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The House of Velvet and Glass
Katherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane , returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball.
Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston's Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sybil flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.
But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Jones, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium's scrying glass.
From the opium dens of Boston's Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist in a breathtaking novel that will thrill readers.
Bonus features in the Katherine Howe's essay on scrying; Boston Daily Globe article on the Titanic from April 15, 1912; and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author, Katherine Howe.
Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston's Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sybil flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.
But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Jones, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium's scrying glass.
From the opium dens of Boston's Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist in a breathtaking novel that will thrill readers.
Bonus features in the Katherine Howe's essay on scrying; Boston Daily Globe article on the Titanic from April 15, 1912; and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author, Katherine Howe.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
358 people are currently reading
9624 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Howe
18 books2,537 followersKatherine Howe is a #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer of historical fiction and nonfiction. Her best known books are The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2009 and was named one of USA Today's top ten books of the year, and Conversion, which received the 2015 Massachusetts Book Award in young adult literature. In 2014 she edited The Penguin Book of Witches for Penguin Classics, a primary source reader on the history of witchcraft in England and North America. She co-authored the #1 bestselling Vanderbilt: the Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty with CNN's Anderson Cooper, which came out in September 2021. Their next bestselling collaboration, Astor: the Rise and Fall of an American Fortune released September 19, 2023. And her next novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself came out November 21. 2023, and her edited volume The Penguin Book of Pirates came out April 30, 2024. She holds a BA in art history and philosophy from Columbia and an MA in American and New England studies from Boston University, and is completing her doctorate in American studies at the University of East Anglia, A native Houstonian, she lives in New England with her family. She also puts hot sauce on everything.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,228 reviews
July 16, 2012
Quite possibly one of the most boring books I have ever read. The premise of the book was interesting, family still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones on the sinking of the Titanic. There is so much more depth that could have been added to this story but instead it was just pages of descriptions that added nothing to the story. I wanted to abandon this book but stuck it out to the end.
February 4, 2016
I loved the era of this book and really wanted to like it. I found it very, very slow and not very suspenseful. Really disappointing to me. The author clearly did alot of research on the era but just couldn't pull through with the story.
August 5, 2012
Looking at the separate pieces of this story, I feel like I should have liked it better. But everything that had potential is either over or under explained to the point where it's hard to care. The author either bores me with too much info, or just leave it hanging but somehow without any sense of suspense. I read a long way into the book before I realized there wasn't any one thing driving the plot and o I found it hard to care...are we looking for a developing romance (for Sibylline, for Eulah, for Harlan?) for a supernatural revelation, for family conflict and resolution?
So many parts of the story made me think "this is where it will get interesting", but it never really did. I'm not big on the Titanic, but I liked Helen and Eulah. Not sure why the author tried to get in a big "reveal moment " when the name of the ship they are on is mentioned...that was in the dust jacket description, we all knew where they were. They only showed up a few times though, and while I didn't need to see them die, I did think their story would connect better to the main storyline. The history of Lan as a sailor on shore leave in Singapore, seemed cliche...brothels, fistfights, and opium, but knowing from his family who Lan appears to be in adulthood, I was curious to see how it played out. We see the beginnings of the psychic story here, but otherwise don't learn much about Lan. Harlan's injured condition in the first chapters seems like it will have an exciting backstory, especially with the appearance of Dovie. Unfortunately, we did know the cause of it after all and it's not exciting nor did Dovie need to be involved. Dovie, I liked, with her mysterious background and her attitude, but those too, once explained, are rather boring and Dovie loses her appeal as the book goes on. Harlan I basically wrote off as a stock character in the beginning, but by the end I liked him a bit better than I expected to. Betty is introduced, is given some small scenes that again could have been made into something intriguing, but then disappears. Sibyll started off boring and gullible, she's attending seances, which isn't as interesting as you'd hope, dealing with an apparent eating disorder, which seems like it should become an issue but only resurfaces on occasion, and then she's introduced to opium. This offers the basic plot twist that I would call a surprise, except nothing about the book felt surprising to me. Everything seemed to build up so slowly and quietly, that the few plot twists that do appear seem anticlimatic. Since she at one point had a couple of suitors, I assume there must be something appealing about Sybill, but I never saw it. Not sure why Benton liked her, not entirely sure why he left her for someone else (it's brushed off in a sentence, and never looked back on by way of explanation). I liked Benton and Edwin, and come to think of it, they might be the only two that I didn't wind up disappointed in.
I wanted to like this one, based on all the potentially fascinating elements, but it just didn't fully deliver on any of them. I think this one will be much too quickly forgotten.
So many parts of the story made me think "this is where it will get interesting", but it never really did. I'm not big on the Titanic, but I liked Helen and Eulah. Not sure why the author tried to get in a big "reveal moment " when the name of the ship they are on is mentioned...that was in the dust jacket description, we all knew where they were. They only showed up a few times though, and while I didn't need to see them die, I did think their story would connect better to the main storyline. The history of Lan as a sailor on shore leave in Singapore, seemed cliche...brothels, fistfights, and opium, but knowing from his family who Lan appears to be in adulthood, I was curious to see how it played out. We see the beginnings of the psychic story here, but otherwise don't learn much about Lan. Harlan's injured condition in the first chapters seems like it will have an exciting backstory, especially with the appearance of Dovie. Unfortunately, we did know the cause of it after all and it's not exciting nor did Dovie need to be involved. Dovie, I liked, with her mysterious background and her attitude, but those too, once explained, are rather boring and Dovie loses her appeal as the book goes on. Harlan I basically wrote off as a stock character in the beginning, but by the end I liked him a bit better than I expected to. Betty is introduced, is given some small scenes that again could have been made into something intriguing, but then disappears. Sibyll started off boring and gullible, she's attending seances, which isn't as interesting as you'd hope, dealing with an apparent eating disorder, which seems like it should become an issue but only resurfaces on occasion, and then she's introduced to opium. This offers the basic plot twist that I would call a surprise, except nothing about the book felt surprising to me. Everything seemed to build up so slowly and quietly, that the few plot twists that do appear seem anticlimatic. Since she at one point had a couple of suitors, I assume there must be something appealing about Sybill, but I never saw it. Not sure why Benton liked her, not entirely sure why he left her for someone else (it's brushed off in a sentence, and never looked back on by way of explanation). I liked Benton and Edwin, and come to think of it, they might be the only two that I didn't wind up disappointed in.
I wanted to like this one, based on all the potentially fascinating elements, but it just didn't fully deliver on any of them. I think this one will be much too quickly forgotten.
June 11, 2012
“The girl was alone, but the windows reflected a dozen different angles of the back of her head and tops of her shoulders, as if she were guarded by an army of versions of herself, each one slightly different from the last.” Katherine Howe, THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS
THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS, by Katherine Howe, was published in April and is 432 pages. The publisher, Hyperion/Voice, sent me an advanced reading edition of the book. I loved Howe’s last novel, THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE, so I was really looking forward to this novel.
The story begins on the night of the Titanic’s sinking, and moves back and forth in time from the late 1800s in China to the early twentieth century in Boston. A wealthy mother and daughter die on the Titanic, leaving behind a fractured, grieving, dysfunctional family full of shocking secrets.
When we first meet Sybil Allston, a surviving daughter/sister, she is at a séance with other relatives of Titanic victims, hoping to connect with her dead mother and sister. She has a supernatural experience that both soothes her from her contact with the dead, and opens up a dark world of forbidden explorations and extra-normal experiences.
Her father, Lan, is an aged seaman with tremors and a haunted past, who loves his family, but who is often emotionally inaccessible to them. He and Sybil share a special bond because of their sensibility, and the way they seem to understand each other without lengthy conversation.
Sybil’s brother, Harlan, is a college drop out and drunk who ends up hospitalized after welching on a gambling debt. His near death experience turns up a woman of questionable reputation named Dovie, who the Allston’s take in to their house while Harlan recovers, and whose influence is not entirely positive.
The characters in THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS are clearly illustrated, realistic, and fascinating, as are their secrets, addictions, and the way their stories are woven together. From the final moments of the Titanic, to the opium dens of China and Boston, to the parlors of seers, THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS embroiders a rich text every bit as intriguing as its title. The multiple time periods and plot twists kept me reading late into the night, and I gasped aloud more than once when secrets were revealed.
