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Madensky Square
Eva Ibbotson's magical novel set in that most poignant of all times and places - Vienna before the First World War.Susanna's dress shop stands in the delightful Madensky Square and is the very hub and heart of life. Susanna sympathizes with her neighbours, watches over Signi, the wretched, orphaned child prodigy, and with her infallible eye for dress, turns an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.Of all the colourful characters in Madensky Square, only her dear friend Alice has the slightest inkling that Susanna hides more than one secret. This hidden life, full of passion and anguish, gradually unfolds in a city of romance, music and gossip.'Sunshine and shadows, laughter and tears . . . the grace and gaiety of a Viennese waltz' Sunday Telegraph
253 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
41 people are currently reading
1647 people want to read
About the author
Eva Ibbotson
79 books2,359 followersEva Ibbotson (Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner) was a novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
January 28, 2024
Eva Ibbotson's writing manages to be both funny and exquisite. This story is a year in the life of an elegant dressmaker in pre-World War I Vienna, a woman who observes life with poignancy (when she thinks of the daughter she had to give up) and with humor (observing her clients, like the woman who always comes in wanting to look like Isadora Duncan or Karsavina). Elegiac, beautifully drawn, immersive--one of my very favorite reads!
May 14, 2023
Much to my surprise, I found this agreeable. I didn't realize the author wrote romances when I picked it up. That's not my genre, but this was set in 1911 in Vienna. There were great characters, humor and thankfully, no heaving bosoms or aching loins. A little too happily ever after for all involved at the end, but, all in all, not bad.
April 3, 2012
The book description and other reviews for this book were misleading. It wasn't at all charming, delightful or romantic. It was deeply depressing actually. Looks matter and nothing else. Women are entirely to blame for a bad marriage and men are virtuous and deceived by ugly wives.
The icing on the cake was the story Susanna shares with her friend Alice about a buck-tooth girl who tricked a poor guy into being saddled with her. They bemoan the fate of the poor men with bad wives.
Right. I think it's time to put that myth to bed. Some men cheat on lovely, honest and decent wives who are often pretty. Even the villainous Egger's wife wasn't spared despite his "Nasty habit", bad business practices and other despicable qualities. She was ugly and plain! Even if the wife is "plain" by Susanna's eye people do honestly have a myriad of reasons for being married.
This was the two women's nasty way of excusing that they are other women without showing in the novel that most "kept woman" aren't really loved by these men at all. It reminded me of two different miniseries about hookers, Band of Gold and The Secret Diary of a Caller Girl which pity the poor men whose wife won't do this or that. In this case the wife is just ugly or has interests outside of her husband.
I don't fault that Susanna wasn't perfect [her petty feelings for a rival dressmaker] since Ibbotson's other heroines are ridiculously forgiving... but Susanna placed too much stock in people's appearances. For a thirty-six year old woman she ought to have learned her dead mother's remark "Pretty equals goodness" is not true. She never sees beyond that even after her 'match-making' of poor Edith and Herr Huber. He wasn't a good looking bloke but spent the majority of the book expecting to get the hot girl. Magdalena.
The Magdalena/Edith storyline contradicted her argument with Huber. Magdalena wanted a sexless marriage but was sooo pretty. Now there was a marriage that would have ended in infidelity had it happened.
Susanna should at least hold men to these same standards. She does tell him off but only for thinking he could have a marriage without sex. It could just be that people end up not being compatible but the poor men who have wives that don't understand them. She also picked on the women for having ugly daughters. Gasp, the worst thing a wife could do to her man.
This book was filled with women hating other women. It didn't have a cozy, magical and feel goodness when the book lambasts you with appearances are all that matters in a relationship when the book is a romance. Connections with people for more than surface reasons are what sells a romance or makes you give a damn what happens to them.
This read like a kiddie pool version of Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love". Only partly none of the good stuff of that book. That book was sublime and true to real romance in that most love is all in ours heads and how we ourselves feel about the other person is what most love is. There could have been a way to tell Susanna and Alice own romances without blaming women in general for not understanding poor men. This book was just all the lies women in affairs tell themselves without exposing the lies.
It failed as a romance for real life love for failing to expose those as lies and it failed as a fantasy because it was too cold.
This is a book written for adults unlike Ibboton's other novels but with the exception of her heroines and their love interests the other novels involved complex characters.
This book might be for immature adults who don't understand how bad these sort of relationships are for everyone involved. At best it's just someone who doesn't know what they want and flitters between two women who offer something of what they want but not the complete package. Some men have a Madonna/Whore complex and want two women.
Not this line from the book that had me laughing a loud. "It isn't warm, passionate women like you who make the Great Lovers of this world. It's coldhearted devils like me who are generally bored or discontented and frequently both."
How charming.
This is why this failed. He was bored. I was bored as a result. That was all her Field Marshall ever got across was boredom.
The first few pages were the old stock unrealistic "Those flowers are so beautiful la di da".
