About this title: A lost child: On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but has disappeared without a trace. A terrible secret: On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.A mysterious inheritance: On Nell's death, her ...
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Edition: 1ST
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria
Date Published: 4/7/2009
ISBN-13:9781416550549ISBN:1416550542
Description: Fine. 1416550542 NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Edition: 1ST
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria
Date Published: 4/7/2009
ISBN-13:9781416550549ISBN:1416550542
Description: Fine. 1416550542 NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PAN MACMILLAN Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780330449601ISBN:0330449605
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 350 pages. On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a sh1p to australia. a mysterious woman had promised to look after her-but has disappeared without a trace. on the night of her twenty-first birthday, nell andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria Books
Date Published: 2009-04-07
ISBN-13:9781416550549ISBN:1416550542
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781416550549. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781416550549ISBN:1416550542
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 552 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pan
Date Published: 29/05/2008
ISBN-13:9780330449601ISBN:0330449605
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pan
Date Published: 29/05/2008
ISBN-13:9780330449601ISBN:0330449605
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pan
Date Published: 29/05/2008
ISBN-13:9780330449601ISBN:0330449605
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pan
Date Published: 29/05/2008
ISBN-13:9780330449601ISBN:0330449605
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
"This book was very enjoyable to read. It has a very intriguing story and great settings. It grabs you in the very beginning when a little girl is left on a ship departing for Australia alone, all the way until the end where the answers to all the questions are finally discovered by the grandaughter of that child. If I had one criticism to make it would be that the story jumps back and forth a little too much. This was slightly annoying to me, but did not hinder my enjoyment of the story. Very satisfying!"
"It has already been said that this book contains some plotlines that are reminiscent of The Secret Garden. Despite the fact that the author is clearly conscious of this fact in her novel, some readers are turned off to the book because of it. But...this book is about so much more than just the commonalities of a sick child, an orphan in a new mansion home, and a secret walled garden. It leaps back and forth between three sets of protagonists...Cassandra in the present, Nell (her grandmother) in the mid-century, and Eliza Makepeace in the late 1800s.
Anyone with an affinity for Romance (with a capital R), fairy tales, secret family histories, and abandoned houses will love this book. Although my favorite character has to be Eliza Makepeace, all of them are rendered fully and sympathetically, despite their human frailties.
And please, PLEASE don't skip the fairy tales. There are only a few of them in the book, but they are my personal favorite part of the entire experience. You can't *just* read the fairy tales, and you can't *just* read the book, because the fairy tales are inspired by the personal experiences of the author. The trials and life experiences of Eliza Makepeace are incorporated into her tales in a brilliant way that is not to be missed.
I debated between four and five stars for this book, because I did find the very beginning (before the journey to England began) quite slow and plodding. But the rest of the book is just so captivating, I had to round up, and give it 5 stars."
"While this is ostensibly a novel of secrets spanning four generations, most of the "secrets" are fairly obvious. I kept waiting for the blow to fall - murder? incest? buried treasure?? Alas, no. The narration shifts among different-but-related storylines, all of which, to be fair, I found intriguing: in 1913 a child who can't remember her name turns up on an Australian dock carrying a book of fairy tales; in 2005 her granddaughter tries to uncover the mysteries of a hidden garden in Cornwall; in Victorian England a wealthy young woman flees her family . . . only to have her orphaned daughter found and taken back to them. In each case I wanted to find out the whole story, but I figured they'd tie together with more punch. Where were the dark secrets-within-a-secret? Where were the gasp-aloud revelations? I know we're not always going to get Darth Vader breathing, "I am your father!" but a few big shockers would have been nice.
Maybe if the novel were presented a bit differently - as a family saga, not some mysterious tale - then I wouldn't have been disappointed. It's really a story of several women and the far-reaching effects their decisions have on their own and each other's lives. Woven throughout are fairy tales by the mysterious Authoress; it's hard to miss their thematic, at times allegorical, significance. They connect the generations through themes of foundlings, sacrifice, and the dangers of wanting what you can't have. If you like fairy tales, this would be a plus, but I could have done without them.
Kate Morton is a bit heavy-handed in her characterizations, and, as with The House at Riverton, there's a bizarrely devoted sister-like relationship that involves extreme self-sacrifice in one of the parties and oblivious selfishness in the other. While many relationships are like this (for instance, I am self-sacrificing and my siblings are oblivious), they're not fun to read about. And with only one exception, the really nefarious characters - they're like villains out of a Dickens novel but without the flair - sort of fade away. I wanted the satisfaction of seeing them fall off a cliff and get eaten by sharks, or be impaled on pointy fence railings, not just die lonely or disappear from the story. I would have liked less background description and more resolution."
"Delicious! I loved reading this book! Morton tells the story of three women within four generations of a family. Story weaves into story, layer upon layer. Morton combines Gothic settings, Dickensian characters and fairy tales to produce a thoroughly entertaining book! I compulsively consumed this within two days--with an aunt visiting from out of state and a busy toddler! I stayed up until 1:00am to finish it, with absolutely no regrets."
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