If you enjoy literary mysteries with Poe-like settings and unique characters, you will love THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS.
THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS, by Katherine Howe, was published in April and is 432 pages. The publisher, Hyperion/Voice, sent me an advanced reading edition of the book. I loved Howe’s last novel, THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE, so I was really looking forward to this novel.
The story begins on the night of the Titanic’s sinking, and moves back and forth in time from the late 1800s in China to the early twentieth century in Boston. A wealthy mother and daughter die on the Titanic, leaving behind a fractured, grieving, dysfunctional family full of shocking secrets.
When we first meet Sybil Allston, a surviving daughter/sister, she is at a séance with other relatives of Titanic victims, hoping to connect with her dead mother and sister. She has a supernatural experience that both soothes her from her contact with the dead, and opens up a dark world of forbidden explorations and extra-normal experiences.
Her father, Lan, is an aged seaman with tremors and a haunted past, who loves his family, but who is often emotionally inaccessible to them. He and Sybil share a special bond because of their sensibility, and the way they seem to understand each other without lengthy conversation.
Sybil’s brother, Harlan, is a college drop out and drunk who ends up hospitalized after welching on a gambling debt. His near death experience turns up a woman of questionable reputation named Dovie, who the Allston’s take in to their house while Harlan recovers, and whose influence is not entirely positive.
The characters in THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS are clearly illustrated, realistic, and fascinating, as are their secrets, addictions, and the way their stories are woven together. From the final moments of the Titanic, to the opium dens of China and Boston, to the parlors of seers, THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS embroiders a rich text every bit as intriguing as its title. The multiple time periods and plot twists kept me reading late into the night, and I gasped aloud more than once when secrets were revealed.
If you enjoy literary mysteries with Poe-like settings and unique characters, you will love THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS.
April 23, 2012
I am deeply confused by all of the four and five star ratings. This book dragged on and I only finished because I was sure it had to get better. The descriptions were repetitive (if the author described Sybil's eyes as "obsidian" one more time I was tempted to write her and ask if her thesaurus broke). I don't need to be explicitly told things in a book but there were certain gray areas where I think the author forgot we as the readers are not in her head. I also think she threw in a lot of what she deemedd as "smart" analogies in places that had no bearing or relevance. I guess she was banking on the hoopla of the Titanic100th anniversary. The two stars are only for the vaguely interesting spirit and psychic material.
June 11, 2012
I feel badly giving any book only one star, but I actively dislike this book so there you go.
This was a slow, slogging along read, very repetitious with little action and too many people thinking about what something reminds them of which goes on and on. No one can just see someone smile without thinking of when someone else smiled about something and then the conversation that took place around the smile and those remeniscneces would go on for several pages before the story would start up again. I'd find myself rereading the same paragraph over and over because the story simply didn't pull me along.
Sibyl, the main character was both boring and, well, stupid, immensely so. She meets a woman of questionable reputation, but the very next day she takes her to tea at some fancy club so this woman can insult people, that's the only reason I can think of. And then she follows this woman to an opium den and after a miniscule hesitation, she decides why not?
I don't even know what the author is trying to say with this book, that opium is fun? She describes it in such loving detail that I'm left to wonder why everyone wouldn't want to smoke it?
The scenes on the Titanic do nothing. They don't move the story along, they don't give any insights into the characters. They just are. And the only thing I can think is that those bits were included because this is the 100th anniversary of the sinking so why not use that to sell books?
Yes, Sibyl is trying to reach them through a medium, but it's merely the jumping off point and has no real connection to the story. They could have died some other way and it wouldn't really change anything. If you're going to use an historic event, that event had better be necessary to the story.
The story of Sibyl's father is simply more of the same. Too long, too much nothing and not really essential to the story. It could have been told in a few paragraphs when Sibyl learns his secret. There was no reason for it to be drawn out in this way and the inclusion of his blue macaw in every scene at home, ugh. I know it's a reminder of what happened to him, but why did every scene at their home have to tell you what the macaw was doing when he is so inconsequential?
There are many bits like the macaw which are gone over many times and have no use to the story. There is reference to the La Farge window over and over and it has no point. It's just there. The parlors are dark, the curtains drawn and why this is was never explained other than at the end they are opened so is that a metaphor for revealing their secrets and if so, that is quite heavy-handed with no subltety to it. Look, some light has been let in to their lives. Ta-da!
There is a plot involving Harlan, Sibyl's brother and you think oh, this is going to be exciting. What can have happened to him? Is he involed with loan sharks, drugs, someone from his girlfriend's world? Nope. It is nothing and this plot completely fizzles, not to confuse it with the rest of the fizzle-fest.
The writing is repetitive. I get it! Benton was a college wrestler and is brawnier that most men of his time. Did every person who meets him need to think of his history, his physique and how his suit fits? Once was more than enough. And there are many instances like that, where something is repeated almost exactly the same way.
It is also very dry reading. None of the relationships, from the familial ones to the romantic ones, pulled at my emotions in any way. Maybe that is purposeful to make the reader feel how stale Sibyl's life has become, but when the thoughts are Harlan's or Lan's the style is the same. It feels that the reader is being kept at a distance, is the best way I can describe it.
This is one of those books that you just keep thinking one more chapter and it will get better, one more chapter and things will start happening. And by the time you realize it isn't going to get better, you think okay, I'm more than halfway there, I'll just finish the darn thing and be done with it. Maybe I'll love the ending and it will make up for the rest of it. Nope, it won't.
I should have used the fifty page rule and tossed it aside.
Wouldn't recommend this book and won't read this author again.
This was a slow, slogging along read, very repetitious with little action and too many people thinking about what something reminds them of which goes on and on. No one can just see someone smile without thinking of when someone else smiled about something and then the conversation that took place around the smile and those remeniscneces would go on for several pages before the story would start up again. I'd find myself rereading the same paragraph over and over because the story simply didn't pull me along.
Sibyl, the main character was both boring and, well, stupid, immensely so. She meets a woman of questionable reputation, but the very next day she takes her to tea at some fancy club so this woman can insult people, that's the only reason I can think of. And then she follows this woman to an opium den and after a miniscule hesitation, she decides why not?
I don't even know what the author is trying to say with this book, that opium is fun? She describes it in such loving detail that I'm left to wonder why everyone wouldn't want to smoke it?
The scenes on the Titanic do nothing. They don't move the story along, they don't give any insights into the characters. They just are. And the only thing I can think is that those bits were included because this is the 100th anniversary of the sinking so why not use that to sell books?
Yes, Sibyl is trying to reach them through a medium, but it's merely the jumping off point and has no real connection to the story. They could have died some other way and it wouldn't really change anything. If you're going to use an historic event, that event had better be necessary to the story.
The story of Sibyl's father is simply more of the same. Too long, too much nothing and not really essential to the story. It could have been told in a few paragraphs when Sibyl learns his secret. There was no reason for it to be drawn out in this way and the inclusion of his blue macaw in every scene at home, ugh. I know it's a reminder of what happened to him, but why did every scene at their home have to tell you what the macaw was doing when he is so inconsequential?
There are many bits like the macaw which are gone over many times and have no use to the story. There is reference to the La Farge window over and over and it has no point. It's just there. The parlors are dark, the curtains drawn and why this is was never explained other than at the end they are opened so is that a metaphor for revealing their secrets and if so, that is quite heavy-handed with no subltety to it. Look, some light has been let in to their lives. Ta-da!
There is a plot involving Harlan, Sibyl's brother and you think oh, this is going to be exciting. What can have happened to him? Is he involed with loan sharks, drugs, someone from his girlfriend's world? Nope. It is nothing and this plot completely fizzles, not to confuse it with the rest of the fizzle-fest.
The writing is repetitive. I get it! Benton was a college wrestler and is brawnier that most men of his time. Did every person who meets him need to think of his history, his physique and how his suit fits? Once was more than enough. And there are many instances like that, where something is repeated almost exactly the same way.
