Through A Glass Darkly

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing as "big novel" set in early Georgian era
Review: I bought this book hoping to obtain a portrait of the Georgian age, a compelling study of a family struggling to survive political intrigues and economic upheaval, and lastly, as a satisfactory romance. Well, this book did not work for me on any of these levels. The story is set around the failed Jacobite rebellion of 1715 (which forces the heroine's father into exile), the accession of the Hanoverians to the British throne, and lastly but not leastly, the almost concurrent economic crises in France (Law's bank) and the UK (the South Sea Bubble). The last event played a crucial role in the story, and was well-done. Unfortunately, the rest of the period was *not* so well-evoked.

Part of the problem lay in the fact that so much of the story was set at the corrupt French court (the regency of the Duc d'Orleans for the young Louis XV), that more of French court intrigue - mostly sexual - was evoked than of British political, economic, and social life. However, the real problem probably lay in the heroine - who is a willful spoiled girl of 15 who has her bridegroom essentially bought for her by her doting grandmother. Barbara Alderley is not all that bad - she is a loving sister (to a wastrel eldest brother and younger siblings) and she is a fond granddaughter. She has suffered from negligent parents who married too young - a Jacobite father who has fled into exile, and a notoriously promiscuous mother (who like Barbara insisted on an early marriage that was a personal disaster).

Barbara's grandmother and late grandfather are presented almost as copies of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Marlborough - although we learn very little of their family background. The real Duke and Duchess of Marlborough are curiously absent. Some of the political luminaries of the day appear (notably Sir Robert Walpole) but are presented almost solely in terms of their relationship to Barbara's mother or her husband, not as personages in their own right with their own careers to make and dynasties to found.

Most of the story is about extra-marital sexual liaisions. When Barbara is betrayed by her husband and when she experiences another devastating loss, she does not seek consolation in educating herself or in securing her own economic and social independence. Rather, she becomes a duplicate of her mother, taking lovers recklessly - and without thought of her future.

I should warn romance readers that there is no happily-ever-after unless you count a trip to a Virginian plantation as a HEA. Perhaps this is why the book has been compared to Gone With The End. However, for that book, the age and society in which the book was set was brilliantly evoked, and the heroine (while unlikeable in many ways) had a strong sense of self and of family. I could not feel the same way about THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY or about Barbara Alderley. Her sole merit was that she nursed her husband to the very end and that she loved certain people dearly. Otherwise, she was just another promiscuous beauty - and the book the story of her love affairs, that of her husband, and that of her mother and brother. Why she remained in love with her husband or he with her, was a total mystery to me. I would have preferred to read about her notorious mother.

Rating:
Summary: Acceptable romance novel
Review: Through a Glass Darkly is a long romance novel set in the early 1700's in London, Paris and the English countryside. The plot is captivating, the romance is sexy and the historical setting adds (some) realism.

Young Barbara, granddaughter of a popular war-hero duke, loves Roger, a handsome and extravangant earl and financier. Barbara, her mother Diana, and her grandmother Alice are all strong colorful characters who spend time managing their many family and social relationships and getting dressed in gowns and jewels.

The recommendation might be 5-stars for readers who go for plot with passion, but Through a Glass pales against Gone with the Wind, to which some reviewers have compared it.

Rating:
Summary: This book is remarkable!
Review: I just read this book and it has been almost impossible for me to put it down. If you read one book this summer make sure this is the one. I have not yet read the sequel but I can hardly wait to get it and read it. It has been a while since I have read a book with such attention to historical detail. The last author I read who did so was Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. This book will stay with you for a long time, and the characters will become a part of your life.

Rating:
Summary: Good for a first book
Review: This book was the first written by Houston TX housewife (and former editor of a local magazine). It's an impressive first outing.

Innocent, young and pretty Barbara Anderley has led a sheltered life. When she and her sister and brothers were abandoned by her courtesan mother, they were taken in by a doting grandmother. Life on their 18th century country estate was a somewhat isolated and protected one.

