The Black Tower

Book Description

Just recovered from a grave illness, Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to the bedside of an elderly priest. When Dalgliesh arrives, Father Baddeley is dead. Is it merely his own brush with mortality that causes Dalgliesh to sense the shadow of death about to fall once more?

"Splendid, macabre," wrote the London Sunday Telegraph. "The Black Tower is a masterpiece," the London Sunday Times concurred.

Customer Reviews:

She has done a lot better.......2007-08-11

Unlike some authors (Jonathan Kellerman, Maeve Binchy, Steve Martini) who write some terrific books and then go downhill, PD James's books get better and better with time. It's her early works I can't stand. It's not just me, either. Some of her early novels were entirely rewritten for television to get people to watch. I once contacted PBS to see if I had missed some of her books that seemed so good on Mystery! They actually told me this. This book was about in the middle of her long career, but it just never captured my interest. Look at her settings--hospitals, nursing homes, monastaries, hardly the locales for a hotbed of action to keep you on the edge of your seat. This book is set at a home for the disabled with progressive diseases out in the middle of nowhere. Dalgliesh is working alone, in fact recovering from mono and pneumonia and goes there to visit an elderly priest who turns up dead of a heart attack. There isn't much to suggest crimes have in fact been committed and Dalgliesh's sudden deduction of what is going on at the end is not even remotely believable. The only interesting thing anyone does in this book is drop dead occasionally. It's not a police procedural. When I compare it to something like Death in Holy Orders, there's no reason to read this book. It isn't awful (and some of James's other books are really awful) but she has much better ones in her repertoire.

Perfectly crafted.......2007-05-31

This book begins in a gloomy mood and in a setting that seems hardly designed to hold a reader's attention: a nursing home. But the writing is so good that I stuck with it, and it all comes to a thrilling finale. Then I did something I rarely do: reread the book. This time I was completely bowled over by the quality of the writing. This is one of the most perfectly crafted books I have ever read. As such, I would rate it with such works as The Great Gatsby, Jude the Obscure, and Appointment in Samarra. What a surprise from a mystery novel.

BLEAK AND SOMBER TALE.......2006-08-11

Adam Dalgleish is back in this well written, though ultimately depressing and bleak thriller. Recuperating from a near-death illness, Adam is summoned to a small village by an old friend, a priest named Father Michael. However, when he gets there, his old friend has died of a heart attack, and Adam finds himself involved with a hospice for the young disabled, i.e., terminally ill patients. James serves up a host of pathetic, sad creatures and as usual, a cast of mostly unlikeable characters. Dalgliesh serves more as an observer than a detective, since he is having his own crisis of whether to retire or not, but he nonetheless manages to investigate a series of deaths that may or may not be murder.
James continues her mastery of atmospheric tension and the culprit's identity is expertly hidden until the end.

All that's missing is Bobby Ewing in the Shower.......2006-06-13

First I should admit that I'm not a PD James fan. In fact this is the first of her books that I've read. It may be that the darkness of this book gives me the wrong impression as to how she writes. It does remind me of Agatha Christie's type of stories but it may also be because the singular character of Commander Adam Dalgleish is going through a dark time related to a recent illness.

The story itself is nothing special, though it may have been in 1975, but now it's kind of dated. It may also be because I find her style to be a little slow or ponderous and I'm used to the writings of Ian Rankin and James Lee Burke. No I don't think that there needs to be a shooting or car chase every other page, but it would be nice to read about something other than a description of the scenary.

To be fair about it I am planning on reading one of her later stories in the series, and to catch up on the character by watching some of the episodes on PBS. Just one man's opinion.

A Gothic Feel to a Modern Mystery with Psychological Overtones.......2006-04-11

The Black Tower is a mystery novel that successfully explores despair. Adam Dalgliesh finds himself recovering from a debilitating atypical mononucleosis that had been inaccurately diagnosed as being fatal. While thought he was about to die, Dalgliesh takes a look at his life as detective . . . and decides there has to be something more.

Determined to resign from the force, his intention is interrupted by a request to visit for help from an old family friend, Father Baddeley.