It is also very dry reading. None of the relationships, from the familial ones to the romantic ones, pulled at my emotions in any way. Maybe that is purposeful to make the reader feel how stale Sibyl's life has become, but when the thoughts are Harlan's or Lan's the style is the same. It feels that the reader is being kept at a distance, is the best way I can describe it.
This is one of those books that you just keep thinking one more chapter and it will get better, one more chapter and things will start happening. And by the time you realize it isn't going to get better, you think okay, I'm more than halfway there, I'll just finish the darn thing and be done with it. Maybe I'll love the ending and it will make up for the rest of it. Nope, it won't.
I should have used the fifty page rule and tossed it aside.
Wouldn't recommend this book and won't read this author again.
August 26, 2013
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was one of my favorite books the year it came it out. The plot was fast paced and original, and the characters so interesting and fleshed out. When I saw that the author had a second book coming out, I was excited and purchased it as soon as I saw it at the bookstore.
Unfortunately, I did not find The House of Velvet and Glass nearly as gripping as Howe's first book. The story didn't really take off for me until at least 1/3 of the way through, and the characters were remote and flat. If I had not read her first book, I'm not sure I would have finished this one.
The intriguing twist in the story came too late and far too close to the end. By the last 1/3 of the book Sybil and her father were people I cared about and had a variety of facets to their personalities, and I wondered why the author waited until almost the end to reveal them. It seems like there was the potential for a truly gripping story, but Howe missed the mark. That said, I'm still looking forward to third book from Howe, because her first book was that good.
Unfortunately, I did not find The House of Velvet and Glass nearly as gripping as Howe's first book. The story didn't really take off for me until at least 1/3 of the way through, and the characters were remote and flat. If I had not read her first book, I'm not sure I would have finished this one.
The intriguing twist in the story came too late and far too close to the end. By the last 1/3 of the book Sybil and her father were people I cared about and had a variety of facets to their personalities, and I wondered why the author waited until almost the end to reveal them. It seems like there was the potential for a truly gripping story, but Howe missed the mark. That said, I'm still looking forward to third book from Howe, because her first book was that good.
May 17, 2023
This was a really interesting read. It starts off slowly, quietly, darkly in 1915, in Boston, after the sinking of the Titanic, when Spiritualism was a ladies��� pasttime, when WW I was looming. We meet Sybil Allston, a 20-something woman who is meek and somewhat overwhelmed with running the household, which consists of her retired sea-faring father, Lan, and a rogue brother-after she loses her mother and sister on the Titanic. It becomes apparent that Sybil is lonely and isolated, spinsterish, and very bright.She misses her mother and sister and she goes to a spiritualist to try to reach out to them. At the same time we are being introduced to Lan as a teenager, who is a shiphand, and we spend a day with him as he disembarks in China, and has a very strange day indeed that has far reaching consequences. We also meet Helen and Eula, Sybil’s mother and sister, on the last night of their lives, on board a sinking ship.
I love the format in which this story was told, and the unfolding of each family member. Opium is involved, scrying, visions, fate and destiny-really interesting stuff. In the end, it is a story of a family, broken and grieving for their lost loved ones, and how they each find their way and make their choices.
I love the format in which this story was told, and the unfolding of each family member. Opium is involved, scrying, visions, fate and destiny-really interesting stuff. In the end, it is a story of a family, broken and grieving for their lost loved ones, and how they each find their way and make their choices.
April 21, 2012
Every now and again a novel comes along that has the power to bewitch and captivate, and The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe is just such a novel. Set in 1915 Boston, Sibyl Allston seems destined to be an old maid confined to managing her father’s home and living a careful life where little changes. Still reeling from the loss of her mother and her younger sister on the Titanic, Sibyl dutifully continues to meet with a medium in an attempt to contact her lost loved ones. Her father, aloof and undemonstrative, made his fortune at sea and is content to work at his shipping business or closet himself in his study. When Sibyl’s brother Harlan turns up having been kicked out of Harvard, and in a tawdry affair with a young women of questionable background Sibyl finds herself awakening to a life she never imagined. Accompanying Harlan’s girlfriend to Chinatown Sibyl discovers an unusual talent for scrying. Her talents may be just “pipe dreams” or they may in fact allow her to see into the future. As she begins to explore her new found ability she stumbles on to a long kept family secret. Rich with period detail, Howe deftly entwines colonialist Shanghai, the wreck of the Titanic, Boston’s drawing rooms and the days leading up to the Great War. A magical storyteller, Howe enchants readers with a story fit for lovers of historical fiction and tales of the supernatural.
May 1, 2012
This book was superb. I stayed up all night to finish it; I was so riveted by the story that I could not even consider sleep. While one of the themes in this book is the sinking of the Titanic (there are many out now due to the 100th anniversary), there were many more equally important themes including: Spiritualism, World War I, Addiction issues with opium and morphine; Women's rights, Philosphies of life and death, the Progressive era, Family dynamics, the Shipping trade, and even old-fashioned Romance. Two important motifs were music and clocks/timepieces.
The author also refers those who are interested in conducting more research to her website: www.katherinehowe.com. I will most assuredly visit the site and peruse the suggested bibliography. I also have several issues that I would like to have clarified. Hopefully, I will be able to email the author with my questions.
I was also fascinated by her earlier book "the Physick Book of Deliverance Dane." (If interested, please refer to my "Good Reads" review.) I will now wait eagerly for her next book to be released in the next few years. Since the author conducts extensive research for each book, I am certain that it will be a year or two before the publication of this future book.
The author also refers those who are interested in conducting more research to her website: www.katherinehowe.com. I will most assuredly visit the site and peruse the suggested bibliography. I also have several issues that I would like to have clarified. Hopefully, I will be able to email the author with my questions.
I was also fascinated by her earlier book "the Physick Book of Deliverance Dane." (If interested, please refer to my "Good Reads" review.) I will now wait eagerly for her next book to be released in the next few years. Since the author conducts extensive research for each book, I am certain that it will be a year or two before the publication of this future book.
May 1, 2012
The House of Velvet and Glass began slowly, in a time of mourning. I was struck by the quiet, empty house, the attention to keen details - this sense of being transported existed through the whole book, like the first few chapters built the time period before the figures themselves were struck alive.
The stories woven through the book were beautiful, and the weaving gave a pleasant rocking, like balancing on a boat in calm waters. There were love sagas that crossed class and age; violent stories that mangled and killed; a family struck by addiction and sorrow; and amazing exotic sea adventures. It gave an earnest history of the time, when the break of modernity was crashing hard on the century.
Mainly, this book is about grief: a person's grief, a family's grief, and the grief of a country after a great tragedy. You are pulled deep into Sibyl's despair, and thankful to heal with her, to witness her victories and strength.
The magic of the novel comes from the way the reader is magically transformed. The book itself is a way to scry another time and settle with our own visions of how the world drifts, a hundred years after this novel is set, in the wake of our own tragedies.
The stories woven through the book were beautiful, and the weaving gave a pleasant rocking, like balancing on a boat in calm waters. There were love sagas that crossed class and age; violent stories that mangled and killed; a family struck by addiction and sorrow; and amazing exotic sea adventures. It gave an earnest history of the time, when the break of modernity was crashing hard on the century.
Mainly, this book is about grief: a person's grief, a family's grief, and the grief of a country after a great tragedy. You are pulled deep into Sibyl's despair, and thankful to heal with her, to witness her victories and strength.
The magic of the novel comes from the way the reader is magically transformed. The book itself is a way to scry another time and settle with our own visions of how the world drifts, a hundred years after this novel is set, in the wake of our own tragedies.
May 18, 2025
Tantalizing glimpses of the unusual, the extraordinary hinted at, but all snatched away; coming to nothing. Ultimately, it's just a series of stories about the life of a family in early 1900's Boston. The characters are well drawn but the the story is so unsatisfying that in the end it doesn't matter.
Howe is a talented writer, and her book The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is excellent and all that this book is not.
Howe is a talented writer, and her book The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is excellent and all that this book is not.
February 1, 2013
Preferably I would give this novel one and a half stars. The premise, (young woman recovering from the loss of her mother and sister on the Titanic and trying to learn why her younger brother was expelled from Harvard in his senior year) while interesting, was far too ambitious and poorly executed by this author.
