Beyond the Blue Mountains

by Jean Plaidy

This is a story set against a late eighteenth and early nineteenth century background, telling how the evils of their time affected the lives of three generations of women. Kitty Kennedy loses her lover before Carolan is born; Katharine, Carolan's child, chooses what must inevitably be a life of danger; but it is Carolan, sensitive and proud, bold and reckless, who must suffer most deeply and who is the central figure around whom events revolve.

Her adventures in the East End, in Newgate Jail and in the foul women's quarters on the prison ship transporting her to Australia are told with terrible clarity and a powerful imagination. The profligacy, perversion, vice and cruelty of that age are forcefully recreated. Having survived the journey and been taken to the house of Materman of Sydney, Carolan finds that her experiences have changed her from an innocent girl to a ruthless woman, determined to establish herself in the Masterman household, and her method of doing so is such as will haunt her for the rest of her life. The main characters in this unusual novel are not only vivid but convincing.

There is the gay and amorous Marcus, vain Kitty, bawdy Margery and sweet Katharine; there is Masterman who, for love of Carolan, forgets he is ambitious and a Puritan; the pious Esther, and Carolan herself--these and many others, living in a world of crime and horror, dirt and luxury, cruelty and indifference are all reaching out hopefully to better times beyond the symbolic Blue Mountains.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Novels

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Eleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Monica Hills · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this author has many pen names but I have found that I love her books under the name Victoria Holt the best. This book disappointed me. It was still an ok book but I have read so many other books by her that I enjoy much more. I wonder if this was one of her early books. This was a long book following the lives of 3 different characters. Part of the book takes place in Australia which was an interesting setting. I liked the characters but the main problem was it was just too wordy at many times. Plus the ending left a little to be desired. I would also have loved to know what happened to the characters in England.

[Gaile · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is somewhat of a paper dragon story as nothing is resolved in the end.It begins In England with Kitty Kennedy who is disappointed in her love, continues with her daughter Carolan who along with her mother is arrested and sent on a convict ship to Australia. Carolan refuses to marry the man she truly loves as she doesn't trust him opting for a good man instead. Years later her daughter Katharine falls in love with the son of the man her mother refused. Carolan is determined to prevent it but the issue remains unresolved at the end leaving me disappointed.

[Phil Syphe · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Beyond the Blue Mountains” is almost like a trilogy compressed into a single volume. It’s an ambitious novel in that it covers a long period of history, following the lives of several characters, including three heroines.

Of the three main settings, I preferred that of the English countryside, which takes up roughly the first third of the book. I liked all the characters in this section. The author does a great job in bringing them to life.

I was disappointed only that when the book switches settings, many of the characters do not reappear, thus the reader does not learn of their fate.

The second third of the book, set in London, is good in the most part but at times it “veers off track” somehow. But, just as I felt the engaging storyline was becoming static, a scene occurs that gives the piece new life.

The final third of the book is set in Australia. Like the London episodes, this is up and down, unlike the engaging scenes in the first third of the novel. I feel some heavier editing would’ve offered a smoother read. There’re several instances of repeated info and such like that could’ve been cut.

Overall, I really liked this tale and would’ve given it five stars had the London and Australia scenes been as consistently good as those set in the country.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean Plaidy was a favourite author of my mother's but this is the first book of hers that I have ever read and it wont be the last. It is the story of three generations of women and how love for the men in their lives was affected by the background of life in their times. Jean Plaidy has researched the history of life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and made them vivid. A real page turner.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read a Jean Plaidy book--and I've read scores of them--but this one was a letdown. Overly wordy and sappy and not nearly as interesting as Plaidy's historical fiction novels about (mainly) British royalty. I could not really identify with any of the characters, and the three generations of women are basically the same person reincarnated.

[Kathy G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished this book. I just did not like it very much. It went through several generations and was not worth the effort. I only finished it because I needed it for a reading task in a challenge. I will not read this author again.

