A Spell of Winter

Rating:
Summary: A long sought treasure of a novel...
Review: "A Spell of Winter" is an old-fashioned novel, where once again the flow of narration charms us in an instant, and we are carried off into the nineteenth century English countryside, and enter the small world where Catherine's life undergoes a transformation. It's a small world, for the story evolves around the house, a family mansion of the Allens, a dysfunctional family we grow to love as pages turn around and about. The novel is a pleasure to read, bu all accounts. beginning with an old-style clear typeface, beautiful dust jacket, well-bound hardcover, and ending with the characters, the frozen setting and dusty mysterious atmosphere of the storyline. Helen Dunmore is virtually unknown in America, perhaps because only recently the audience had the chance to discover her works. I am happy that I found A Spell of Winter sue to seemingly random book search patterns I have. Having read thousands of books, I have developed a sort of intuition which whispers in my ear: that's the one! I have bought Helen Dunmore's novel trusting my intuition, and having just finished it, I would like to make a heartfelt recommendation for fellow old-fashioned bookworms like yours truly. The novel is engaging, never dull, the writing style is unique, impossiblt to compare with anyone else's, the narration is soft, dreamilke, and even very topics which others would have found difficult, if not impossible to write about, were touched here with infinite gentleness, like a womanly barely audible whisper, a story told intimately, reserved for your ears only, in confidence of an embrace, in a small room of an old house lit only by a weak yet cheerful candle. I am sure some of you have lived through this; listened attentively with love when the dearest significant other opens her heart; slowly and gradually unfolding the most important tale of personal life. Have you? "A Spell of Winter" is the confession, such confession, this particular confession that makes you slightly tremble all along, while you are aware of both the intimacy and the importance of the moment. It might have been a diary. Yes, it might have been, but then it wouldn't have been as good as it is. Brilliant dialogues, where there is no word lost, or added beyond what is needed, devoid of ornaments, and yet beautiful in its simplicity. I have fallen in love with the voice of Catherine, the charming protagonist of the novel. Eccentric and feminine, Catherine unveils the mystery of her spectacular girlhood in the family mansion. One might say that whoever else tried to touch that subject, would definitely fail, having trivialized it, trampled over with some superimposed vision, where we would have no choice but to follow the interpretation served us by the author. Dunmore allowed us to follow the events, as they came, with her exquisite prose carrying us like the dolphin over waves, in a twirl, leaving it for us to ponder about. There is not a single artificial moment in the book, and boy, wasn't that easy to commit! Dunmore has class and grace, and I am sure that whatever she chose to write about, she would do that with her unique, delicate strokes of feather, leaving you amused, sighing, longing to enter her fictional world without a second look back. I didn't want the novel to end, nor did I want any of the chapters to end. Each page is like a lyrical poem; a poem written for you and you only. It's a rare feeling, you know?

"A Spell of Winter" is the most beautiful novel I read in many years, and I will not exaggerate if I claim that it's place is among the notable books of the XX century. I will come back to this book many times in future. Rarely indeed I feel like starting to read all over again when I have just only finished. When a novel ends like this one, you just can't help but sigh and take a long walk. Reality is too much to bear. A tale of passion, tradition, youth, wasted lives, redemption, forgiveness, family ties, abandonment, eternal love, and the unbreakable spirit. I discovered Helen Dunmore and I couldn't have been more happy. I have written this review to share my impressions with you, dear reader. "A Spell of Winter" - a small diamond you will want to keep close to your heart, and take with you everywhere, with that 'specific gravity of smile' on your face...

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Twist of a Typical Gothic Novel
Review: After reading the editorial reviews posted here at Amazon, I picked up a copy of *A Spell of Winter*, expecting a Jane Eyre meets Victoria Holt type of novel. I was quite surprised to see how Dunmore twisted the stereotypical Gothic novel into an incestuous relationship between siblings Catherine and Rob Allen.

The first half of the novel introduces the reader to the many characters living in and around Cathy and Rob's estate home in England, where they are living with their grandfather. Among the players are the teens' mother, who abandoned the family for reasons unknown, the father who became quite mad and ended up in a sanitorium, the governess, Kate and the tutor, a Miss Gallagher (by the way, Miss Gallagher has a romantic feeling for Cathy as well). Cathy and Rob soon delve into a promiscuous, at best, relationship, and the turn of events leading to the final scene will be quite entertaining.

I thought the middle third of the novel was the most engrossing, with the outer two-thirds a bit sluggish. But if you're a big fan of Gothic tales, I think this is well worth your time and money.

Rating:
Summary: I Am Troubled By This
Review: Got it in the "bargain" section, although it looked like a great read.
It is, in fact, a great read. The author is quite talented & writes as if from another era. The prose is beautiful & eloquent.
I loved the setting & enjoyed its Gothic content as well.
I feel bad for giving it only three stars, but I must. I never felt settled after finishing it. It teases you thinking they'll find their happiness & escape the bleakness, but no.
It just depressed me, plain & simple. I so wanted to find a deep satisfaction with this.
It deserves my three because of such superb writing talent, not story/plot-wise.
I am eager to read more of this author as her style & talent is most captivating.

Rating:
Summary: Think Bronte, not Joanna Trollope
Review: Rarely, does one come across a gothic novel written by a modern novelist that is not totally insipid. Helen Dunmore's "A Spell of Winter" is literature and it is beautiful. The writing strikes a fine poetic balance - profoundly evocative without being overly dense or distracting from the story she unwinds. You are, quite simply, there. You smell, taste and feel everything. And, the scenery...ah, the scenes, the odd, strange and staggeringly beautiful scenes you find yourself experiencing (Dunmore is a master of place) - ones you won't forget after you close the book. It is all very confusing and exciting and exquistedly sad. The characters, particularly the female ones, are well-realized and deeply complex (just as people truly are in a life fully-lived). Dunmore has obviously, like many of us, been long haunted by Cathy and Heathcliff. Admittedly, I had a few problems with the novel's conclusion. Toward the end, I found many of the actions of the characters became totally, well, uncharacteristic and seemed manipulated to satisfy to the novel's plot, or lack thereof, toward the ending. I found this highly disappointing since I was so involved with the characters by that point. Much of the novel's trembling intensity seems to just peter out. Still, there did exist that "trembling intensity" and finding that anywhere in a novel is a gift not lightly dismissed.