I just finished this last night and already find myself struggling to remember the heroine's name. The character development was nonexistent and the plot device of switching between 1915 Boston, the final moments on the Titanic, and Shanghai 1868 brought the story to a complete and utter halt.
I was really looking forward to a tale of the seedy opium dens of back alley Boston and the mystery of the brother's expulsion along with the intrigue of a medium's seances, however these were all jumbled together and if I had to read the description of something as "puddled" one more time - e.g. "her dressing gown puddled on the floor", "the moonlight puddled through the window", etc., etc. I was going to throw the book in the garbage.
Altogether this novel did not live up to the flap copy.
I just finished this last night and already find myself struggling to remember the heroine's name. The character development was nonexistent and the plot device of switching between 1915 Boston, the final moments on the Titanic, and Shanghai 1868 brought the story to a complete and utter halt.
I was really looking forward to a tale of the seedy opium dens of back alley Boston and the mystery of the brother's expulsion along with the intrigue of a medium's seances, however these were all jumbled together and if I had to read the description of something as "puddled" one more time - e.g. "her dressing gown puddled on the floor", "the moonlight puddled through the window", etc., etc. I was going to throw the book in the garbage.
Altogether this novel did not live up to the flap copy.
February 25, 2022
This was a book club read. I held out lots of hope for this as it came at the urging of "well red" friends (that's not a spellling error! LOL).
Although the writing is good, with descriptions that are quite exquisite at times, the plot moved oooh-sooo-slow. With the Titanic as the backdrop the story follows a well off society family that lost a wife/mother and daughter/sister to the tragic sinking.
The story goes between two time periods, one quite a long time before the sinking when the now widowed husband/father was a sailor on the high seas, and then the other time period a couple of years after the sinking, following the widowed husband and the remaining daughter, and how they are coping with their continuing grief. There seems to be a loss of flow each time the time period changes. While the information intended to be provided from the father's time as a young sailor is interesting, it could have been worked into the story in a much more efficient and interesting fashion.
The plot is a little thin, and for quite a bit of the book seems to be going no where. It seems to simply be a descriptive narrative, rather than building a plot. The characters are also somewhat flat and shallow. Nonetheless, I kept turning the pages...
Much effort is put into the descriptive passages of locations, activities, events, but again without adding anything of effect to the plot. One particular passage that comes to mind which clearly has little to do with enhancing the story or even setting the scene occurs when Sibyl is taking a short taxi ride and the entire paragraph is devoted to describing the taxi driver, noting (I'm going to paraphrase this...) the knitted cap on the burly taxi driver with the thick neck rolling over his collar and Sibyl wondering what he thinks as he crosses the bridge so many times each day. Should I care about this?? I think not. That's it, we never encounter him again, and neither he nor the bridge have any significance other than that passage. (Now I too, in equally useless fashion, have devoted space to this passage!) Ugh!!
Anyway... It seems to take a long time before the story finally comes together in any meaningful way. That is not to say it is not enjoyable, it just takes time to get there. The writing is lovely at times, but the story falls short.
But for the writing this would get 3 stars, but the descriptions, though often adding little to the plot, are otherwise worthy of a higher rating...so 4 stars for exquisity! Sometimes meaningless banter is fun!
Although the writing is good, with descriptions that are quite exquisite at times, the plot moved oooh-sooo-slow. With the Titanic as the backdrop the story follows a well off society family that lost a wife/mother and daughter/sister to the tragic sinking.
The story goes between two time periods, one quite a long time before the sinking when the now widowed husband/father was a sailor on the high seas, and then the other time period a couple of years after the sinking, following the widowed husband and the remaining daughter, and how they are coping with their continuing grief. There seems to be a loss of flow each time the time period changes. While the information intended to be provided from the father's time as a young sailor is interesting, it could have been worked into the story in a much more efficient and interesting fashion.
The plot is a little thin, and for quite a bit of the book seems to be going no where. It seems to simply be a descriptive narrative, rather than building a plot. The characters are also somewhat flat and shallow. Nonetheless, I kept turning the pages...
Much effort is put into the descriptive passages of locations, activities, events, but again without adding anything of effect to the plot. One particular passage that comes to mind which clearly has little to do with enhancing the story or even setting the scene occurs when Sibyl is taking a short taxi ride and the entire paragraph is devoted to describing the taxi driver, noting (I'm going to paraphrase this...) the knitted cap on the burly taxi driver with the thick neck rolling over his collar and Sibyl wondering what he thinks as he crosses the bridge so many times each day. Should I care about this?? I think not. That's it, we never encounter him again, and neither he nor the bridge have any significance other than that passage. (Now I too, in equally useless fashion, have devoted space to this passage!) Ugh!!
Anyway... It seems to take a long time before the story finally comes together in any meaningful way. That is not to say it is not enjoyable, it just takes time to get there. The writing is lovely at times, but the story falls short.
But for the writing this would get 3 stars, but the descriptions, though often adding little to the plot, are otherwise worthy of a higher rating...so 4 stars for exquisity! Sometimes meaningless banter is fun!
November 10, 2012
I have to say I was not as impressed with this book as I was with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I had high hopes, but I found this story kind of fell flat. The romance too a bit took too long to even simmer.
Personally, I thought she took on too many story lines and so none of the story lines were very strong. What I loved about the other book I read by this author was the way I wanted to know what really happened and there was a sense that all was not like it seemed. This book promised something of the same, but I don't know if she really delivered.
I wanted to know what what was going on and hoped that she was able to connect everything in the end, but not enough to want to read more than one chapter at bedtime.
Personally, I thought she took on too many story lines and so none of the story lines were very strong. What I loved about the other book I read by this author was the way I wanted to know what really happened and there was a sense that all was not like it seemed. This book promised something of the same, but I don't know if she really delivered.
I wanted to know what what was going on and hoped that she was able to connect everything in the end, but not enough to want to read more than one chapter at bedtime.
April 11, 2012
The House of Velvet and Glass is the second novel by Katherine Howe. Her first was The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Did you like that one? If so stop reading now. You will like Howe’s new novel as well. If you didn’t like it you can stop reading soon.
Howe’s new novel, The House of Velvet and Glass is every bit as suspense-less, flat and over wrought as Howe’s first novel. This time Howe sets her story in 1915 Boston. She tosses together the Titanic, WWI, spiritualism, romance, opium and SECRETS into a pasty soap opera soup from which there is only one escape. Breathe easily though the escape is an easy one; just close the book and move on to better things.
Howe’s new novel, The House of Velvet and Glass is every bit as suspense-less, flat and over wrought as Howe’s first novel. This time Howe sets her story in 1915 Boston. She tosses together the Titanic, WWI, spiritualism, romance, opium and SECRETS into a pasty soap opera soup from which there is only one escape. Breathe easily though the escape is an easy one; just close the book and move on to better things.
February 1, 2013
The story begins in 1912, and then proceeds, in detail, for a period of about five years. Several times, it employs the use of interludes to move back in time, almost five decades, to 1868, to introduce the reader to Harlan Allston’s 17 year old incarnation, and foreshadows the things to come. The book improves as you read on, so don’t give up if it seems a bit slow in the beginning with the tedium of Boston propriety.
The Alston’s, a well to do family, live on Beacon Street, at a time when social standing is de rigeur, and the marriage of a daughter was of prime concern. Spinsterhood was often mocked by people of the upper class. Presenting one’s child to the world, to find an appropriate mate, was a major undertaking.
Harlan Allston, made his fortune in the shipping industry. His wife, Helen, a good deal younger than he, had given up hopes for her elder daughter’s marriage. Sybil, a very proper young woman, had refused one marriage proposal and did not receive a second, from Benton Derby, the one she longed for, as he married someone else and moved to Italy. Helen decides to take her younger, more outspoken daughter, Eulah, on a trip to Europe to prepare her to enter society and find a suitable marriage mate. The whirlwind tour is a success and they are very happy when they make their return trip home, unaware of the tragedy to come, on the magnificent ill-fated ship, The Titanic.
