I surprised myself by really enjoying much of this book. Is the discussion still on for this evening??

 Hedi | Aug 26 2008, 15:44 pm

Hi Hedi. The discussion should have been today, but I received an email to say that the discussion was cancelled this month. I am sure that Justine will leave a message on the website - she has been on holiday and has probably been busy. Susan.

 Humz | Aug 27 2008, 09:00 am

Hello everyone! Between going away and my pc playing up - I've got behind on my blogging! Sorry. Humz is right - we've decided to postpone the discussion 'til next month as I stupidly forgot to take the book on holiday with me. Seeing as it's a bit of a whopper - I couldn't get it read in time for tonight. So the discussion will be the last Weds of September (24th). It would be great if UBC members wanted to have an on-going discussion until then though. So please feel free to make comments whenever you feel like :)


 burntsugar | Aug 27 2008, 09:30 am

I loved this tale until we neared the denouement.
I had of course realised very early in the book that Nell's mother must be the "authoress" but somehow surrogate motherhood linked to a kidnapping in the Gothic novel tradition just irritated me. A straightforward affair would have done the trick and been so much more plausible!
Quite an interesting use of literary themes - Secret Garden, fairy tales, but even this got stretched to infinity with smugglers secret passages -even the Famous Five for goodness sake. Have I missed something was this a pastiche?
What was all that business about s**** booking - she talked as if Victorian women used scraps in the modern American way - glorified diary cum photo album. No sorry again a straight diary would have been so much more credible.
But I did read to the end, I did want to know and I did care about what happened to Cassandra, so not all bad!
Hedi



 Hedi | Aug 28 2008, 13:23 pm

Thanks for that, Hedi. I have to agree with you about aspects of the book being far-fetched - which began to irritate, I have to admit. I struggled to finish this book - Not as good as I was expecting, as her previous (and first) book had rave reviews.


 burntsugar | Sep 5 2008, 20:28 pm

The book was very disappointing. I felt it started well - I was really enjoying it. Then there were too many ridiculous plotlines. I think I lost it when Cassandra went to the street in the present time and found someone that had not only lived there in the early 1900's but remembered it like yesterday. Unlikely? There were some positive aspects to the book but it was plain silly in parts. I could not believe that a mother would suggest her son in law have a baby with a woman she hated for her daughter either. Quite bizarre that they both complied so easily too... Are we having an online discussion for this book next month?

 Humz | Sep 6 2008, 20:30 pm