The icing on the cake was the story Susanna shares with her friend Alice about a buck-tooth girl who tricked a poor guy into being saddled with her. They bemoan the fate of the poor men with bad wives.
Right. I think it's time to put that myth to bed. Some men cheat on lovely, honest and decent wives who are often pretty. Even the villainous Egger's wife wasn't spared despite his "Nasty habit", bad business practices and other despicable qualities. She was ugly and plain! Even if the wife is "plain" by Susanna's eye people do honestly have a myriad of reasons for being married.
This was the two women's nasty way of excusing that they are other women without showing in the novel that most "kept woman" aren't really loved by these men at all. It reminded me of two different miniseries about hookers, Band of Gold and The Secret Diary of a Caller Girl which pity the poor men whose wife won't do this or that. In this case the wife is just ugly or has interests outside of her husband.
I don't fault that Susanna wasn't perfect [her petty feelings for a rival dressmaker] since Ibbotson's other heroines are ridiculously forgiving... but Susanna placed too much stock in people's appearances. For a thirty-six year old woman she ought to have learned her dead mother's remark "Pretty equals goodness" is not true. She never sees beyond that even after her 'match-making' of poor Edith and Herr Huber. He wasn't a good looking bloke but spent the majority of the book expecting to get the hot girl. Magdalena.
The Magdalena/Edith storyline contradicted her argument with Huber. Magdalena wanted a sexless marriage but was sooo pretty. Now there was a marriage that would have ended in infidelity had it happened.
Susanna should at least hold men to these same standards. She does tell him off but only for thinking he could have a marriage without sex. It could just be that people end up not being compatible but the poor men who have wives that don't understand them. She also picked on the women for having ugly daughters. Gasp, the worst thing a wife could do to her man.
This book was filled with women hating other women. It didn't have a cozy, magical and feel goodness when the book lambasts you with appearances are all that matters in a relationship when the book is a romance. Connections with people for more than surface reasons are what sells a romance or makes you give a damn what happens to them.
This read like a kiddie pool version of Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love". Only partly none of the good stuff of that book. That book was sublime and true to real romance in that most love is all in ours heads and how we ourselves feel about the other person is what most love is. There could have been a way to tell Susanna and Alice own romances without blaming women in general for not understanding poor men. This book was just all the lies women in affairs tell themselves without exposing the lies.
It failed as a romance for real life love for failing to expose those as lies and it failed as a fantasy because it was too cold.
This is a book written for adults unlike Ibboton's other novels but with the exception of her heroines and their love interests the other novels involved complex characters.
This book might be for immature adults who don't understand how bad these sort of relationships are for everyone involved. At best it's just someone who doesn't know what they want and flitters between two women who offer something of what they want but not the complete package. Some men have a Madonna/Whore complex and want two women.
Not this line from the book that had me laughing a loud. "It isn't warm, passionate women like you who make the Great Lovers of this world. It's coldhearted devils like me who are generally bored or discontented and frequently both."
How charming.
This is why this failed. He was bored. I was bored as a result. That was all her Field Marshall ever got across was boredom.
The first few pages were the old stock unrealistic "Those flowers are so beautiful la di da".
August 9, 2025
august 2025 reread: via audiobook
January 2025 reread: part of my mistresses in historical romance series now on the blog
October 2024 reread: I picked this up again to reread some favorite parts and ended up reading the whole thing again. Maybe my favorite read of 2024
September 2024: Madensky Square is historical fiction with some romance.
I'm still floored by this book which I first read about scrolling through the Dear Author comments section about mistress romances - Sherry Thomas actually rec'd this book! I have longed to read a romance about a mistress who remains a mistress by the end of the book - without an "elevation" to wife status. I want stolen moments and secret accounts, separate lives that intersect in hotels and rented homes over long weekends . . . This book has all of those things. And it works so well probably because the book is not genre romance.
1911, Vienna: Susanna is the respected and talented owner of a dress shop in Madensky Square. The square is bustling with other shops and families who live and work here. Susanna is the mistress of an important officer who is in a loveless marriage. Told through journal entries over one year, we meet Susanna's neighbors, clients, and her lover, Gernot. Due to his important government position, Gernot is unable to divorce his wife.
I loved getting to know Susanna's neighbors and friends. Ibbotson created such fascinating secondary characters - I shared their worries and delighted in their happiness. The book ends in March 1912 and although things end positively (imo) for many of the characters, we, the reader, know what historical events are coming soon. and oh my heart my heart, how I wish there was more time with this special place.
When I was 20 I backpacked through Europe with a friend. The first city we stayed in was Vienna - so it's always been a special city to me. Our first night, as we were running through the streets to catch our bus we came upon a woman underneath an arch playing a harp. I don't recall the song but I remember how it made me feel: alive. This book made me feel similarly but it might be because I'm very romantic about Vienna. I wish I could say more about the book but everything I want to say feel inadequate!