The story is a romantic piece of historic fiction, and it covers many of the major events and issues of the time, including many real people that did exist, as well as characters made up from the author’s imagination. The sinking of the Titanic, illicit use of opiates and its addiction, the horrors of World War I, the cultural and political climate of the time, are all accurately portrayed. The lifestyle of the gentry is well described, illustrating their carriage and their demeanor, their attention to manners and proper decorum, coupled with the snobbism and prejudices of the day. The early belief in spiritualism and clairvoyance add to the storyline. We witness behavior patterns that go to the depths of depravity, and alternatively reach the heights of heroism. There is an interesting parrot Baiji, that is introduced at the beginning of the tale, in Shanghai, and makes additional appearances until the end, in Boston. It seems to symbolize change and progress, as the narrative moves forward. There is an Asian theme concerning opiates, threaded throughout the book, as well.
Ships and water are major themes, as is addiction and clairvoyance or second sight. The sinking of both The Titanic and The Lusitania are catalysts that move the story forward and mark momentous changes in the lives of the characters, moving the story toward its conclusion.
Katherine Howe writes with an easy to read prose, often injecting subtle humor and eloquently describes the grief and tragedy the character’s experience. Her characters feel as if they belong in the time of the book and you will easily recognize them and get to know them well. The introduction of ideas that are somewhat supernatural flows well and does not feel awkward. At the end, you will learn of the author’s connection to that time period. It would be helpful if the reader enjoyed delving into the supernatural a bit, especially with extra-sensory projection and/or psychic phenomenon, since they are major ideas presented in the book.
In my reading, I discovered that in the Chinese culture, the parrot symbolizes freedom and life. It is the bearer of good news, signifies change and wisdom and represents our hopes and ultimate goals. How we live our lives, long or short, is a very major theme of the book. Were we able to leave a permanent, positive mark on society, did we live the best life we could? Dovie, the unconventional girlfriend of Sybil’s brother Harlan, brings the circle of life full circle and explains how the characters have each made their own indelible mark on life.
The Alston’s, a well to do family, live on Beacon Street, at a time when social standing is de rigeur, and the marriage of a daughter was of prime concern. Spinsterhood was often mocked by people of the upper class. Presenting one’s child to the world, to find an appropriate mate, was a major undertaking.
Harlan Allston, made his fortune in the shipping industry. His wife, Helen, a good deal younger than he, had given up hopes for her elder daughter’s marriage. Sybil, a very proper young woman, had refused one marriage proposal and did not receive a second, from Benton Derby, the one she longed for, as he married someone else and moved to Italy. Helen decides to take her younger, more outspoken daughter, Eulah, on a trip to Europe to prepare her to enter society and find a suitable marriage mate. The whirlwind tour is a success and they are very happy when they make their return trip home, unaware of the tragedy to come, on the magnificent ill-fated ship, The Titanic.
The story is a romantic piece of historic fiction, and it covers many of the major events and issues of the time, including many real people that did exist, as well as characters made up from the author’s imagination. The sinking of the Titanic, illicit use of opiates and its addiction, the horrors of World War I, the cultural and political climate of the time, are all accurately portrayed. The lifestyle of the gentry is well described, illustrating their carriage and their demeanor, their attention to manners and proper decorum, coupled with the snobbism and prejudices of the day. The early belief in spiritualism and clairvoyance add to the storyline. We witness behavior patterns that go to the depths of depravity, and alternatively reach the heights of heroism. There is an interesting parrot Baiji, that is introduced at the beginning of the tale, in Shanghai, and makes additional appearances until the end, in Boston. It seems to symbolize change and progress, as the narrative moves forward. There is an Asian theme concerning opiates, threaded throughout the book, as well.
Ships and water are major themes, as is addiction and clairvoyance or second sight. The sinking of both The Titanic and The Lusitania are catalysts that move the story forward and mark momentous changes in the lives of the characters, moving the story toward its conclusion.
Katherine Howe writes with an easy to read prose, often injecting subtle humor and eloquently describes the grief and tragedy the character’s experience. Her characters feel as if they belong in the time of the book and you will easily recognize them and get to know them well. The introduction of ideas that are somewhat supernatural flows well and does not feel awkward. At the end, you will learn of the author’s connection to that time period. It would be helpful if the reader enjoyed delving into the supernatural a bit, especially with extra-sensory projection and/or psychic phenomenon, since they are major ideas presented in the book.
In my reading, I discovered that in the Chinese culture, the parrot symbolizes freedom and life. It is the bearer of good news, signifies change and wisdom and represents our hopes and ultimate goals. How we live our lives, long or short, is a very major theme of the book. Were we able to leave a permanent, positive mark on society, did we live the best life we could? Dovie, the unconventional girlfriend of Sybil’s brother Harlan, brings the circle of life full circle and explains how the characters have each made their own indelible mark on life.
March 4, 2012
an upper class look at the early 20th century
I really enjoyed this book. After a slow start and getting used to the jumps in place and time, I found House of Velvet and Glass to be a compelling look at the early 20th century. A book group would find the drug use (opium), the early psychology/sociology instances, the expectations for men and women, dress and table manners, and the social class divide/discrimination would all make good topics for discussion. I found the characters believable and the plot flowed easily. The use of "real" people gave color to the events (Titanic & Lusitania) and lent credibility to the story. The descriptions of rooms, clothing, manners and social interactions as well as the descriptions of spiritualism and opium dens added to my enjoyment of the story. I started reading expecting "chick lit" and found something much more substantial. As a high school librarian I think many older teens would enjoy the book. The book would work for a mother/teen book group.
I really enjoyed this book. After a slow start and getting used to the jumps in place and time, I found House of Velvet and Glass to be a compelling look at the early 20th century. A book group would find the drug use (opium), the early psychology/sociology instances, the expectations for men and women, dress and table manners, and the social class divide/discrimination would all make good topics for discussion. I found the characters believable and the plot flowed easily. The use of "real" people gave color to the events (Titanic & Lusitania) and lent credibility to the story. The descriptions of rooms, clothing, manners and social interactions as well as the descriptions of spiritualism and opium dens added to my enjoyment of the story. I started reading expecting "chick lit" and found something much more substantial. As a high school librarian I think many older teens would enjoy the book. The book would work for a mother/teen book group.
October 29, 2016
This book was just ok for me. I felt like it jumped around and when it had its good parts, and I was caught up in the story, it tended to drag on in a description that went on and on. I don't think I would read another book by this author.
February 17, 2022
The characters are well developed but the story moves back and forth in time periods. It follows Sibyl’s life in a time before the Titanic and again after the sinking. In addition it reports on her father’s life as a young sailor in oriental lands. For me the changing time periods interrupted the flow of the story. I felt there were parts of this history that could have been so much more but we’re just glossed over. It was an interesting view of life in the various time periods.
May 24, 2012
I enjoyed this book much more than Howe's previous book The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I had such high hopes for Deliverance Dane and felt a little let down. Conversely I went into this book with much lower expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised.
The story jumps around between events on the night the Titanic sunk, Shanghai 1868, and Massachusetts 1915. Matriarch Helen and her youngest daughter Eulah are on Titanic when it sinks. Helen's other daughter Sybil thinks she may be able to contact them through her psychic abilities in Massachusetts. Sybil's brother Harlan seems to be taking the death of his mother and sister very hard and drops out of school. He takes up with the socially unsuitable Dovie who is befriended by Sybil. Sybil renews an acquaintance with her old flame Benton who tries to assist the family with Harlan's problems and Sybils burgeoning psychic abilities. Patriarch Harlan's youth as a sailor in Shanghai is told in flashback throughout the novel. All of this may seem quite confusing to keep track of but each chapter is clearly headed as to where it takes place so the narrative is actually quite easy to follow.
As I neared the end of the book it was a solid 3 star for me. At times I had the feeling that the plot was lacking and I couldn't see the tie that bound everything together. As major revelations were made toward the end of the novel I began to enjoy it more and I thought the ending brought everything together in a satisfying way. I loved the time period that the book was set in and I am partial to stories involving the Gilded Age and the Titanic.
