poetry and prose (look for a book by Josephine Piercy). But if you want to read the story of Bradstreet's life, then this book does a good job at conveying the ups and downs of Puritan life in the New World.
Book Description
He drives a hard bargain, but the pleasure is all hers.
London financier Rafe Pendragon has a reputation for ruthlessness, and exotic beauty Julianna Hawthorne is determined to clear the debt her brother owes him. Captivated by Rafe’s virile good looks, weakened by his intoxicating mix of danger and sensuality, Julianna boldly agrees to Rafe’s shocking terms: six months as his mistress. As Rafe’s intense green eyes pierce her body and set it afire, Julianna can only imagine what emotions his kiss may unleash.
Surrendering to the pleasures of seduction and carnal delight, Rafe never anticipated that love would be the cost of his bargain. When he realizes that a vindictive enemy may harm Julianna should their clandestine liaison be exposed, Rafe must choose between loving her and protecting her. To save his fair mistress, Rafe must risk what he has already lost: his heart.
Book Description
"She saw: first, a square opening, about eight inches wide, in the lowest step...finally she saw that there was a walnut shell, or half one, outside the nearest door...she went to look at the shell—but looked with the greatest astonishment. There was a baby in it."
So ten-year-old Maria, orphaned mistress of Malplaquet, discovers the secret of her deteriorating estate: on a deserted island at its far corner, in the temple long ago nicknamed Mistress Masham's Repose, live an entire community of people—"The People," as they call themselves—all only inches tall. With the help of her only friend—the absurdly erudite Professor—Maria soon learns that this settlement is no less than the kingdom of Lilliput (first seen in Gulliver's Travels) in exile. Safely hidden for centuries, the Lilliputians are at first endangered by Maria's well-meaning but clumsy attempts to make their lives easier, but their situation grows truly ominous when they are discovered by Maria's greedy guardians, who look at The People and see only a bundle of money.
Customer Reviews:
My favorite children's book.......2007-05-21
As an American child of about 10, I acquired a battered copy of this book along with a bunch of children's books from a family friend whose children had outgrown them. As other reviewers suggest, I was mystified by much of the book (the poet Pope?) but I still found it a great adventure story and loved the illustrations. It didn't hurt that I resembled Maria myself (a bookish tomboy with glasses--thank God for LASIK). I have re-read the book with pleasure on a number of occasions and now understand the references, but I wouldn't hesitate to give this book to an intelligent American child today. Perhaps it would prompt him or her to learn more about British history and literature. I'm glad to see it has been reprinted.
Little England.......2007-04-07
After finishing university T. H. White worked as a teacher in the Stowe School which occupies a gigantic former Baroque stately home: here he conceived of the idea of Malplaquet, modeled after the greatest of all British country homes, Blenheim Palace, where the Dukes of Marlborough have lived and where Winston Churchill was born and raised. Malplaquet, an imaginary dilapidated repository of all its nation's history (we find out the Princes in the Tower were executed in its medieval dungeon, which also contains the ax which beheaded Charles I), would make a wonderful setting for any book, but rather than use it for a Gothic (the obvious choice), here White had the inspiration to make it the setting for a children's fantasy. White's mansion is not only the home of the little girl Maria who has inherited the estate (and not much else) and her warders--some cruel, some kind--but also a group of Lilliputians brought over from their island home during the time of Swift, whom Maria encounters one day. Maria's encounter with the Lilliputians becomes for her a means for learning about the nature of tyranny--both that exercised over herself by her guardian the Vicar Mr. Hater and her governess Miss Brown, but also that she herself can hardly keep herself from exercising over the Lilliputian community hidden on her estate.
This is a children's book that, to be honest, will best be appreciated by adults. White imagined his readers not only familiar with GULLIVER'S TRAVELS but also with some of the history of seventeenth and eighteenth-century England: American children particularly today would be confused as to who Mistresses Masham and Morley were, or what Malplaquet is named after, or even who Gulliver was. And their patience might well be tried by White's love of Wodehousean "types": the bluff Lord Lieutenant with an obsession with horses and hounds, and Maria's mentor the absent-minded and esoteric antiquarian the Professor . But adults (and even older children) should love this book, and its well-structured narrative is a real pleasure.