January 2025 reread: part of my mistresses in historical romance series now on the blog
October 2024 reread: I picked this up again to reread some favorite parts and ended up reading the whole thing again. Maybe my favorite read of 2024
September 2024: Madensky Square is historical fiction with some romance.
I'm still floored by this book which I first read about scrolling through the Dear Author comments section about mistress romances - Sherry Thomas actually rec'd this book! I have longed to read a romance about a mistress who remains a mistress by the end of the book - without an "elevation" to wife status. I want stolen moments and secret accounts, separate lives that intersect in hotels and rented homes over long weekends . . . This book has all of those things. And it works so well probably because the book is not genre romance.
Every meeting is like wading through shifting sand to an oasis.
1911, Vienna: Susanna is the respected and talented owner of a dress shop in Madensky Square. The square is bustling with other shops and families who live and work here. Susanna is the mistress of an important officer who is in a loveless marriage. Told through journal entries over one year, we meet Susanna's neighbors, clients, and her lover, Gernot. Due to his important government position, Gernot is unable to divorce his wife.
I loved getting to know Susanna's neighbors and friends. Ibbotson created such fascinating secondary characters - I shared their worries and delighted in their happiness. The book ends in March 1912 and although things end positively (imo) for many of the characters, we, the reader, know what historical events are coming soon. and oh my heart my heart, how I wish there was more time with this special place.
When I was 20 I backpacked through Europe with a friend. The first city we stayed in was Vienna - so it's always been a special city to me. Our first night, as we were running through the streets to catch our bus we came upon a woman underneath an arch playing a harp. I don't recall the song but I remember how it made me feel: alive. This book made me feel similarly but it might be because I'm very romantic about Vienna. I wish I could say more about the book but everything I want to say feel inadequate!
April 5, 2024
When I read Eva Ibbotson's novels, I feel enchanted. She has a Dickens-like ability to create memorable and quirky characters that I long to be real. Madensky Square is to Eva Ibbotson as The Blue Castle is to L.M. Montgomery. The themes and some subject matter in Madensky Square are more somber, more weighty than Ibbotson's other writing and yet, like The Blue Castle, the plot and the characters are sprightly and full of energy.
As the book opens, it's March and Susanna Weber has decided to keep a journal for a year to record the daily happenings in Madensky Square where she has her own dressmaking shop and lives above the shop with her assistant Nini. Madensky Square is in Vienna and we are just a couple years before WWI. The unrest of the revolutionary rumblings in Russia are felt in Vienna but Vienna still has its old-world charm. Susanna is 36 years old and is not married, though we come to find out that she is the long-time mistress of a Field Marshal in the army. (Susanna's best friend Alice is also a mistress. This is not unusual for Ibbotson's writing so I wasn't surprised at this. It feels very much like a European norm from many novels I've read. However, I do feel it prudent to mention this.)
Madensky Square has both residences and shops, including a cafe and a Catholic church, and we soon get to know all Susanna's neighbors with their quirks. We also get to know Susanna's customers who are even quirkier than her neighbors. Some of them are quite offputting, but Susanna treats them with dignity (and treats us to her asides on them). Susanna's pride in her shop and in her dressmaking skill is lovely to read about. She also has her own secret sorrow that gives the narrative depth.
Susanna is one of those characters who has a special attraction to everyone who knows her. She's smart and observant and unselfish. She constantly cares for and looks out for the underdog and is something of a well-intentioned meddler. She has strong opinions but she also has tact. She has a sensitivity to those who are suffering and a love of beauty. These things characterize many of Ibbotson's wonderful female leads, but I found Susanna especially compelling because she is older than the typical heroine and has some particular sorrows in her past that give her a motherliness. Her character development over the story makes this five stars for me. I also love her independence apart from her relationship with Gernot. I do think it's important to the story that she stays unmarried. (She's a bit like everyone's kindly, competent older sister.)
There are simply too many other wonderful characters to name. In the second half of the novel, there is a threat to the wellbeing of Madensky Square and the characters wake up to the power of this small and welcoming community within the larger bustling city of Vienna. Besides Susanna, this is the part I loved most. I was immediately reminded of St. Crispian's in Beth Brower's Emma M. Lion series. Both neighborhoods have a distinct flavor and any change to the people who live there affects every other person. This interconnectedness is lovely and is another characteristic of Ibbotson's writing.
Now I'm off to listen for the 20th time to Ibbotson's novel The Countess Below Stairs while I tap my toes in expectation of when I'll get to re-read this novel.
(This is my 6th finished novel for my 24 Books in 2024 project!)
As the book opens, it's March and Susanna Weber has decided to keep a journal for a year to record the daily happenings in Madensky Square where she has her own dressmaking shop and lives above the shop with her assistant Nini. Madensky Square is in Vienna and we are just a couple years before WWI. The unrest of the revolutionary rumblings in Russia are felt in Vienna but Vienna still has its old-world charm. Susanna is 36 years old and is not married, though we come to find out that she is the long-time mistress of a Field Marshal in the army. (Susanna's best friend Alice is also a mistress. This is not unusual for Ibbotson's writing so I wasn't surprised at this. It feels very much like a European norm from many novels I've read. However, I do feel it prudent to mention this.)