Katherine Howe's after word which gave further insight into her story was an interesting way to end the book. If you have patience there is a lot to enjoy in this story and it would be a great book to read the mark the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
The story jumps around between events on the night the Titanic sunk, Shanghai 1868, and Massachusetts 1915. Matriarch Helen and her youngest daughter Eulah are on Titanic when it sinks. Helen's other daughter Sybil thinks she may be able to contact them through her psychic abilities in Massachusetts. Sybil's brother Harlan seems to be taking the death of his mother and sister very hard and drops out of school. He takes up with the socially unsuitable Dovie who is befriended by Sybil. Sybil renews an acquaintance with her old flame Benton who tries to assist the family with Harlan's problems and Sybils burgeoning psychic abilities. Patriarch Harlan's youth as a sailor in Shanghai is told in flashback throughout the novel. All of this may seem quite confusing to keep track of but each chapter is clearly headed as to where it takes place so the narrative is actually quite easy to follow.
As I neared the end of the book it was a solid 3 star for me. At times I had the feeling that the plot was lacking and I couldn't see the tie that bound everything together. As major revelations were made toward the end of the novel I began to enjoy it more and I thought the ending brought everything together in a satisfying way. I loved the time period that the book was set in and I am partial to stories involving the Gilded Age and the Titanic.
Katherine Howe's after word which gave further insight into her story was an interesting way to end the book. If you have patience there is a lot to enjoy in this story and it would be a great book to read the mark the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
June 29, 2014
Katherine Howe has a talent for historical fiction. Add to that her ability to interweave the history, mystical pull and danger of the occult, and you have a hit.Her meticulous research and natural eye for detail makes her work a treat for the reader willing to spend the time getting to know not only the characters, but the time and space they occupy. Her stories can be daunting as they draw the reader ever so slowly into the plot. Her characters are complex and flawed.Shades of gray in behavior and history abound.And this story is no different.
Boston,1915 The sinking of the Titanic is very recent history. Sibyl Alllston,eldest daughter of a wealthy family struggles to find some sense, some meaning to the tragedy that took her mother and younger sister.Considered to be the mistress of the house, she is by turns, daunted and/or resentful of her duty. Her brother has been kicked out of university, her father aloof by nature, does not make her job easy.
Regular visits to a medium seem to help. There she feels closer to her lost mother. When the medium gives her a scrying crystal she is intrigued. From that one simple act, she embarks on a journey of her own. And as frequently can happen, her journey leads to unexpected places and has unintended consequences.
This book had me mesmerized. The twists, turns and switchbacks were amazing.And I came away once again with a better understanding of a period of history that helped shape our country and the world as we entered the truly modern era.
Boston,1915 The sinking of the Titanic is very recent history. Sibyl Alllston,eldest daughter of a wealthy family struggles to find some sense, some meaning to the tragedy that took her mother and younger sister.Considered to be the mistress of the house, she is by turns, daunted and/or resentful of her duty. Her brother has been kicked out of university, her father aloof by nature, does not make her job easy.
Regular visits to a medium seem to help. There she feels closer to her lost mother. When the medium gives her a scrying crystal she is intrigued. From that one simple act, she embarks on a journey of her own. And as frequently can happen, her journey leads to unexpected places and has unintended consequences.
This book had me mesmerized. The twists, turns and switchbacks were amazing.And I came away once again with a better understanding of a period of history that helped shape our country and the world as we entered the truly modern era.
March 18, 2012
I'm not feeling eloquent enough to give this novel the proper review it deserves. I liked it very much, in some ways more than I expected and in other ways less. I loved the historical setting (both pre-WWI well-to-do Boston and the flashback interludes to the Titanic & the exotic, disorienting back-alleys of 1868 Shanghai) and the detailed writing that made it come to life. I've always been fascinated with the spiritualist movement and early attempts by scientists, psychologists & sociologists to quantify, qualify, and prove or disprove paranormal phenomena. I've always secretly wanted to visit a Victorian opium den so this novel provided me with a "close-enough" vicarious ability to do so. I can't quite put my finger on why, for me, this book falls short of 4 or 5 stars when the plot was interesting, the words well-chosen, and all the elements I enjoy in place. Perhaps I just couldn't get into the mind of the main character Sybil... I felt much more interested in and sympathetic towards the minor characters: Dovie and Eulah, and the real-life-but-fictionalized Edwin Friend & Harry Widener. They were the breath of fresh air in a situation that just seemed too psychically oppressive in tone for me to truly enjoy. I still think the book is worth reading and that others will like it very much, though, so don't let my review discourage you.
dnf
November 30, 2022Audiobook.
DNF
DNF
April 11, 2012
Originally published at http://www.readingreality.net/2012/04...
The House of Velvet and Glass is Katherine Howe's second novel, after her fantastic breakout debut, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Both stories have a certain magic in them.
While Dane's story was about the practice of witchcraft, Sybil Allison, the character who provides our entree into The House of Velvet and Glass, is interested in spiritualism. Sybil's usually practical nature has found refuge in the search for contact with her loved ones who have passed "beyond the veil". She was not alone in her search in the upper class of Boston of 1915, or anywhere for that matter. Spiritualism was very popular.
But membership in the seance that Sybil attended was special. Everyone in that select group lost a loved one at the same place and time: on April 15, 1912, in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, when the RMS Titanic sank on her maiden voyage. Sybil's mother and younger sister were among the 1,517 dead.
Sybil now runs the house for her father and her younger brother, but life has lost its spark for all of them. By returning to the same medium that her mother used to visit, Sybil searches for reassurance that her mother's spirit has found peace somewhere, while Sybil has none of her own.
In the real world of 1915, three years after the disaster, the Allston family is drifting apart, Sybil to spiritualism, her father to his shipping business, and her brother Harley to dissipation and ruin.
Harley's dissipation leads him to a severe beating and hospitalization. as well as a discovery of how far he's fallen, and who he's fallen with. He's been thrown out of Harvard, and has taken up with a young actress. In the wake of his injuries, his young lady is brought into the house, and Dovie shakes everyone back to life.
Sibyl takes Dovie under her wing; she fills the space in her heart left by her younger sister. And Dovie takes Sybil to places Sybil might never have otherwise gone, and she does things that she might otherwise not have done. The actress takes her to smoke opium one fine afternoon, and Sybil discovers that, with the help of the opium, she can see the last night on the Titanic, or so she believes.
Her friend Benton Derby is sure she's just fooling herself. He is a psychologist, he doesn't believe in spiritualism. His colleague, Edwin Friend, on the other hand, believes that spiritualism might have a scientific basis. Even though Professors Derby and Friend expose Sybil's medium as a fraud, Dr. Friend still believes spiritualism might be real.
But it is 1915, and there is a war in Europe. Whether or not spiritualism is real is about to become the least of anyone's problems in the U.S.
Just as there are three living people in the Allston family, the story of The House of Velvet and Glass is told in three separate threads. The major thread is Sybil's story, in the present of 1915. The second thread takes place on the Titanic, on the last night, as Helen and Eulah Allston while away the last evening of their lives, not knowing until the very end that it was all about to go smash. And finally, the third thread is the story of Lan Allston, Sybil's father, from his days at sea. His story ties everything together in a way that will break your heart.
Escape Rating B+: The story takes a little while to really get going, but the end races along. The last bit, I didn't quite expect and should have. Also, I assumed that the House of Velvet and Glass referred to was the Titanic, but it's not. I like it when an author surprises me.
The House of Velvet and Glass is Katherine Howe's second novel, after her fantastic breakout debut, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Both stories have a certain magic in them.
While Dane's story was about the practice of witchcraft, Sybil Allison, the character who provides our entree into The House of Velvet and Glass, is interested in spiritualism. Sybil's usually practical nature has found refuge in the search for contact with her loved ones who have passed "beyond the veil". She was not alone in her search in the upper class of Boston of 1915, or anywhere for that matter. Spiritualism was very popular.
But membership in the seance that Sybil attended was special. Everyone in that select group lost a loved one at the same place and time: on April 15, 1912, in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, when the RMS Titanic sank on her maiden voyage. Sybil's mother and younger sister were among the 1,517 dead.
Sybil now runs the house for her father and her younger brother, but life has lost its spark for all of them. By returning to the same medium that her mother used to visit, Sybil searches for reassurance that her mother's spirit has found peace somewhere, while Sybil has none of her own.
