Onyx

Van Vliet #3

by Jacqueline Briskin

Detroit, inizi ´900. Un modesto meccanico riesce con tenacia, talento e fortuna, dopo incredibili peripezie, a costruire dal nulla un colossale impero industriale, Onyx. Ma il denaro e il successo si pagano, sempre e comunque... Una trascinante saga di amore e avventura, successi e fallimenti, trionfi e ribollenti passioni.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction

551 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Jacqueline Briskin (1927-2014) was the New York Times-bestselling author of fourteen historical novels that reflect the tumultuous changes in American society that she witnessed over her lifetime. Complete with dynamic storylines, vibrant characters, and passionate romantic relationships, her novels have sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and have been translated into twenty-six languages.

Briskin was born in London, England, the granddaughter of the chief rabbi of Dublin, Ireland. Her family moved to Beverly Hills, California, to escape Adolf Hitler and religious orthodoxy. A few years later, she married her best friend and the love of her life, Bert, whose family was deeply embedded in Hollywood and the movie business. When Briskin's three children were little more than toddlers, she attended a class at UCLA entitled "The Craft of Fiction." To her surprise, it was a class about writing fiction rather than reading fiction. And so her career began.

Over the next forty years, many of Briskin's books topped the New York Times bestseller list. Her adoptive home of Los Angeles and her husband's old stomping ground of Hollywood often play a prominent role in her meticulously researched books.

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved, loved this! Tragic and beautiful at the same time, the author knows how to weave together all these lives and make for some interesting family feuds. I still loved Paloverde, the first book I read by this author, a little bit more... but this one was wonderful in its' own right. I recommend!

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Just got this for a penny on Amazon!

[BarbaraW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about factionalized account of auto industry start continuing through later years. Weaves great love interests throughout.

[Misfit]

Read to the halfway mark and lost interest when the story moved to the next generation. I will finish it, but it's three months later and I still haven't picked it back up again.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

L’epopea delle prime automobili fa da sfondo a questa particolare saga familiare.

[Monica Riva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una bella saga familiare americana, con tutti gli ingredienti giusti per chi ama questo filone.
Era tanto tempo che non ne leggevo di così intense e appassionanti.

[°мαggιє° (っ⚈ᴥ⚈)っ™ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read all of this so it's a 3.5 at least, but this doesn't have the same kicker as paloverde

I don't think antonia meant for him to keep his promise of not telling justin about his true paternity once the truth had already come out...at the risk of estranging yourself from your son? just seems to be tom uselessly clinging to a promise out of loyalty and love to antonia, a promise that wasn't really meant to hold out after weighing other considerations??

without tom's misunderstanding of antonia's meaning, i don't think there would be the latter 3/4 of the novel. and if h e truly loved his son, he would have never alienated him so much. he wasn't acting in his son's best interests at all.

[Lynne Golodner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an imaginative and fun epic read, although the theme of keeping secrets from those closest to you no matter what the impact really bothered me. I understand why the author did that, but I wanted a different outcome, a more humane approach. Still, I was riveted by the storytelling.

[Manuela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellissima saga familiare. Forse un po’ troppo lungo, ma non posso non dare il voto massimo a una romanzo come questo, che mi ha coinvolta, emozionata, mi ha fatto piangere e ridere, mi ha portato ad amare o odiare alla follia ora uno, ora l’altro personaggio.
L’ambientazione è affascinante, ti trascina fin dalle prime battute nel mondo nascente dell’industria automobilistica, e ti accompagna per 50 anni. La Briskin ci regala una carrellata di personaggi indimenticabili: dal geniale Tom, capace di amare talmente una donna, da sacrificare tutti gli altri sentimenti, al machiavellico Hugh, ferito nel corpo e nell’animo, che mi ha fatto infuriare con le sue egoistiche macchinazioni; da Antonia, eterea e bellissima, a Maud, brusca e innamorata di un uomo che non l’ha mai amata; dal remissivo e dolce Caryll, all’egocentrica Zoe, forse il personaggio che ho odiato più profondamente. E poi Justin e Elisse, due personaggi indimenticabili, che mi hanno fatto piangere con il loro amore incrollabile.
Un romanzo da leggere, che ti lascia dentro qualcosa di prezioso e unico.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book! Talk about a depressing life! I was in a FUNK for a month!