Madensky Square has both residences and shops, including a cafe and a Catholic church, and we soon get to know all Susanna's neighbors with their quirks. We also get to know Susanna's customers who are even quirkier than her neighbors. Some of them are quite offputting, but Susanna treats them with dignity (and treats us to her asides on them). Susanna's pride in her shop and in her dressmaking skill is lovely to read about. She also has her own secret sorrow that gives the narrative depth.
Susanna is one of those characters who has a special attraction to everyone who knows her. She's smart and observant and unselfish. She constantly cares for and looks out for the underdog and is something of a well-intentioned meddler. She has strong opinions but she also has tact. She has a sensitivity to those who are suffering and a love of beauty. These things characterize many of Ibbotson's wonderful female leads, but I found Susanna especially compelling because she is older than the typical heroine and has some particular sorrows in her past that give her a motherliness. Her character development over the story makes this five stars for me. I also love her independence apart from her relationship with Gernot. I do think it's important to the story that she stays unmarried. (She's a bit like everyone's kindly, competent older sister.)
There are simply too many other wonderful characters to name. In the second half of the novel, there is a threat to the wellbeing of Madensky Square and the characters wake up to the power of this small and welcoming community within the larger bustling city of Vienna. Besides Susanna, this is the part I loved most. I was immediately reminded of St. Crispian's in Beth Brower's Emma M. Lion series. Both neighborhoods have a distinct flavor and any change to the people who live there affects every other person. This interconnectedness is lovely and is another characteristic of Ibbotson's writing.
Now I'm off to listen for the 20th time to Ibbotson's novel The Countess Below Stairs while I tap my toes in expectation of when I'll get to re-read this novel.
(This is my 6th finished novel for my 24 Books in 2024 project!)
February 15, 2021
Slightly deceiving to put it on the House shelf, because really, it's much more city square-as-character. This one is set in 1911, and the woman is older, and she has a lovely shop where she makes beautiful clothes for women. And she has an apartment above her shop, and her living room looks out over the square, so she sees what's going on with the neighbors.
Different, but still with the sadness.
I don't want to become a seamstress or designer, I don't want to live in Austria. But I love the careful attention to detail and the familiarity with the neighbors lives, and them all so close.
Library copy
Different, but still with the sadness.
I don't want to become a seamstress or designer, I don't want to live in Austria. But I love the careful attention to detail and the familiarity with the neighbors lives, and them all so close.
Library copy
August 14, 2020
Susanna is a modiste in Vienna in 1911. She lives on Madensky Square with her revolutionary model/seamstress. In her forties (I think) she is beautiful, the mistress of a senior politician/soldier, and the mother of a child she gave away at birth.
This is an odd book. It is beautifully written and Madensky Square itself is one of my favourite characters in the story, so evocatively drawn, I wanted to live there myself. I share Susanna’s love of fabric, or creating, of seeing a creation worn by just the right person, though I haven’t made it my life’s work. I love her eye for detail, both for clothes and for people. And I really enjoyed some of the people in the book, who were drawn with a similar fine eye.
This is one of those stories that meanders in a nice, soothing way. You know that all the ends are going to be tied up. You trust the author won’t make it too sugary, though there are sugary elements. But underneath the pretty descriptions, the quaint, eccentric characters, there’s a very dark element to this story. This is Vienna, a city about to be ripped apart by WWI. A number of the main characters are bound to be killed or widowed. And later, after the war, when the National Socialists come to the fore, a number of the main characters will find the city they love no longer loves them.
So history casts a cloud, but it’s not the only one. The women in this story share one core value – beauty – and that sat quite uncomfortably with me. They live through beauty, and their beauty – faces, clothes, houses, even inner strength – is all for the men in their lives, or in order to bring men into their lives. They existed through men. Only one man exists for a woman, and that was the little child prodigy pianist, the one character in the book actually, which I felt was two-dimensional.
I finished this book not knowing how I felt about it. I enjoyed reading it. I didn’t have to skip to the end, I relished the writing. And yet at the end, I felt a bit sad and a bit empty. Maybe there are better books by Ibbotson – this was my first. I will take a look and try another.
This is an odd book. It is beautifully written and Madensky Square itself is one of my favourite characters in the story, so evocatively drawn, I wanted to live there myself. I share Susanna’s love of fabric, or creating, of seeing a creation worn by just the right person, though I haven’t made it my life’s work. I love her eye for detail, both for clothes and for people. And I really enjoyed some of the people in the book, who were drawn with a similar fine eye.
This is one of those stories that meanders in a nice, soothing way. You know that all the ends are going to be tied up. You trust the author won’t make it too sugary, though there are sugary elements. But underneath the pretty descriptions, the quaint, eccentric characters, there’s a very dark element to this story. This is Vienna, a city about to be ripped apart by WWI. A number of the main characters are bound to be killed or widowed. And later, after the war, when the National Socialists come to the fore, a number of the main characters will find the city they love no longer loves them.