One of my favorites - thanks for putting it back in print!.......2007-01-09
As kids, both my brother and I considered this one of our favorite books - and we did a LOT of reading. I can't tell you how many times I read it. Our copy was lost at some point, so I am thrilled that it is back in print so I can now read it to my own children. My kids are 3 and 6, so still a bit young for this book, but I'll probably buy a copy now for my own pleasure, and another for my brother.
I have always loved books that lead you to another book, and I just had to read "Gulliver's Travels" after reading this one. As a kid, much of it went over my head, but I still enjoyed it. Now that I think about it, I should re-read that one too...
Fantastic and inspiring.......2006-04-16
Although one of White's lesser-known works, to my mind it's easily one of his best (Anne Fine regards it as her favourite children's book). The concept of Lilliputians living in an English landscape garden is superb, and White develops his theme in wonderfully enticing ways - and always with his typical 'feel' for character and setting. There's so much to enjoy in this tale - still a classic after 60 years.
FOR GROWN-UPS TOO.......2006-03-04
I read Mistress Masham's Repose when I was 11 years old, and re-read it now as a Grandparent. It is magical, yet plausible that a little girl could enter such a fantasy world. Both my Granddaughter and my Greatniece will receive a copy for their birthdays with a note telling them why this book has not lost its charm through the years.
Customer Reviews:
FORBIDDEN MISTRESS is a delight!.......2005-01-30
I really loved the characters in this book. They are not perfect...which makes them all the more interesting and empathetic. The hero, Oliver finds himself devastatingly attracted to Grace, whom he believes is intimately involved with his brother. Having being betrayed by his own brother before, Oliver is understandibly wary of becoming involved with one of his brother's cohorts. All is not what it seems, however, but before this Oliver must decide if he can love Grace despite her supposed involvement with his brother.
Anne Mather weaves this tale with her trademark superbly descriptive scenes, lively dialogue and very sensual interactions between the characters.
Anne Mather really is the best!
Book Description
Dazzling treasures illuminate women's lives through 3,000 years of ancient Egypt.
Customer Reviews:
an attractive book for everyone.......2000-06-16
Ancient Egyptian art was the star attraction of the Mediterranean world for 3000 years, only for some of it to be transported to various museums across the world. This book examines those scenes in over 25 American museums as well as private collections which serve to shed light on the role of Ancient Egyptian women in their society. Objects such as mummy cases, coffins, statues and other sacred items also hold much information. The book contains essays by Egyptologists Janet H. Johnson, Catherine H. Roehrig and Betsy M. Bryan. A chronological index, map, beautiful photos, bibliography and index have also been included. It is an excellent book, recommended for all serious students and scholars to have in their private libraries.
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- Pedagogy Of The Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
- Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne
- Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd: The inventories of the Wardrobe of Robes prepared in July 1600, edited from Stowe MS 557 in the British Library, MS LR 2/121 in the Public Record Office, London, and MS V.b.72 in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC
- Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd: The inventories of the Wardrobe of Robes prepared in July 1600, edited from Stowe MS 557 in the British Library, MS LR 2/121 in the Public Record Office, London, and MS V.b.72 in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC
- Queen Mary 2: The Birth of a Legend
- Robert's Rules of Order (Newly Revised, 10th Edition)
- Robert the Bruce: King of Scots
- Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge (P.S.)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Inner Ring
- Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock
- Anthology of World Scriptures
- George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the Eighteenth Century
- High Noon
- Introduction to Engineering Experimentation, Second Edition
- History: Fiction or Science
- Which Equalities Matter
- Confessions of a Street Smart Manager
- Charleston Architecture: 1670-1860
Talleyrand
Corinne, or Italy (Oxford World's Classics)
Madame de Stael
Madame de Pompadour (New York Review Books Classics)
Madame de Sevigne
