Ever After

Rating:
Summary: Late Victorian Romance and History at Their Best!
Review: For many years my favorite of the Williamsburg Novels (I even named my only son after the main character!) "Ever After" is a delectible evocation of late Victorian life in America and England. One of the blessed qualities of the writing of Elswyth Thane is that she can take each character of each generation of her families and make them vivid, alive, humanly recognizable, and -- most amazing feat of all -- DIFFERENT! Dinah Campion is no more Tibby Mawes than Bracken Murray is St. John Sprague, and all Thane's heroines, from Tibby to Eden to Virginia and beyond have their own decidedly varied personalities. Less war-oriented than her first two novels, "Ever After" tells the story of loves delayed (as loves and lives always are) by the interruption of violence into well-ordered lives. With her usual deft pen Thane not only reconstructs turn-of-the-century Williamsburg for us, but turns her talents to late 19th century New York and England as well. More than any other of her books, I think, this one depicts exquisitely the settings where her characters live and function: the fascinating city that was New York in the Gay 90s -- early vaudeville with its colorful characters, fashionable Park Avenue where the very rich dressed and partied and lived in isolated splendor, the seamier side of existence where vices of every kind could make the frightened sister of a tawdry vaudeville suicide expect to have to pay back the men who rescue her in the "usual" way. And Thane's beloved England sparkles through her eyes, not only in its upper-class, fox-hunting, tweed-wearing, manifiestations, but in the lonely lives led by the ignored and repressed offspring of the rich and elite. Through Thane's skill as a story-teller and the window she seems to possess into the human soul, what might be a completely unbelievable tale of love at first sight becomes an entirely comprehensible exercise in passion and self-restraint. Music fills this book, literally and figuratively, and the Spanish-American War, when it erupts into these sophisticated and civilized pages, takes us away from that music only momentarily. The disputes and disagreements of war are not the main conflicts in this novel; love postponed, love seemingly impossible, love triumphant are the themes, and Thane lifts us out of ourselves and into the hearts of her characters with all the skill of a conjuror. A honey of a book, and a dilly of a portrait!

Rating:
Summary: Late Victorian Romance and History at Their Best!
Review: For many years my favorite of the Williamsburg Novels (I even named my only son after the main character!) "Ever After" is a delectible evocation of late Victorian life in America and England. One of the blessed qualities of the writing of Elswyth Thane is that she can take each character of each generation of her families and make them vivid, alive, humanly recognizable, and -- most amazing feat of all -- DIFFERENT! Dinah Campion is no more Tibby Mawes than Bracken Murray is St. John Sprague, and all Thane's heroines, from Tibby to Eden to Virginia and beyond have their own decidedly varied personalities. Less war-oriented than her first two novels, "Ever After" tells the story of loves delayed (as loves and lives always are) by the interruption of violence into well-ordered lives. With her usual deft pen Thane not only reconstructs turn-of-the-century Williamsburg for us, but turns her talents to late 19th century New York and England as well. More than any other of her books, I think, this one depicts exquisitely the settings where her characters live and function: the fascinating city that was New York in the Gay 90s -- early vaudeville with its colorful characters, fashionable Park Avenue where the very rich dressed and partied and lived in isolated splendor, the seamier side of existence where vices of every kind could make the frightened sister of a tawdry vaudeville suicide expect to have to pay back the men who rescue her in the "usual" way. And Thane's beloved England sparkles through her eyes, not only in its upper-class, fox-hunting, tweed-wearing, manifiestations, but in the lonely lives led by the ignored and repressed offspring of the rich and elite. Through Thane's skill as a story-teller and the window she seems to possess into the human soul, what might be a completely unbelievable tale of love at first sight becomes an entirely comprehensible exercise in passion and self-restraint. Music fills this book, literally and figuratively, and the Spanish-American War, when it erupts into these sophisticated and civilized pages, takes us away from that music only momentarily. The disputes and disagreements of war are not the main conflicts in this novel; love postponed, love seemingly impossible, love triumphant are the themes, and Thane lifts us out of ourselves and into the hearts of her characters with all the skill of a conjuror. A honey of a book, and a dilly of a portrait!

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting! Wonderful! Addictive!
Review: I keep coming back to read this book, or pick it up when I want to be cheered up or entertained.

There are basically two main storylines, somewhat interwoven although they take place in New York and England (and also together in Cuba).

I am not that interested in the details of war, but to my surprise I actually found much of the war part ( there isn't a whole lot ) interesting.

The storyline concerns an extended family and focuses on Bracken Murray, his sister Virginia, and their cousin Fitz. This being a E. Thane book, their are other enchaning minor characters whose stories are actually told! =)

Bracken's wife has left him for someone who had more money and he is the son of a famous newspaper owner and is funny and wonderful and charming and great. His sister is beautiful and merry and very alive and loveable. Fitz is the odd duck who composes and is charming with his southern drawl. The three of them fall in love (with other charming people), with different barriers to their happiness.

Dinah is a darling. Gwen was sweet. Enough said. I loved Dinah!

The writing style is wonderful, there are few authors who can do such an entertaining job. Read it. It helps somewhat if you have read Yankee Stranger (2nd in the series), but a family tree makes it an inconvenience instead of a barrier. Read it and be prepared for a marvelous time.

Rating:
Summary: Best In The Series
Review: This is another example of Elswyth Thane's magnificent writing skill! Elswyth Thane has the great talent of combining historical facts and figures with fictitious and romantic plots without overdosing in either element.
In Ever AFter, the story opens on Susannah, now aged and spinsterish but still writing as fervently as ever. On Eden, now married to journalist Cabot Murray and the mother of three grown children. Bracken, her eldest, is a somewhat resigned young man who shows promise in the feild of journalism. His sister, Virginia, is a blossoming and flirtatious southern belle who hooks nearly every man who looks at her. And Fitz, the son of Sedgwick and Melicent Sprague, Fitz's only companions it seems are his piano and Sue. He is the outcast of the family, the one oddity that no one understands except Sue.
As Fitz leaves the shelter of Williamsburg and his songwriting, he takes a job with Cabot's paper in New York and there meets Gwen, an actress who will change his life's course forever. Meanwhile, Sue, Bracken and Virginia set out for England for the Jubilee celebration. There they encounter Sir Gration Forbes-Carpenter, who is a war veteran from the war in Africa. This leaves Sue with a choice that will plague her conscious forever; her spontaneous friendship with Sir Gration or her deep and forbidden love for Sedgwick...
However, Sue is not the only one who finds love in England. Bracken, still hurt from his not-quite-finished divorce with Lizl Olezei, finds Dinah Campion. Immediately touched by her young and sweet innocence, Bracken is forced to conceal his love for her until she is of age to marry.
Matters become more complicated as the steadily growing conflict between Spain and Cuba erupts into war. Fitz and Bracken are forced to go to Cuba as war correspondents and must leave their newfound loves behind.
Take my advice if you have already read Dawn's Early Light and Yankee Stranger and read this book. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: This one is a keeper
Review: This is one of those books you keep and read every year. Although a number of stories touch and diverge, it is Dinah and Bracken's romance that I return to over and over.
Thane's description of Dinah's flowering under the attention from Bracken is so sweet. The setting, England on the brink of WWII, is richly described. The difficulties they must overcome seem insurmountable, but love conquers all.