In the real world of 1915, three years after the disaster, the Allston family is drifting apart, Sybil to spiritualism, her father to his shipping business, and her brother Harley to dissipation and ruin.
Harley's dissipation leads him to a severe beating and hospitalization. as well as a discovery of how far he's fallen, and who he's fallen with. He's been thrown out of Harvard, and has taken up with a young actress. In the wake of his injuries, his young lady is brought into the house, and Dovie shakes everyone back to life.
Sibyl takes Dovie under her wing; she fills the space in her heart left by her younger sister. And Dovie takes Sybil to places Sybil might never have otherwise gone, and she does things that she might otherwise not have done. The actress takes her to smoke opium one fine afternoon, and Sybil discovers that, with the help of the opium, she can see the last night on the Titanic, or so she believes.
Her friend Benton Derby is sure she's just fooling herself. He is a psychologist, he doesn't believe in spiritualism. His colleague, Edwin Friend, on the other hand, believes that spiritualism might have a scientific basis. Even though Professors Derby and Friend expose Sybil's medium as a fraud, Dr. Friend still believes spiritualism might be real.
But it is 1915, and there is a war in Europe. Whether or not spiritualism is real is about to become the least of anyone's problems in the U.S.
Just as there are three living people in the Allston family, the story of The House of Velvet and Glass is told in three separate threads. The major thread is Sybil's story, in the present of 1915. The second thread takes place on the Titanic, on the last night, as Helen and Eulah Allston while away the last evening of their lives, not knowing until the very end that it was all about to go smash. And finally, the third thread is the story of Lan Allston, Sybil's father, from his days at sea. His story ties everything together in a way that will break your heart.
Escape Rating B+: The story takes a little while to really get going, but the end races along. The last bit, I didn't quite expect and should have. Also, I assumed that the House of Velvet and Glass referred to was the Titanic, but it's not. I like it when an author surprises me.
April 20, 2015
What is it like to revisit a death, the life of the passed one, to relive and remember, whether through dreams or through glass, the images and voice of the other? From the beginning to the end of The House of Velvet and Glass, we are recalling, like in a Poe tale or Le Sang de Morphée, the life of the one(s) passed. Culturally and individually, the ship of the Titanic was indestructible. What is left has not been destroyed but reconstituted through memory. Chapter one opens on April 15, 2015, in Boston. We are there in Beacon Hill and traverse the time from then until chapter twenty-eight (October 17, 1917) followed by an epilogue set on April 14-15, 1912. The nature of temporality is such that date stamps do not always appear on memories. But a novel can reconstitute it in such a way that it becomes alive again. What happens between these dates, while also referring to other dates in the characters’ memories, is the subject of the novel. What is the medium for such an observation?
One has heard of the claim: the observer influences the observed. But one has less often heard the claim: the “creator” of the observed in observing influences the observer. Science or literature cannot be studied, learned, or swallowed without imagining the scientist or author behind the theory or work. The persona behind such a fabrication often becomes an imaginary one, but in some rare instances one meets magically the voice behind the page. Meeting or talking with the author, Katherine Howe, may enable a kind of transference or reenactment from behind the story itself, the author speaking magically as if through a glass ball into the reader's intuitive capacity for knowledge or discernment. In the following days, I will be reading this novel as exemplary of the experience of the reader being influenced by the author in influencing the observed, a three-fold relation of the layers of reading historical fiction.
The story seems straight forward. Sibyl misses those lost in the Titanic shipwreck, and visits a Mrs. Dee, who allows her to “see every contour of the person’s face…the eyes. The nose. The texture of the skin. The hair. Hold your loved one’s face before you as if you were sitting right across from him, in this very room.” (17) The same imagined relationship occurs with any novel. We read of characters as if through a scrying glass. The conjuring up of past lives becomes the point of contact between present and past, whether reading of 100 years ago, or the characters’ own pasts. Whether from the point of view of psychologist Benton Derby or philosopher Edwin Friend, the question of the truth or science of ‘psychical research’ was a lively one at the time, more common than today. Benton had had William James and Freud as professors: “Professor James—he was my mentor, before he died—said that facts only become true insofar as they are useful to an understanding of our place in the world. But I agree with Doctor Freud—the human mind is like a machine, assembled by circumstances in childhood, which can be tweaked with attention and care. We can change ourselves, Sibyl. I believe it.” (80) The effects of such over thinking things, for Sibyl, is one of confusion. (see http://homersmuse.blogspot.com/ for the continuation of this review)
One has heard of the claim: the observer influences the observed. But one has less often heard the claim: the “creator” of the observed in observing influences the observer. Science or literature cannot be studied, learned, or swallowed without imagining the scientist or author behind the theory or work. The persona behind such a fabrication often becomes an imaginary one, but in some rare instances one meets magically the voice behind the page. Meeting or talking with the author, Katherine Howe, may enable a kind of transference or reenactment from behind the story itself, the author speaking magically as if through a glass ball into the reader's intuitive capacity for knowledge or discernment. In the following days, I will be reading this novel as exemplary of the experience of the reader being influenced by the author in influencing the observed, a three-fold relation of the layers of reading historical fiction.
The story seems straight forward. Sibyl misses those lost in the Titanic shipwreck, and visits a Mrs. Dee, who allows her to “see every contour of the person’s face…the eyes. The nose. The texture of the skin. The hair. Hold your loved one’s face before you as if you were sitting right across from him, in this very room.” (17) The same imagined relationship occurs with any novel. We read of characters as if through a scrying glass. The conjuring up of past lives becomes the point of contact between present and past, whether reading of 100 years ago, or the characters’ own pasts. Whether from the point of view of psychologist Benton Derby or philosopher Edwin Friend, the question of the truth or science of ‘psychical research’ was a lively one at the time, more common than today. Benton had had William James and Freud as professors: “Professor James—he was my mentor, before he died—said that facts only become true insofar as they are useful to an understanding of our place in the world. But I agree with Doctor Freud—the human mind is like a machine, assembled by circumstances in childhood, which can be tweaked with attention and care. We can change ourselves, Sibyl. I believe it.” (80) The effects of such over thinking things, for Sibyl, is one of confusion. (see http://homersmuse.blogspot.com/ for the continuation of this review)
April 10, 2012
What’s left of the Allston family of Boston’s Back Bay is still reeling from the loss of Matriarch Helen and youngest child Eulah who had the misfortune of being on the Titanic. Each remaining member is dealing with the loss and going about life in their own way. Sybil, the oldest has taken over running the house and furthering her spinster lifestyle, but it’s in the séance parlor of Miss Dee where she finds the most solace and closest to her lost family as she deals with the guilt she can’t seem to shed and knows that speaking of it to her stoic father Captain Lan Allston does no good. In the midst of all this it seems her younger brother Harlan has gotten himself kicked out of school, returned home only to get into deeper trouble. The troubles with Harlan also brings back an old family friend of the Allston’s, Benton Derby who was once much more to Sybil than just a friend and who is now in the position as a professor to help Harlan back in the classroom and out of trouble, but the complications continue as Harlan’s paramour Dovie arrives on the scene. Sybil joins forces with Ben to help her wayward brother but also turns to her faith in the occult for succor which has she and Ben butting heads. And as they seek answers journeying through the mystical psychic world they find only more questions and deeper puzzles, and some of those puzzles are leading back to a deep dark family secret.
Katherine Howe burst on the literary scene with her debut novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and now brings us another blockbuster in The House of Velvet and Glass. She took me on board the Titanic, through the streets of Shanghai and the elegant and eclectic Boston of early 20th century America and as she did so I could see in my mind’s eye the scenes, the people and the happenings around them. As she spun her tale of misfortune and of catastrophe she showed me also the lengths that we will go to find comfort, she showed me the strength it takes to go on in the light of loss and she once again went into the preternatural world and did it with aplomb. She introduced me to some amazing characters that will stay with me for a long time with Sybil, Ben and the Captain leading the cast but not foreshadowing her co-stars, Harlan and Dovie and finally her cameo appearances by Helen and Eulah and we can’t forget Baiji. Her narrative is all reminiscent of the era she’s portraying and done beautifully and vividly expressive with such attention to detail that her research is obvious not only in the industrial miracles of the times but also the costume and attitudes brought out in her characters. And finally this is a love story, of familial love and romantic love, it’s a story of the right thing to do in the face of opposition and the love of oneself.