Wondering what sort of evil Father Baddeley cannot handle on his own, Dalgliesh is shocked to find that his friend had died of natural causes shortly after Dalgliesh sent a note accepting the invitation. Baddeley's will leaves his money to Toynton Grange, a facility specializing in the progressively disabled, which really needs the money . . . and his books to Adam. Dalgliesh is surprised to find that the father's desk has been forced and that the latest part of his journal has disappeared. Adam decides to look around for some hint as to what the problem might have been that caused Father Baddeley to consult him.

Dalgliesh's instincts are aroused when he discovers that a patient, Victor Holroyd, had also died . . . but under strange circumstances just before Father Baddeley did.

Dalgliesh decides to use the excuse of packing up his books to hang around and see what he can learn. His black mood is continued by his interactions with the austere staff at Toynton Grange and the disabled people. Although Adam puts a brave face on his contacts with these disabled people, even they know that he's terribly disgusted by their deformities.

Having spent more time there, Dalgliesh learns a depressing story about the Victorian folly, the Black Tower, that exists near the grange.

As all of this bleakness serves to further depress Dalgliesh, he finds himself unable to understand what Father Baddeley was concerned about.

Meanwhile, other unexpected deaths occur. Dalgliesh seems even more at a loss than ever . . . until a clear spot opens up in his depression . . . and he's able to start thinking like a police investigator again. That leads to an exciting, memorable finish to the novel . . . one of P.D. James' best.

My main complaint about this novel is that Baroness James stretches the bleakness a little too far and a little too long for my taste. She got the mood across so well . . . that I found myself getting depressed reading the book.

The mystery itself isn't terribly mysterious, but it's adequate to carry the rest of the story. The mystery is well told, though, because the reader is given lots of insights into what's really going on to serve as a contrast to Dalgliesh's haze. Otherwise, this would have been a most boring and unrewarding novel.

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Hmm, Not What I Was Hoping For...
Smiley is the new Holmes

A Murder of Quality
John le Carré
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

British Detectives | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0802714420

Book Description

A bloody and apparently senseless murder had been committed at Carne School, one of the oldest and most glittering ornaments in the British public school system. George Smiley, whose connections with Carne were complicated by sentiment, had had a curious forewarning of the crime and, in a private capacity, pursued its investigation. Without his espionage-trained insight into the workings of the human mind, Smiley might never have solved the case. But logic and insight were hardly enough to spare him the emotional aftermath of a conclusion he did not want to face.

Customer Reviews:

Hmm, Not What I Was Hoping For..........2007-01-14

Having first read Absolute Friends, by John LeCarre, I decided to go back to the beginning and read all of the author's works in chronological order. The first in the Smiley series was Call for the Dead. In that novel, we learn much about Smiley and get a glimpse into the world of spycraft. In the second Smiley novel, A Murder of Quality, spycraft takes a backseat to an average murder mystery. I look forward to reading the 3rd Smiley novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, because I expect that it will be continue in the same manner as Call for the Dead. I rated this book 3 stars as it is not a bad read. It is simply a read. Not great, not bad, but just a touch above average. This is not a knock on the author's style, as he is clearly gifted. This is more so a knock on a novel that lacks much suspense and intrigue. In a genre (the British Murder mystery) clearly dominated by the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, P.D. James, Martha Grimes, and the like... this story pales in comparison. I would certainly suggest reading the book if you, like me, are interested in reading the entire Smiley series; however, I would temper your expectations if you are looking for an enthralling read.

A solid 3 stars.

Smiley is the new Holmes.......2006-08-30

Its a wonderful read! This George Smiley book is of the classic mystery genre. Although the mystery and story itself are quite subdued, there is a lot more to the book than the plot itself. Le Carre is severly critical of the English private school organization and to me it read more as a diagnostic of problems with the organization with a very finely crafted story as the veneer.

If you end up liking this one "Smiley's People" is one you will enjoy even more...perhaps his best work.

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Cape Dorset Sculpture
Derek Norton , and Nigel Reading
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Sculpture | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0295984783

Book Description

Cape Dorset Sculpture showcases an extraordinary collection of outstanding works of contemporary Inuit stone sculpture, with related graphic works and classic older carvings. All the artists are from the Arctic community of Cape Dorset, Nunavut, which has had the single greatest impact on the worldwide recognition of Inuit art.

