Under Gemini

Rating:
Summary: A delightful story
Review: Covers a week in the life of Flora, one of twins, each raised by one parent when they separated. Flora is 22 and returning to London from Cornwell where she has spent the last year with her Dad and his new wife. She accidently runs into her sister, rose and they discover their story. Their Mom is married to a rich man and rose takes Flora to the luxury apt. they have in London. Emter Anthony Armstrong who was engaged to Rose. His granny is dying and wants to see Anthony and Rose. He talks Flora into posing as Rose and go with him to his home in Scotland for the weekend. Rose and her Mom vacationed there when she was 17 and she had an affair who now wants to renew the relationship. Flora falls for someone else. This is an early Pilcher novel and not as wonderful as her later ones.

Rating:
Summary: Deceptions Hurt the Heart!
Review: Every family hides something, but Flora Waring discovered deception in hers. At 22 she learned she had an identical twin sister, Rose, who lived with the mother Flora didn't remember at all. And when Flora ended up impersonating the high-spirited, spoiled Rose, she would have to face how cruel lies can be. When she agreed to accompany Rose's fiance to meet his grandmother in a picturesque town on the Scottish coast, she would quickly fall in love with the lush green countryside, the Armstrong family, and a rare, wonderful man. But she would also confront Rose's shocking secrets and a betrayal that would break her heart.

This was a great read as all of Pilcher's books are! I became very engrossed in this story.

Rating:
Summary: Finding a true love
Review: I am a recent fan of Rosamunde Pilcher's books and Under Gemini is the last book I read. I agree with other readers who find her books easy to read, even if the plots are sometimes a little predictable. The books are generally well written, but did anyone pick up on the small anomaly in Chapter 9 of Under Gemini? The author refers to Flora as Rose, not just in conversation between characters (which is appropriate) but also in the narrative. This only happens over about five or six pages in the second half of the chapter, but is it an error in the writing of the book, or am I imagining it? I'd really like to know if anyone else has the same comment to make about this book.

Rating:
Summary: Charming Early Pilcher
Review: I don't think that Rosamunde Pilcher could write a bad book, but this, one of her earliest, is one of her best. It has all the wonderful Pilcher elements: the stately old home gone slightly shabby; the wonderfully individual characters (in this case, in Scotland rather than Pilcher's often-used Cornwall venue); the stalwart hero/heroines bearing secret grief in silence.

Our heroine, Flora, suddenly finds at age 22 that she has an identical twin from whom she was separated at birth. That twin, Rose, is everything that Flora is not--and does not wish to be. But before Flora can find this out, she is drawn into a ridiculous and dangerous scheme. She will impersonate Rose, who has jilted her perfectly nice fiance Antony, in front of Antony's dying grandmother, Tuppy.

Thus begins a fraught journey to the aforementioned crumbling estate in Scotland, a love-at-first-sight meeting with the grandmother, and a week-long charade that brings Flora close to permanent disaster, and changes everyone around her. Of course the reader prays for a happy ending and a nice, bracing cup of hot tea.

Simply a gem. If this is a Pilcher you have missed, give yourself a treat and curl up with it at the first opportunity.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely romantic story!
Review: I have long maintained that reading a book by Rosamunde Pilcher is like coming home from work and putting on ones' robe and slippers. Both experiences are so warm, inviting and ultimately comfortable. And once again while reading Under Gemini, I had that old feeling that I was being enveloped not only with the wonderful characters but also with the locales that Pilcher describes so well.

Trying to put her life back into order, Rose is startled, while dining one evening in London, to see her face looking back at her. Realizing that she has a long lost twin Flora, Rose must at first adjust to the idea of a twin and the circumstances concerning their separation. Then when Flora suggests that Rose spend a few days in her apartment and Flora then must leave for Greece, Rose comes face to face with a man who thinks she is actually Flora. But Flora doesn't reckon with the fact that this man has given her twin a ring and now expects her to accompany him to see his sick grandmother in Scotland. His grandmother who met Flora five years ago wishes to see the more grown up Flora now in case she dies. Having nowhere to live and no job at the moment, Flora decides to go with the young man but has second thoughts when she meets his grandmother and other family members. The rest of the story moves along pleasantly. A real romance is in store for Rose, all loose ends are tied up in the end a la Pilcher style and there is a happy ending.

