Madensky Square

Rating:
Summary: A slice of life
Review: I found this to be a delightful read-a gentle,easy read and a fascinating microcosm of life in Vienna just prior to W.W.1.Our heroine owns a dress shop in a quaint city square,peopled by characters from various walks of life. It's not a book to strain anyones concentration as it flows along so pleasantly and is just what one could call"a nice little read".I don't mean that to sound patronising but it's a feel good read which I hope that others will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: The best romance novel I have ever read
Review: Ibbotson creates truly wonderful characters---Susanna, the heroine of this novel, is the best of her creations. Susanna's romance isn't a perfect one (whose is?) and the story has rather sad moments but Ibbotson creates, as always, a world which any reader would want to visit. Her sly comments on political radicalism (in the form of Nini, the anarchist model/seamstress who works in Susanna's shop) are wonderful---too bad more earnest political writers never encountered Nini or thought more deeply about how difficult it can be to want "the revolution" while looking pretty... Everyone to whom I have lent the book has loved it and wants to buy a copy (I'm more than a bit worried that I may lend this book out and never get it back).

Rating:
Summary: A fun & entertaing read !
Review: Set in pre-World War 1 Vienna, Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson takes you into the world of Susanna Weber,a dress shop owner,as she begins her diary on the first day of spring 1911.Filled with a rich cast of secondary characters and sub-plots the pace never becomes dull.From her chief assistant(an anarchist)to the strange assembly of friends,customers & neighbors you become as involved in their world as if they were people you knew.A great weekend read.