Featured in the book are new sculptures by forty-four leading artists, many of whom were instrumental in shaping the look and direction of Inuit art. By turns powerful and enchanting, these works explore richly varied themes such as Arctic wildlife; life in the home, the community, and on the land; and shamans, transformations, and fantastic beings.

In his introduction, Terry Ryan recalls the early days of art-making in Cape Dorset. Derek Norton and Nigel Reading provide vital background information on the art and artists of Cape Dorset. The artists contribute stories and personal insights about their sculptures.

The success of Inuit artists from Cape Dorset, particularly the first generation of sculptors and the graphic artists, has inspired them to constantly reinvent their art and to explore new directions. Many of the younger artists, who are from families that were the original art-makers of the Arctic, are following in their ancestors' path but making the art their own.

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Deeply satisfying read!

Great characters

Blackthorn Winter

Sarah Challis Weaves Endearing Characters Into Charming Village Tale

Blackthorn Winter

Blackthorn Winter
Sarah Challis
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Divorce | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312324561

Book Description

In April, when blackthorn blossom clothes the hedgerows like a wedding veil, there sometimes comes a spell of frost or snow so severe that it seems as if spring and summer will never return. This is what country people call a blackthorn winter.

For Claudia Barron, the blackthorn winter of that particular April is like a metaphor for her whole life: for the end of glamour, financial security and marriage. Her rich and powerful husband has been sent to prison, leaving her homeless and virtually penniless. Hopeless to cling to the remnants of her old life, pointless to stand by a man who has betrayed her in almost every way a man can betray a woman.

Instead she goes into hiding, buys the only house she can afford in the Dorset village of Court Barton - a hideous bungalow built in an old kitchen garden - and changes her name. Under a cloak of anonymity she sets out to get herself a job in the local school. But villages don't much like anonymity and before very long Claudia finds herself drawn into the gossip and the grumbling, the lives and loves and quarrels of Court Barton in a way that she had never expected. Blackthorn winters do always give way to spring in the end.

Customer Reviews:

Deeply satisfying read!.......2007-09-25

Great human elements. Wish my small town could adapt some of Ms. Challis' well-developed empathy. Vivid, multigenerational characters are portrayed realistically. Her descriptions of local flora and fauna provide visions of thick hedges, stone walls, thickly-wooled sheep. Finished with a big smile and a cup of hot tea with milk - not a bad commendation for a summer-read in Georgia!

Great characters.......2007-07-02

I've run out of Maeve Binchy books and this was a great substitute! I love getting to know the characters in the little towns and this book entertains with just that. I am going to be buying more of Sarah Challis's books.

Blackthorn Winter.......2007-01-20

Enjoyed very much. Readers who are Rosemund Pilcher amd Marsha Willet fans will also like Sarah Challis'works.

Sarah Challis Weaves Endearing Characters Into Charming Village Tale.......2006-08-28

This was my first Sarah Challis novel and I found her delightful characters living in a charming English village completely captivating. Readers who are enchanted by Rosamunde Pilcher and Marcia Willett will find Challis to be an equally enjoyable writer to spend time with.

Claudia Barron has led a glitzy and glamorous life in London. Alas, her well-known husband has recently been splattered across the tabloids, convicted of fraud, and exposed as an adulterer. Humiliated, Claudia flees to an inconspicuous village and hopes to live anonymously and detached from fair-weather friends. Even though she changes her name, her reclusive behavior causes mumblings in the village and before she can say "no comment" she has been thrust into a cast of characters as endearing as any you would want to meet: Julia Durnford, her nosey parker neighbor who manages every detail of the village; Peter, Julia's milquetoast husband; their daughter Victoria who is feeling the pangs of being the left-out and lonely teenager at boarding school; Jena, the ten-year old gypsy who runs free; and Valerie, the semi-alcoholic neighbor to whom Claudia can reveal her secrets. Add to this mix, Claudia's visiting adult children: the lively Lila who flies in from New York and Jerome, the brooding son who returns from India with a secret too devastating to share. And finally, there are the two available men who catch Claudia's eye---will she succumb to the sexy and suave Anthony Brewer or be stabilized by Chris, the straightforward widower with four daughters?

Cozy and comforting, this is a most appealing novel I was sad to see end.

Blackthorn Winter.......2005-07-10

Very hard to get into.... I'm almost 1/2 way and can still put it down easily.............