So history casts a cloud, but it’s not the only one. The women in this story share one core value – beauty – and that sat quite uncomfortably with me. They live through beauty, and their beauty – faces, clothes, houses, even inner strength – is all for the men in their lives, or in order to bring men into their lives. They existed through men. Only one man exists for a woman, and that was the little child prodigy pianist, the one character in the book actually, which I felt was two-dimensional.
I finished this book not knowing how I felt about it. I enjoyed reading it. I didn’t have to skip to the end, I relished the writing. And yet at the end, I felt a bit sad and a bit empty. Maybe there are better books by Ibbotson – this was my first. I will take a look and try another.
September 6, 2011
This is not quite in Ibbotson’s usual line, and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. Susanne is a clothing designer with a store in Madensky Square. She records life in the square, as well as her thoughts and struggles in a diary. I finished mostly because I was on an Ibbotson kick and wanted to get through it. [Mar.2011]
September 12, 2015
This is a book tinged with a certain bittersweet, calm middle European melancholia that I enjoy, but suspect some Americans might not like the flavor of. It is romantic and thoughtful, with a marvelous sense of place and history. And the characters are all so well drawn, people who make you (or at least me) smile in passing. It's an intelligent book, written by a woman who herself came originally from the city it's written about. She knows and clearly deeply loves these places and people, although the story takes place in what would have been her mother or grandmother's era.
Her other books are either quirky children's fare or quirky adult romances in which the humble, young adult heroine is often celebrated for her extraordinary kindheartedness.
This is not one of those books. In fact, this is the author's only published venture into what I would call true literary fiction. The heroine is a true adult woman who owns her own small business in a time when being a single woman alone was not normal or easy. She is not wide-eyed naive. She will save herself if she needs saving, rather than requiring the deuce ex machina of a conveniently timed romance. There is a romance, but it's icing, not the cake.
I don't know if you can tell from this description, but it is one of my favorite books of all time. Top 10 probably.
Her other books are either quirky children's fare or quirky adult romances in which the humble, young adult heroine is often celebrated for her extraordinary kindheartedness.
This is not one of those books. In fact, this is the author's only published venture into what I would call true literary fiction. The heroine is a true adult woman who owns her own small business in a time when being a single woman alone was not normal or easy. She is not wide-eyed naive. She will save herself if she needs saving, rather than requiring the deuce ex machina of a conveniently timed romance. There is a romance, but it's icing, not the cake.
I don't know if you can tell from this description, but it is one of my favorite books of all time. Top 10 probably.
February 26, 2015
I had to make another new shelf for this, because "cosy comfort reads" is so precisely what it is, and without such a shelf it would be left with nothing to describe it save for its place and time.
It could be a romance maybe, but it's not only or entirely that. Of course there's Susanna and Gernot, but that's not the main focus of the story. This isn't a romance novel, just a novel with romance in it.
It's absolutely beautiful... the pace and the language are just divine. I wasn't sure I would like it as much as most other of Eva Ibbotson's work, seeing as it's an actual grown-up novel and of course A Song for Summer was so dreadfully dull... but that one was definitely a one-off because Madensky Square - so named after the square in Vienna where it's set - was just gorgeous.
And I am tempted to make a Vienna shelf, alongside my general Austria one, for all of these books which so vividly bring Vienna to life and make me want to GO there. Especially to the Volksprater with its Grottenbahn full of fairytales... I fully understand how Sigismund wanted to circle around and around seven times; I wanted to keep re-reading those pages forever!
Susanna is a lovely character, and everyone she meets is brought to life so wonderfully in her voice. You can see the square and its inhabitants so easily, and you love them all - even the ones you love to hate, like the dreaded Countess von Metz. They're all so real and wonderful, and I don't care if half the women are mistresses and not wives. Everything is dealt with in such a calm, understated way that it's lovely without being lurid.
The clothes - Susanna is a dress-maker - the opera, the food, the countryside, it's all so gorgeous. And of course the writing. I love Eva Ibbotson's style so much, and I adored it in first person. After reading a lot of her books a lot of her heroines begin to sound similar, they all talk too much and ramble off on crazy tangents which only make sense to them - but Susanna doesn't do this, or she does it so rarely that you don't notice. And I love her for it.
This book isn't a tear-jerker, but it did move me to tears a few times. Poor Rip, and I was so heartbroken over the apparent split between Susanna and Gernot, after she missed the train and missed her lovely weekend!
I loved baby Donatella and adored poor little Sigismund - finding out that he was working himself to death for his beloved Susanna, that he hadn't just gone off and forgotten her, that really moved me as well. I just wish she could have adopted him or something!
I have to end with my absolute favourite part, when Susanna was sneaking Alice into the hospital to see Rudi, who was dying. Alice was Rudi's mistress, and only two visitors were allowed at a time, and his wife and daughter were always there so she was unable to see him.