If you’re a fan of historical literature, family drama, or just a great story this is a novel you should read. If you like just a little woo-woo with your big dose of reality you’ll also find what you’re looking for between the pages of this novel.
Check out my Q&A with author Katherine Howe here http://thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/...
Katherine Howe burst on the literary scene with her debut novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and now brings us another blockbuster in The House of Velvet and Glass. She took me on board the Titanic, through the streets of Shanghai and the elegant and eclectic Boston of early 20th century America and as she did so I could see in my mind’s eye the scenes, the people and the happenings around them. As she spun her tale of misfortune and of catastrophe she showed me also the lengths that we will go to find comfort, she showed me the strength it takes to go on in the light of loss and she once again went into the preternatural world and did it with aplomb. She introduced me to some amazing characters that will stay with me for a long time with Sybil, Ben and the Captain leading the cast but not foreshadowing her co-stars, Harlan and Dovie and finally her cameo appearances by Helen and Eulah and we can’t forget Baiji. Her narrative is all reminiscent of the era she’s portraying and done beautifully and vividly expressive with such attention to detail that her research is obvious not only in the industrial miracles of the times but also the costume and attitudes brought out in her characters. And finally this is a love story, of familial love and romantic love, it’s a story of the right thing to do in the face of opposition and the love of oneself.
If you’re a fan of historical literature, family drama, or just a great story this is a novel you should read. If you like just a little woo-woo with your big dose of reality you’ll also find what you’re looking for between the pages of this novel.
Check out my Q&A with author Katherine Howe here http://thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/...
October 9, 2012
This is another good book by Ms. Howe. It is formulated much like her first one, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, in that she moves among time periods effortlessly. In Deliverance, I found myself wanting to stay in the past more than the future, but this one was smoother in its transitions and I found each of them a story unto itself.
We follow the Allston family, Lan, the father, Helen, the mother, and the three children, Sybil, Eulah, and Harlan. We first meet Helen and Eulah on the ill-fated Titanic; then Sybil, the eldest daughter, who enters the spirit world trying, in vain, to contact her dead mother and sister. Lan we see in flashbacks, or interludes, as Ms. Howe calls them, as a fifteen year old seaman in Shanghai. The tie that binds the story together is the spirit world, aided by drugs, in this case. Both Lan and Sybil grow increasingly dependent on opium to see the future, one seeing it as a curse, the other as a gift, at least temporarily. I found all the characters interesting, especially Sybil, who starts out as a meek, shy woman who is missing out on life and develops into a daring, independent one. Eulah is full of life, and Harlan, the youngest, is a young man who has no focus and longs to be somebody in his father's eyes. Helen just wants what is bext for her children and Lan does, too, although his ability to see the future makes him appear to be a stolid, sour man. The joy of the book is seeing how the characters all change due to their life paths.
The novel describes an interesting time in history, when mores were changing. As with the first book, it goes on wild tangents at times, but the characters hold it together and it is an enjoyable read.
We follow the Allston family, Lan, the father, Helen, the mother, and the three children, Sybil, Eulah, and Harlan. We first meet Helen and Eulah on the ill-fated Titanic; then Sybil, the eldest daughter, who enters the spirit world trying, in vain, to contact her dead mother and sister. Lan we see in flashbacks, or interludes, as Ms. Howe calls them, as a fifteen year old seaman in Shanghai. The tie that binds the story together is the spirit world, aided by drugs, in this case. Both Lan and Sybil grow increasingly dependent on opium to see the future, one seeing it as a curse, the other as a gift, at least temporarily. I found all the characters interesting, especially Sybil, who starts out as a meek, shy woman who is missing out on life and develops into a daring, independent one. Eulah is full of life, and Harlan, the youngest, is a young man who has no focus and longs to be somebody in his father's eyes. Helen just wants what is bext for her children and Lan does, too, although his ability to see the future makes him appear to be a stolid, sour man. The joy of the book is seeing how the characters all change due to their life paths.
The novel describes an interesting time in history, when mores were changing. As with the first book, it goes on wild tangents at times, but the characters hold it together and it is an enjoyable read.
March 1, 2013
I read Howe's first book last year, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The beginning of The House of Velvet and Glass started off a bit slow but as Howe started adding more characters, I quickly became engrossed. The story centers around Sybil, a 28-year-old woman who society has written off as a spinster, living in Boston in 1915. Her mother and sister died on a voyage back from Europe on the Titanic where her mother had taken her younger sister (who had come out into society) on The Grand Tour. Sybil went from being an adventurous, if practical young woman, into someone very serious after the event. She suffers from a great deal of grief and guilt and starts attending seances on the anniversary of the event of the Titanic in hopes of communicating with her mother or sister. She is given a scrying glass in which you can see events of the past (or future).
The story also interweaves events of her brother's dissolute life after being kicked out of Harvard as well as her father who is a retired shipping owner/captain. There are two interlude story plots that occur in between present day which gives you an idea of her father on his first ship voyage from home and a visit to Shanghai as well as the final night of her mother and sister's life on the Titanic. It was these interludes that originally kept me drawn into the plot because Sybil was a bit uninteresting. She grew on me though; I always felt sympathy but she was a bit boring.
Opium dens, Boston pre-WWI, society, seances...this book has it all.
One thing I found interesting, in the afterward, the author mentions how much a first-class ticket on the Titanic cost: $4,350 (1912) or $90K (today).
The story also interweaves events of her brother's dissolute life after being kicked out of Harvard as well as her father who is a retired shipping owner/captain. There are two interlude story plots that occur in between present day which gives you an idea of her father on his first ship voyage from home and a visit to Shanghai as well as the final night of her mother and sister's life on the Titanic. It was these interludes that originally kept me drawn into the plot because Sybil was a bit uninteresting. She grew on me though; I always felt sympathy but she was a bit boring.
Opium dens, Boston pre-WWI, society, seances...this book has it all.
One thing I found interesting, in the afterward, the author mentions how much a first-class ticket on the Titanic cost: $4,350 (1912) or $90K (today).
April 24, 2013
1915, Boston. Helen Allston and her daughter, Eulah, perished on the Titanic, and three years later, the patrician Allstons are still in mourning. Eldest daughter Sibyl (aptly named) continues to frequent seances, looking for a message from her mother that might give her some peace. Sibyl is a spinster at age 27, taking over her mother's job of running the family home on Beacon Hill. When her younger brother, Harley, is thrown out of Harvard for unsavory behavior, Sibyl's former beau, now a professor of psychology, re-enters her life. Harley's bohemian girlfriend, Dovie, also enters the picture, and teaches Sibyl a thing or two about loosening up a bit. In the process, Sibyl learns that she has the gift of clairvoyance. Is it a curse or a gift? It certainly brings pain....
Sibyl's story is an appealing one, sure to resonate with anyone who has suffered loss. Is it a believable one? The answer depends upon the reader's point of view. Her journeys into the future are paralleled with flashbacks into the earlier lives of her father and mother, which provide clues into what's going on in Sibyl's head. For the open minded, the clairvoyance angle works; otherwise, it's just so much claptrap. What makes it interesting, either way, is watching how Sibyl's relationship with her father, brother's paramour, and former suitor develop, and how her take on life in general undergoes a metamorphosis. Part melodrama, part psychological drama, The House of Velvet and Glass offers an intriguing tale which raises questions about social class, religious beliefs, free will, and the nature of grief.
Sibyl's story is an appealing one, sure to resonate with anyone who has suffered loss. Is it a believable one? The answer depends upon the reader's point of view. Her journeys into the future are paralleled with flashbacks into the earlier lives of her father and mother, which provide clues into what's going on in Sibyl's head. For the open minded, the clairvoyance angle works; otherwise, it's just so much claptrap. What makes it interesting, either way, is watching how Sibyl's relationship with her father, brother's paramour, and former suitor develop, and how her take on life in general undergoes a metamorphosis. Part melodrama, part psychological drama, The House of Velvet and Glass offers an intriguing tale which raises questions about social class, religious beliefs, free will, and the nature of grief.
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