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very satisfying read
claird
A satisfying read!
terrific amusing inspirational character study

A Country Affair (Barleybridge Novels)
Rebecca Shaw
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400098203
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Book Description

Welcome to Barleybridge, a small village nestled in the Dorset hills of England, where sheep graze on the nearby slopes and everybody knows their neighbors. Young, inexperienced, and somewhat shy, Kate Howard arrives in this idyllic setting to embark on a new adventure and begin a job as a receptionist at the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital. The busy practice sees creatures large and small, from pets to farm animals, and the staff she meets there is friendly and welcoming. As Kate learns the ins and outs of her job (from who to never let through on the phone to which dogs—and owners—need to be kept away from each other), handsome Australian vet Scott Spencer takes an interest in her and encourages Kate to pursue her dreams to become a vet herself. His advice is solid, and his charm is intoxicating, but Kate is well aware that she is hardly the only woman to fall under the dashing doctor’s spell. Add to this the pressure of her longtime but rather dull boyfriend, Adam, who is not at all happy about her newfound aspirations to return to school, and Kate has some decisions to make, decisions that are growing more complex at every turn.

Tender, funny, and full of warmth and simple joys, A Country Affair is the perfect introduction to a delightful place and its witty and lovable inhabitants. Watch for the next two novels in Rebecca Shaw’s Barleybridge series coming soon. You will want to return to Barleybridge again and again.

Customer Reviews:

very satisfying read.......2007-08-13

I really enjoyed the Barleybridge novels. It felt like the Mitford Series intertwined with James Herriot's wonderful books. I love a good story that's easy to read and makes you like the characters and "feels comfortable". I hope she will finish all the great stories she began in these books.........I want to know what happens to them all~!

claird.......2007-02-06

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were fleshed out in such a way that I got to know them and was a bit sad when the book ended.

A satisfying read!.......2006-07-07

Barleybridge is a small and cozy British village in the Yorkshire hills of England. It's a place where the pace is slower, the people gentler and kinder (for the most part), and where everybody knows your name.

Kate Howard is nineteen years old and has taken a job with the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital as the receptionist and bookkeeper. Barleybridge employs a number of 'vets' who care for large and small animals.

Kate would have loved to had studied to become a 'vet' but had had some problems with her A level exams. She tries to think of her job as a new adventure that allows her to be with animals and companionable humans.

The more Kate strives for independence as a woman and yearns to become a 'vet,' the more her steady but boring boyfriend, Adam rebels at the idea. After all, why would she want a career when she could marry him? Let me count the reasons, folks.

If you're looking for an exciting and suspenseful story, or a James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small) tale, this isn't it. What it is, is a charming story about a young woman finding herself and learning to trust what is best for her. And along the way you'll meet a whole lot of interesting and unique people who make up the landscape of Kate Howard's life in A Country Affair.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a read best suited for a lazy day when you just want to read something nice and satisfying.

terrific amusing inspirational character study.......2006-05-25

Reticent Kate Howard arrives in the rural Yorkshire hills to work as a receptionist at the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital that has a vast menagerie of clients ranging from pets to farm animals. The workforce and most of the customers are friendly to the newcomer. Especially nice and encouraging is another outsider Australian veterinarian Scott Spencer, who pushes her to become a vet too though her one attempt at the test was disastrous.

Kate is attracted to her handsome mentor, but is wise enough to know she is out of his league. While Scott encourages her to try again, Kate's boyfriend Adam ridicules her dreams and aspirations saying she proven she can't make it. Kate has decisions personal and professional to make turning to her kindhearted boss Joy, who can commiserate as she too furtively love one of the vets.

A COUNTRY AFFAIR, the first of the Barleybridge trilogy (COUNTRY WIVES AND COUNTRY LOVERS are to be released in America later), is a terrific amusing inspirational character study. Kate and Joy are the stars as they make decisions on what they want out of life. The support cast is solid and somewhat eccentric whether they are pet owners, other vet employees or the lead duo's family. Fans will appreciate this upbeat insightful look at two women making the best of a good life in a small English village.