"Excuse me, but visitors are not allowed at this hour."
A starched sister, all bristles and authority.
I smiled. "We're not visiting a patient, sister. We're visiting Professor Mittelheimer."
My smile, that of a third-class houri in the red-light district of a minor provincial town, was an accident brought on by nerves, but it disconcerted the Sister so much that she let us pass. With the reputation of the poor Professor (whose name I had got off a notice board) in ruins, we went up a second flight of stairs.
After that, I put down the book and laughed for a good ten minutes!
It could be a romance maybe, but it's not only or entirely that. Of course there's Susanna and Gernot, but that's not the main focus of the story. This isn't a romance novel, just a novel with romance in it.
It's absolutely beautiful... the pace and the language are just divine. I wasn't sure I would like it as much as most other of Eva Ibbotson's work, seeing as it's an actual grown-up novel and of course A Song for Summer was so dreadfully dull... but that one was definitely a one-off because Madensky Square - so named after the square in Vienna where it's set - was just gorgeous.
And I am tempted to make a Vienna shelf, alongside my general Austria one, for all of these books which so vividly bring Vienna to life and make me want to GO there. Especially to the Volksprater with its Grottenbahn full of fairytales... I fully understand how Sigismund wanted to circle around and around seven times; I wanted to keep re-reading those pages forever!
Susanna is a lovely character, and everyone she meets is brought to life so wonderfully in her voice. You can see the square and its inhabitants so easily, and you love them all - even the ones you love to hate, like the dreaded Countess von Metz. They're all so real and wonderful, and I don't care if half the women are mistresses and not wives. Everything is dealt with in such a calm, understated way that it's lovely without being lurid.
The clothes - Susanna is a dress-maker - the opera, the food, the countryside, it's all so gorgeous. And of course the writing. I love Eva Ibbotson's style so much, and I adored it in first person. After reading a lot of her books a lot of her heroines begin to sound similar, they all talk too much and ramble off on crazy tangents which only make sense to them - but Susanna doesn't do this, or she does it so rarely that you don't notice. And I love her for it.
This book isn't a tear-jerker, but it did move me to tears a few times. Poor Rip, and I was so heartbroken over the apparent split between Susanna and Gernot, after she missed the train and missed her lovely weekend!
I loved baby Donatella and adored poor little Sigismund - finding out that he was working himself to death for his beloved Susanna, that he hadn't just gone off and forgotten her, that really moved me as well. I just wish she could have adopted him or something!
I have to end with my absolute favourite part, when Susanna was sneaking Alice into the hospital to see Rudi, who was dying. Alice was Rudi's mistress, and only two visitors were allowed at a time, and his wife and daughter were always there so she was unable to see him.
"Excuse me, but visitors are not allowed at this hour."
A starched sister, all bristles and authority.
I smiled. "We're not visiting a patient, sister. We're visiting Professor Mittelheimer."
My smile, that of a third-class houri in the red-light district of a minor provincial town, was an accident brought on by nerves, but it disconcerted the Sister so much that she let us pass. With the reputation of the poor Professor (whose name I had got off a notice board) in ruins, we went up a second flight of stairs.
After that, I put down the book and laughed for a good ten minutes!
October 15, 2018
This, this is The One. I love Eva Ibbotson with my whole heart, I've yet to read one of her books that wasn't a pure delight, but this one that is sadder and maturer, with the shine worn off a little and it's archly raised eyebrow - this is the one that speaks to me the most. Susanna is what happens when one of the heroines from Ibbotson's romance novels finds out that Happy Ever After doesn't always follow First Love, and as much as I love those shiny happy heroines, Susanna is all the better for it!
I love Susanna, I want to wrap her up and protect her from all future harm. I just wish I didn't know what was in store for Austria in 1914!
I love Susanna, I want to wrap her up and protect her from all future harm. I just wish I didn't know what was in store for Austria in 1914!
January 28, 2019
2.5
I think there's a reason that this Ibbotson book hasn't been reprinted and that's because it's not a very good one.
Issues:
--Is there a single happy marriage in the entire book? I think every single husband in the book is having an affair.
--Most of the main female characters are having affairs with said men. What??? Why is everyone a mistress??
--The multiple challenges are resolved very neatly.
Of course being an Ibbotson book it has amazing writing and secondary characters and cultural references. Nini, Sigi, and the descriptions of the dress shop raised this book to three stars.
I think there's a reason that this Ibbotson book hasn't been reprinted and that's because it's not a very good one.
Issues:
--Is there a single happy marriage in the entire book? I think every single husband in the book is having an affair.
--Most of the main female characters are having affairs with said men. What??? Why is everyone a mistress??
--The multiple challenges are resolved very neatly.
Of course being an Ibbotson book it has amazing writing and secondary characters and cultural references. Nini, Sigi, and the descriptions of the dress shop raised this book to three stars.
April 2, 2012
To read Eva Ibbotson is to love Eva Ibbotson, but I really think this book captured a glimpse into the author that I hadn't seen before. It showed a depth and just a little hint at something that isn't visible in her other books! She has completely captured me with Madensky Square!