This is a sweet book with lovely characters during a simpler time. Written before Pilcher's best selling books, earlier titles like Under Gemini showed the earmarks of Pilcher's grander books like The Shell Seekers and Coming Home. Lucky for me that while I have read most of Pilcher's titles, I still have saved some of them and now can look forwrd to reading them along with her newest title Winter Solstice.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely romantic story!
Review: I have long maintained that reading a book by Rosamunde Pilcher is like coming home from work and putting on ones' robe and slippers. Both experiences are so warm, inviting and ultimately comfortable. And once again while reading Under Gemini, I had that old feeling that I was being enveloped not only with the wonderful characters but also with the locales that Pilcher describes so well.

Trying to put her life back into order, Rose is startled, while dining one evening in London, to see her face looking back at her. Realizing that she has a long lost twin Flora, Rose must at first adjust to the idea of a twin and the circumstances concerning their separation. Then when Flora suggests that Rose spend a few days in her apartment and Flora then must leave for Greece, Rose comes face to face with a man who thinks she is actually Flora. But Flora doesn't reckon with the fact that this man has given her twin a ring and now expects her to accompany him to see his sick grandmother in Scotland. His grandmother who met Flora five years ago wishes to see the more grown up Flora now in case she dies. Having nowhere to live and no job at the moment, Flora decides to go with the young man but has second thoughts when she meets his grandmother and other family members. The rest of the story moves along pleasantly. A real romance is in store for Rose, all loose ends are tied up in the end a la Pilcher style and there is a happy ending.

This is a sweet book with lovely characters during a simpler time. Written before Pilcher's best selling books, earlier titles like Under Gemini showed the earmarks of Pilcher's grander books like The Shell Seekers and Coming Home. Lucky for me that while I have read most of Pilcher's titles, I still have saved some of them and now can look forwrd to reading them along with her newest title Winter Solstice.

Rating:
Summary: Cozy as a Cup of Tea
Review: Improbability, coincidence and pure fate take center stage as identical twins separated at birth come upon their mirror image quite accidentally while in a London restaurant. After a night spent puzzling through the bizarre circumstances of their lives, jet-setting sister Rose takes off to Greece -- leaving her much more down-to-earth twin Flora to deal with a recently dumped fiancé. Somehow Flora is convinced to accompany the fiancé to Scotland to comfort a grandmother who is supposedly dying. The drama mounts, as does the dishonesty, and Flora finds herself living a life she never imagined. When the house of cards begins to collapse, will the friendships survive the betrayal? And, has the right sister fallen for the wrong man? A bit of a relic, but cozy as a cup of tea on a cold and windy Scottish coast.

Rating:
Summary: Cozy as a Cup of Tea
Review: Improbability, coincidence and pure fate take center stage as identical twins separated at birth come upon their mirror image quite accidentally while in a London restaurant. After a night spent puzzling through the bizarre circumstances of their lives, jet-setting sister Rose takes off to Greece -- leaving her much more down-to-earth twin Flora to deal with a recently dumped fiancé. Somehow Flora is convinced to accompany the fiancé to Scotland to comfort a grandmother who is supposedly dying. The drama mounts, as does the dishonesty, and Flora finds herself living a life she never imagined. When the house of cards begins to collapse, will the friendships survive the betrayal? And, has the right sister fallen for the wrong man? A bit of a relic, but cozy as a cup of tea on a cold and windy Scottish coast.

Rating:
Summary: Another warm and comfortable story from Pilcher
Review: Rosamunde Pilcher's stories never surprise for their plot twists or their suspense. They are wholly predictable, but this is not why so many people pick up her novels. Her prose is so relaxed and comfortable that when you turn the first page you feel you are returning to an old friend that you have not seen in quite some time.

The reunion of the twins Rose and Flora is the springboard for the core of the story with Flora being the foil of her selfish and manipulating twin. But instead of focusing on the negative aspects of being reunited with a twin that one never knew they had, Pilcher wraps the reader in the warmth of the Armstrong family, which is fueled by the ailing matriarch, Tuppy. With vivid descriptions and not overdoing the dialogue, Pilcher creates lucid, feeling characters that one is sorry to say goodbye to at the end of the book.

If you read this book and enjoy it, you should definitely try "September" by the same author@and you may also like to try "The Copper Beech" by Maeve Binchy.