Harriet Klausner

Elegant Comfort Food from Dorset Inn: Traditional Cooking from Vermont's Oldest Continuously Operating Inn

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Elegant Comfort Food from Dorset Inn: Traditional Cooking from Vermont's Oldest Continuously Operating Inn
Jane Stern , and Michael Stern
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1401601987

Book Description

"We see Sissy Hicks as the Alice Waters of Vermont," says Michael Stern" - relying on local farmers and greengrocers, cooking meals that reflect the seasons, and creating a menu that is at once respectful of tradition and yet always surprising. . . . This cookbook is one that cooks will turn to for ideas for Sunday dinners, company's-coming meals, candlelight suppers, and leisurely family breakfasts on a weekend morning. And it will be a book that readers will want to curl up with by the fire on a winter's evening."

The Dorset Inn, a special-occasion extraordinarily romantic restaurant, is a destination for those who go through southern Vermont to ski and sightsee. People honeymoon here, have anniversary meals here, and come to the Dorset Inn to get away from it all.

The Dorset Inn is a place rich with historical association with the very beginnings of America and American cooking. It was on the Dorset Village Green that the Green Mountain Boys prepared for battle in the Revolutionary War and just down the road is Arlington, where Norman Rockwell created his most beloved paintings.

Elegant Comfort Food from the Dorset Inn not only celebrates the history of the inn and the spirit of America found in New England. It also is a practical cookbook containing recipes founded on a tradition of hearty portions, clarity of flavors, and transformation of leftovers into glorious meals, but refined and elevated.

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Entertaining story

Country Lovers (Barleybridge Novels)
Rebecca Shaw
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 140009822X
Release Date: 2007-04-24

Book Description

The lively Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is bustling with energy. Everyone is working hard to make sure that disruptive and sick animals in the surgery and on the farms are treated. But at the same time some of them are coping with crises in their personal lives.

Kate is worrying about her exam results and hoping she can get into Veterinary College. Dan's wife's baby is due any moment. Letty is worried that she may be terminally ill but is afraid to tell anyone. Joy finds that she is still in love with Mungo, a fact that finally compels her husband Duncan to leave home. Rhodri is deeply in love with Megan, a local farmer's daughter, but she can't marry him because she is committed to caring for her elderly father.

A wonderfully pacy, funny but tender novel about life in the country.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining story.......2007-09-22

For the life of me, I don't know why I enjoyed this book so much. Very little happens. It's just a rather sweet, enjoyable tale of English country life, filled with characters that do things that puzzled me greatly. Kate, for instance, seems a throwback to earlier times. Why any modern girl her age would put up with the antics of her so-called boyfriend and imagine for one moment they are normal, is beyond me. I've been to England. I know English girls are pretty smart. Yet Kate seems more a 50s kind of girl than one living in today's world. Still, this book was fun and good enough that I ordered the other Barleybridge novels and enjoyed them, too.

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Foreshadowing Tess
Visit Wessex in the Woodlanders and Savor the prose of Thomas Hardy
NOT PART OF THE "BIG 5" EH...WELL MAKE IT THE "BIG 6!"
Disaster at the altar in the church of Hardy.
Hardy gone berserk

The Woodlanders (Everyman's Library)
Thomas Hardy
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0375400826
Release Date: 1998-06-09

Book Description

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)

Set in the secluded forest community of Little Hintock, Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders inextricably links the dramatic English landscape with the story of a woman caught between two rivals of radically different social statures. Grace Melbury is promised to her longtime companion, Giles Winterborne, a local woodlander and a gentle, steadfast man. When her socially motivated father pressures her to wed the ambitious doctor Edred Fitzpiers, Grace’s loyalties shift—and her decision leads to tumultuous consequences. With its explorations of class and gender, lust and betrayal, The Woodlanders is one of Hardy’s most vivid and powerful works.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the text of the 1912 Wessex edition and includes Hardy’s map of fictional Wessex.

“The finest English novel.”—Arnold Bennett

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Winterborne sped on his way to Sherton Abbas without elation and without discomposure. Had he regarded his inner self spectacularly, as lovers are now daily more wont to do, he might have felt pride in the discernment of a somewhat rare power in him--that of keeping not only judgment but emotion suspended in difficult cases. But he noted it not.