December 25, 2020
shockingly different from Eva ibbotsons other historical romance novels, which for all that I love them tend to be a bit formulaic. This one was sadder and less romantic than I anticipated, although still quite lovely
April 24, 2023
4.5 stars
I have been slowly making my way through Eva Ibbotson’s backlist for some years now and I honestly think this is my favourite. I love her writing and her almost unbelievable love stories full of hidden princesses, handsome but exasperating men, and the faded opulence of war torn Europe. So imagine my surprise at this gem of a book that was none of those things.
For starters this book is set preWW1, and although you can start to sense the general unease and stirrings of war, the book is a very soft and gentle account of a dressmaker, and the comings and goings of the people who live and work in Madensky Square. There is no real overarching plot, this is just a character led story over the course of about a year, in which you get to know the history and the culture of Vienna. I really loved it!
I have been slowly making my way through Eva Ibbotson’s backlist for some years now and I honestly think this is my favourite. I love her writing and her almost unbelievable love stories full of hidden princesses, handsome but exasperating men, and the faded opulence of war torn Europe. So imagine my surprise at this gem of a book that was none of those things.
For starters this book is set preWW1, and although you can start to sense the general unease and stirrings of war, the book is a very soft and gentle account of a dressmaker, and the comings and goings of the people who live and work in Madensky Square. There is no real overarching plot, this is just a character led story over the course of about a year, in which you get to know the history and the culture of Vienna. I really loved it!
August 24, 2009
A story about Susanna Weber, who is a dressmaker, set in 1911, before the world was consumed by World War I but where sabre rattling was already starting to be heard. Anarchism is seen as an interesting hobby and life is interesting. Susanna has carved herself a life in Madensky Square, knows the people there and where she works and lives.
This is an interesting time in her life a time of love and sorrow; of change and trials but overall a story of a life well lived. It's not quite a romance, it's a light book that shines with a love for the location and the characters and a gentle humour for what's going on in people's lives. I really did like the read and look forward to hunting up more by this author.
This is an interesting time in her life a time of love and sorrow; of change and trials but overall a story of a life well lived. It's not quite a romance, it's a light book that shines with a love for the location and the characters and a gentle humour for what's going on in people's lives. I really did like the read and look forward to hunting up more by this author.
February 16, 2023
Susanna, the protagonist of this diary-style historical fiction novel, has a humble, beautiful, and ironically funny perspective that I adored. She is empathetic, independent, clever, and is always privy to the latest town scandals due to her position as a dressmaker. Her mature and charming perspective oscillates between her assertive confidence and her insecurities as an unmarried woman on the precipice of middle age. The setting of a small, bustling town square in 1911 Vienna brings us back to a time of grandeur in Austria’s history, where music abounded and high fashion and wealth was a mark of being well-favored by the empire. The author explores marriage customs, female roles in society and business, and friendship. I could not get enough of this book, and my only complaint is it is too short: I want to follow Susanna the next few years and through The Great War. The novel jumps around quite a bit to various situations in Susanna’s life, and normally I would find that disorienting. Since this book is written as a diary, however, I could easily picture her rising from her desk one moment and coming back to the diary a few days later with more to write, so the jumps made the writing feel more personable.
September 8, 2025
Super interesting setting in Vienna just before WWI, a time and place I have not often read about. I loved the descriptions of the neighborhood and the unique characters who appear throughout the book but my midwestern American sensibility was not so taken with the lax attitude towards extramarital affairs and constant wife-blaming for the husbands’ behavior. All in all a very refreshing little novel, however.
August 15, 2010
I like the way the book was written but I just couldn't like any of the people in the book. All the men cheating on their wives, and their mistresses not caring if they hurt anybody... I despise those types of women so it made it hard for me to get the real beauty of the book
April 19, 2018
2 1/2 stars
I have read and enjoyed several of the author's children's books, and I guess I expected more from this one. I thought the story flitted around way too much, and most of the (frequent) Germanic references meant nothing to me.
I have read and enjoyed several of the author's children's books, and I guess I expected more from this one. I thought the story flitted around way too much, and most of the (frequent) Germanic references meant nothing to me.
August 11, 2018
A really enjoyable novel, full of vivid characters, set in a little pocket of Vienna in 1911. Funny & poignant - all the more so because the reader knows this is a world which is very soon to come to an end with the outbreak of WWI.
July 10, 2023
So lovely to discover an Eva Ibbotson I'd never read before, while randomly browsing bookshop shelves. This one is darker than her others, but still lively and evocative, with her particular genius for small and delightful details.
November 28, 2019
Oh, to live in Eva Ibbotson’s Vienna...