Barbara's father has recently fled to support a pretender to the British throne. Her mother, a flamboyant libertine, arranges a marriage between Barbara and Roger Montgeoffrey, Count of Devane. Barbara is thrilled, for she has known -- and loved -- the Count since childhood. Devane marries her for her dowry, admitting that he doesn't love her but she vows to win his love. (Names keep reminding me of DuMaurier's REBECCA -- Anderley for Manderley, Devane and Dewinter...look for more similarities.)

As they move among the courts of France and England, Barbara becomes beautiful, worldly and sought-after as she falls more and more deeply in love with her husband. Then she discovers his terrible secret and her world falls apart.

This is a fast-moving story with interesting, if predictable, characters. Readers of historical romance expect certain characters (beautiful heroines and handsome heroes, for example) and they want the story to develop certain ways. This one falls right along those lines. Don't look for lilting prose and surprising plot here but if you enjoy historical romances, you'll love THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY.

Rating:
Summary: Historical Fiction at its Best
Review: Set in the opulent 18th Century, _Through a Glass Darkly_ is the story of an English noblewoman named Barbara Alderley. As the story begins she is fifteen, ready to be married, and coping with a father who has run from persecution as a Jacobite and thrown her family into financial ruin and a mother whose rather 'unsavory' reputation has brought her ridicule and disgrace in the royal court of King George. At the same time she is coming to realize that, as a woman, her own desires and dreams are largely unimportant and instead, her future is in the hands of her family and her future husband.

Through countless plot twists and turns, Barbara eventually marries the man that she loves but is later forced to learn things about him that she could have never imagined and her life is changed forever.

In many ways this book reads like a history lesson, but one that truly whisks the reader to the early 18th Century, a time when England's bubble economy is about to burst, the aristocracy still reigns supreme, and no one goes out without being properly powdered, rouged, and patched.

Each detail (and there are many) truly makes this period of time come alive. However, though the setting is rich, it is the characters in this story that are absolutely unforgettable. Readers of historical fiction will be enthralled by this book, and there is enough suspense and romance to appeal to many other kinds of readers too. Highly recommended and a title I constantly display at my library.

Rating:
Summary: What a period book should be
Review: This book is perfect. It had everything. Intrigue, drama, romance, beautiful people, a flawed heroine, everything. It is the only book I have read more than three times. This book set the benchmark for what a historical drama should be.

Rating:
Summary: If you like the Thorn Birds and GWTW...
Review: You'll love this one. Personally, when I read fiction, I like a bit more escapism in my reading. Real life is depressing enough. The book is well-written and historically accurate but it reminded me a bit too much of The Thorn Birds. Heart-wrenching, shocking and although I couldn't put it down (kind of like seeing a bad car accident and not being able to look away), I was more than happy when it was finished. Not the happiest kind of book to read in these trying times.

Rating:
Summary: great author and mother
Review: I am so proud of my mother for what she has accomplished with her two books. She has given given everything she has to produce these two books, so I hope you like them. If you, readers, had any idea what she went through to finish both books (especially the second one), you would run to buy a copy right now. I really hope that you enjoy them as much as I have. Love you Mom.

Rating:
Summary: I read this again and again
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite books. I never read romance novels, and would not consider this one a romance at all. There is a lot of talk of love and happiness but very little romance in the traditional romance novel term. It is very historical, painting a rich portrait of society on several different levels, the country which the heroine travels, and the limited resources a young woman, even one of a higher economic class, had in those times. You feel close to the main character and can even imagine that you are there, sometimes forgetting you are even reading a novel. It is very real and though it is set in another time, the heroine is very reachable, very knowable. Her feelings are your feelings as you move with her through the years of her life.
One of the best books I have ever read. Lengthy but hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Blows Gone With the Wind away
Review: My friend recommended this book to me saying it was reminiscent of Gone With the Wind. Frankly, my dear, Through a Glass Darkly blows Gone With the Wind away. I absolutely adored this book and the sequel Now Face to Face. Karleen Koen is a master story-teller. She brought this century to life for me. I felt as though I really knew the characters personnally. When I finished the books, it felt as though I had lost close friends.