Customer Reviews:

Foreshadowing Tess.......2007-03-28

The Woodlanders is said to be one of Hardy's more descriptive novels and Hardy is also said to have a love for this part of the country. I thought this was a beautiful passage:

"From the other window all she could see were more trees, jacketed with lichen and stockinged with moss. At their roots were stemless yellow fungi like lemons and apricots, and tall fungi with more stem than stool. Next were more trees close together, wrestling for existence, their branches disfigured with wounds resulting from their mutual rubbings and blows. It was the struggle between these neighbors that she had heard in the night. Beneath them were the rotting stumps of those of the group that had been vanquished long ago, rising from their mossy setting like decayed teeth from green gums. Farther on were other tufts of moss in islands divided by the shed leaves--variety upon variety, dark green and pale green; moss-like little fir-trees, like plush, like malachite stars, like nothing on earth except moss."

And this description of Winterborne as a wood-god really stood out for me:

"He rose upon her memory as the fruit-god and the wood-god in alternation; sometimes leafy, and smeared with green lichen, as she had seen him among the sappy boughs of the plantations; sometimes cider-stained, and with apple-pips in the hair of his arms, as she had met him on his return from cider-making in White Hart Vale, with his vats and presses beside him."

It is said that Winterborne was a creation derived from Hardy's own father.

The book also has the typical Hardy realism and tragedy based on innocence and wrong choices, the unfair position of women, mere chance, or should I say Chance, in keeping with the way Hardy uses it. For me, somehow, the more descriptive nature of the book, while not that descriptive--Hardy is a realist not a romantic, gave the book a hazy, almost somnolent quality that almost distracted from the clarity and meaning of the book. Maybe it was Hardy's intention to have the woods form a kind of shadowy hold over the characters, the readers--there's the strange effect a single tree had on Winterborne's father, and another on Grace. But Hardy's description of the moors in Return of the Native had more power for me. Also, the characters seemed undeveloped to me, especially Grace, who was a main character. Marty seemed more real, though maybe that was intentional as the book ends with her, and poor Grace floated un-fixedly in the non-place between two classes.

I love Hardy's novels and poetry otherwise I may have given it 3 stars. I just read it--it may be I need to ruminate on it for awhile.

Visit Wessex in the Woodlanders and Savor the prose of Thomas Hardy.......2006-12-11

The Woodlanders is the eleventh novel by Thomas Hardy. Hardy takes us to an obscure village in his mythical Wessex. The novel portrays the beautiful Grace Melbury a nubile young miss coddled by her parents; eager for glamour and disdainful of bucolic boredom. Grace is courted by Giles Winterbourne a local rustic but cast him off to wed Dr. Edred Fitzpiers the local doctor. The marriage is a disaster for Fitzper lusts for Madame Charmond. He also has a fling with Suke a local girl.
Fitzpiers flees to the Continent while Grace seeks reconciliation with
Winterborne. The couple hope to wed under a newly passed Parliamentary
law dealing with the right of women to obtain a divorce.
All goes wrong. Accidents occur as chance and fortune always play a part in the Hardy world. The novel does end happily which is rare for Hardy.
Hardy knew the English countryside as it moved from spring to winter.
His description of nature is beautifully written. Hardy also knew the south of England as it was moving from the rural nineteenth century to the modern world of the coming twentieth century.
The Woodlanders is one of the lesser known Hardy novels that is well worth your attention. The story is well told with many interesting and exciting plot developments which will hold the attention. Well recommended.

NOT PART OF THE "BIG 5" EH...WELL MAKE IT THE "BIG 6!".......2005-08-15

The Woodlanders (1887) is one of Thomas Hardy's finest novels, which deals with doomed love in a gloomy rural "partly real and partly dream" country of Wessex.

It is one of Hardy's favorite and if Hardy liked it, I do to, especially since I have never read this novel....I liked The Return of the Native...

THE BIG 6

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD -1874
THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE - 1878
THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE - 1886
THE WOODLANDERS - 1887
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES - 1891
JUDE THE OBSCURE - 1895

Disaster at the altar in the church of Hardy........2004-07-25

"It would have made a beautiful story," Thomas Hardy said about this novel, "if I could have carried out my idea of it; but somehow I come so far short of my intention."