January 14, 2025
Every time I read this book, I wish I was more like Susanna. She is so kind to all of her quirky (sometimes irritating) neighbours and she has a real gift for finding the beauty in an ordinary life; whether it’s cherry blossom on the trees, the smell of coffee in the square or a little pear 🍐
November 9, 2013
This book is rather different from her other adult romances, it's written as a first person journal by Susanna Weber who owns a dress shop in 1911 Vienna. Susanna is older (36) and she's worked hard to build up a successful clientele. She won't take help from anyone, not even the man she loves. Susanna loves her shop and can easily manage the difficult clients as well as her anarchist shop assistant, Nini. She also loves the square and all the people who live around it. Their daily lives and intertwined as they go about their business. When a young piano prodigy moves to the square, Susanna sees he is neglected and abused and makes it her duty to befriend the boy and help his career. Susanna remains cheerful and optimistic most of the time, but sometimes she can't help but fall into a depression because she has a secret sorrow and a secret heartache.
She had a child out of wedlock she gave up for adoption years ago and she's the mistress of a married man.
Susanna records her daily events and secret hopes and sorrows into her journal. Then the day comes when her peaceful world is shattered and life as she knows it may change forever. She tries to remain positive and hope things will turn out all right. Help comes from an unexpected quarter and Susanna ends her year with a surprise. I wasn't crazy about this book. It's not as sad as the other adult novels but it's not as satisfying either. It's more realistic, I suppose, than the typical fairy tale plot, but I quite enjoy fairy tale romances and was disappointed in this one. I wanted to like Susanna but I felt like slapping her and telling her to grow up and move on. The secondary characters are much more appealing. They're fully fleshed people you'd expect to meet in real life and lots of fun to read about. I would recommend this book to those who like realistic stories but not to those who prefer neat and tidy happy endings.
She had a child out of wedlock she gave up for adoption years ago and she's the mistress of a married man.
Susanna records her daily events and secret hopes and sorrows into her journal. Then the day comes when her peaceful world is shattered and life as she knows it may change forever. She tries to remain positive and hope things will turn out all right. Help comes from an unexpected quarter and Susanna ends her year with a surprise. I wasn't crazy about this book. It's not as sad as the other adult novels but it's not as satisfying either. It's more realistic, I suppose, than the typical fairy tale plot, but I quite enjoy fairy tale romances and was disappointed in this one. I wanted to like Susanna but I felt like slapping her and telling her to grow up and move on. The secondary characters are much more appealing. They're fully fleshed people you'd expect to meet in real life and lots of fun to read about. I would recommend this book to those who like realistic stories but not to those who prefer neat and tidy happy endings.
April 10, 2009
First time reading this author and I was pleasantly surprised by the story. It was delightful.
From back cover:
"Susanna Weber is renowned for producing the most elegant, exquisite couture in Vienna. As all of fashionable society passes through her fitting room, Susanna touches numerous lives as matchmaker, comforter, confidante...and passionate lover.
From the improverished yet proud Countess von Metz, to Nini the volatile Hungarian anarchist; from Sigismund Kraszinsky, the young musical prodigy, to Susanna's hidden lover himself, Eva Ibbotson conjures up a perfect miniature of a vanished society. But while the world hurtles towards war, the secrets and sorrows which lie behind Susanna's bewitching charm emerge as she and her friends live out the last, glittering days of Imperial Vienna in the idyllic surroundings of Madensky Square."
From back cover:
"Susanna Weber is renowned for producing the most elegant, exquisite couture in Vienna. As all of fashionable society passes through her fitting room, Susanna touches numerous lives as matchmaker, comforter, confidante...and passionate lover.
From the improverished yet proud Countess von Metz, to Nini the volatile Hungarian anarchist; from Sigismund Kraszinsky, the young musical prodigy, to Susanna's hidden lover himself, Eva Ibbotson conjures up a perfect miniature of a vanished society. But while the world hurtles towards war, the secrets and sorrows which lie behind Susanna's bewitching charm emerge as she and her friends live out the last, glittering days of Imperial Vienna in the idyllic surroundings of Madensky Square."
January 8, 2024
Eva Ibbotson has been my favourite author for years now, but some of her books can be a bit hit or miss, especially her adult books, so I had no idea what to expect going into this. This was everything I love about Eva in one book. Characters who feel like real people, a kind, funny, flawed protagonist, a setting I would give anything to live in. One of the things I love most about her books is how much importance she places on beauty in the everyday, and I saw that at its best here, just getting to live with these characters and share in their lives.
September 21, 2017
Read for the 2017 September TBR Challenge: Historical
I listened to audio read by Juanita McMahon, whose voice reminded me a little of Barbara Rosenblat: similar range, with a husky quality that does both male and female voices well, but she doesn't overdo the dramatics as Rosenblat sometimes does. Overall, excellent narration. This story itself is told with Ibbotson's usual old-world charm.
I listened to audio read by Juanita McMahon, whose voice reminded me a little of Barbara Rosenblat: similar range, with a husky quality that does both male and female voices well, but she doesn't overdo the dramatics as Rosenblat sometimes does. Overall, excellent narration. This story itself is told with Ibbotson's usual old-world charm.
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