"I wish you had never thought of educating me," Thomas Hardy's protagonist tells her father at one point in this novel, "because cultivation has only brought me inconveniences and troubles" (pp. 232-33). Hardy (1840-1928) wrote his eleventh novel in 1887, before his better-known masterpieces, TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES (1891) and JUDE THE OBSCURE (1895), and a year after THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (1886). Set in the "partly real and partly dream country" of Hardy's Wessex, in the "sequestered" forest community of Little Hintock (located "outside the gates of the world," p. 6), a place where "loneliness is not so very lonely after a while" (p. 83), THE WOODLANDERS is about doomed love, betrayal, and social restraints, and like Hardy's other work, it succeeds as a satisfying story of a romantic disaster in Hardy's cruel universe. The novel tells the sad tale of a woman, Grace Melbury, forced to choose marriage between two suitors of different social statures, Giles Winterborne, a local woodlander with a gentle, virtuous nature, and Edred Fitzpiers, an ambitious doctor and a scoundrel. Influenced by her well-intentioned though meddling father, Mr. Melbury, who only wants his daughter to "marry well" (p. 89), Grace's decision ultimately leads to disastrous consequences and, in the end, to a lonely woman worshipping at a dead man's grave. Once again, we discover the course of love is never happy in Hardy's universe.

Rather gloomy for a Victorian romance novel? Well, yes. But reading Victorian fiction does not get any better than reading Thomas Hardy's extraordinary novels. Returning to Hardy's brooding, melancholy fiction after my first encounter with his novels more than twenty five years ago, I am re-discovering Hardy's brilliant ability to convey familiar, primordial truths through his fiction, making him worth reading again and again.

G. Merritt

Hardy gone berserk.......2003-08-30

Hardy classified THE WOODLANDERS with his Novels of Character and Ingenuity, which category included his very best novels (TESS, THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE). This 1887 novel is so bizarre, however, that you might feel it belongs more properly with his Romances and Fantasies. In the secluded rustic community of Little Hintock all manner of things are a-brewing: simple Marty South has a thing for cider-merchant Giles Winterbourne, who has been promised for years to marry well-educated Grace Melbury, but Grace's father marries her off instead to philandering Edred Fitzpiers, who has a thing for local wealthy widow Felice Charmond. In this circle of desire all manner of things can go wrong--and, this being Hardy, of course they do. Some of his wildest plot contrivances (including two bizarre scenes wherein the Widow Charmond must convey crucial information to Grace, and Fitzpiers even more crucial information to Grace's father) occur without the redeeming Shakespearean scope of a novel like THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE which allows you to overlook the wackiness. Still, even if this is lesser Hardy, it's still Hardy, so the novel has such poetically gorgeous evocations of landscape and character as to make everything worthwhile in the end.

Thread of Suspicion (Edgecliffe Manor Mysteries #4)

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Jane Peart is brillent
another great mystery
Perfect!

Thread of Suspicion (Edgecliffe Manor Mysteries #4)
Jane Peart
Manufacturer: Fleming H. Revell Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0800756762

Customer Reviews:

Jane Peart is brillent .......2005-11-24

I loved this book. It was a very well written mystery with twists and turns all the time. You think that something will happen and then the conplete opposite of what you thought would happen happens. I love that this book is a romance as well it makes the story very intersting.

another great mystery.......2000-06-21

Nell is an intelligent, caring young woman hired by Allegra's guardian to look after her welfare. The victim of a tragic accident, Allegra can neither speak nor walk, but only her guardian and Nell firmly beleive that her handicap is all in her mind. As Nell gains Allegra's friendship and confidence, she is constantly amazed at how Allegra's other family members and even trusted family servants seem to want to hold back and even sabotage Allegra's recovery. Does the trusted family doctor really know what is best for Allegra? Does the maid Wallis really have Allegra's best interests at heart? Do Allegra's aunt and uncle really care about her, or only her fortune that she is due to inherit? Jewel, Miss Benedict, Felicity, Nanny--all become suspect as Nell desparately follows her thread of suspicion and tries to help Allegra. This mystery was one of the best that Peart has written.

Perfect!.......1999-08-26

Jane Peart's work is incredible with her elements of mystery, romance, and adventure. So far Thread of Suspicion has been my favorite, although I haven't read A Perilous Bargain. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the above-mentioned characteristics.

Dorset: A Genealogical Bibliography (British Genealogical Bibliographies,)

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Dorset: A Genealogical Bibliography (British Genealogical Bibliographies,)
Stuart A. Raymond
Manufacturer: Federation of Family History Societies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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