[Isabel Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jean Plaidy siempre ha sido un referente para las novelas históricas y tenía grandes expectativas para este libro a pesar de que no me gustan mucho las novelas que abarcan varias generaciones xq por regla general, quieren ser repetitivas y terminan siendo tediosas. Pero tenía la esperanza de q nuestra Jean le diera un buen giro de tuerca...pero no se cumplió. La trama resulta predecible desde el principio, con todas esas heroínas q no paran de tropezarse con amores imposibles q se consuman físicamente pero no pueden concretar el "vivir felices para siempre".
Me costó bastante engancharme en la historia, incluso no encontré un personaje que realmente me agradara o me pareciera realista. La parte que fue mas interesante y algo más rescatable es cuando Carolan es enviada a Australia, su personaje se vuelve más real, mas fría y más inteligente y es cuando empiezas a ver algo de realismo en la historia. El final fue algo impredecible, pero me pareció tajante, fue como decir esta fue mi última idea y tarán se acabó.
Otro aspecto negativo es que no es muy descriptiva en los paisajes o ciudades en donde se desarrolla la novela, tal vez esto ayudaría a meterte más en la historia, de hecho todo trascurre muy rápido, es un libro corto para abarcar 3 generaciones, pero principalmente se centra o expande en Carolan.
Lo único interesante q puedo decir del libro es q me contó sobre las colonias penales de Australia sobre las q no tenía idea. Más allá, cumple simplemente con su objetivo de entretener y es para aquellos fans del drama de época, más que de la historia.

[Catslib · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jean Plaidy is my second favourite author (after Madeleine Brent). However, this is the first time I've ever stopped reading one. There were no chapters?! It was like a stream of consciousness. According to Wikipedia, this was only the author's second novel and it shows. I have read all of her Victoria Holt novels which were mostly pretty good. I have read over half of her Philippa Carr books and they were okay, but occasionally hard to follow. I am in the process of reading her novels about the British monarchy in chronological order and they are a very interesting way of learning about it. It's kinda like reading "Sarah's Key", loving it, then reading "The House I Loved" and going "what the heck?". Oh well, she sure improved.

[Felicity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read other books by Eleanor Hibbert under her other pseudonym Victoria Holt. I understand that those books are a different genre but I found this book to be incredibly boring in comparison. It follows three women across the generations and is a historical fiction about the lives of the convicts who founded Australia. Unfortunately, there's not really anything driving the plot forward and it ends abruptly.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the time and geological range of the book. I could really see it was Carolan's story and by telling what came before with her mother and after with her daughter it really captured the scope of her life.
The subtleties and consequences of various decisions, how life turns when it could so easily have taken another course were well woven into the story.

[EDLundy-Veo · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this is the book that started my love affair with Victoria Holt/Jean Plaidy/Philippa Carr. I love the way each penname has a totally different and unique style, even though they are one-in-the-same. Gothic, history, love all rolled into each book. Great reads to “take you away.”

[E. Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I read of Jean Plaidy's. It got me hooked on her, Philippa Carr, and of course, Victoria Holt, who are all one.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Jean Plaidy (AKA Victoria Holt, Phillipa Carr and other pseudonyms) and have read all her books except for a couple that took awhile to find. This was the second time I’ve read this one but I honestly had very little memory of it. The story itself is good but the endless dialogue is tiresome and repetitive. Plaidy has a tendency to repeat herself anyway but this was over the top. I think another review called it stream of consciousness writing, that’s a very good description. The ending left a lot to be desired as well, very abrupt and leaving you hanging. I’ll keep it for the next time I reread them all but it’s definitely not a favorite.
If you read this and didn’t like it, give her other books a chance. I think this was one of her first. She definitely improved over the years.

[Danny Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic historical fiction. Compelling and engaging, as well as factually accurate!

[Maria Puerta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me cuesta ponerle titulo ha esta reseña ya que es un libro que no se como calificar.

Te lo venden de Romantica pero a mi parecer no tiene nada de Romantica (tambien es que yo cada vez que pienso en romántica se me viene eroticay son dos géneros distintos), es simplemente la vida de tres mujeres conectadas por el grado de parentesco. Abuela madre e hija aunque de la bisabuela también se habla pero solo un poco. Relacionada Con ellas tres me ha gustado mucho la madre Carolan, es decir el carácter que tenía de una mujer fuerte y seguir creciendo ante la adversidad. Pero el de la abuela y la hija sobretodo la abuela Kitty que era súper tonta y muy egoísta solo pensaba en el lujo y la comodidad so re todo este último incluso cuando las cosas le iban mal.

La hija sale poco y ese puede ser un fallo que se le puede encontrar a la novela que no tiene bien repartido la trama de cada protagonista. Es decir, la mayor parte del libro sólo es de Carolan mientra que las otras son solos unas pocas páginas pero tambien es con ella con quien avanza la novela. Podríamos llamarla la protagonista principal ya que es la que no muestra la historia.

Ahora mientras lo terminaba de leer, he pensado que este libro me recordaba a la película "un horizonte lejano", protagonizada por tom Cruise y Nicole Kidman. Se me es parecida por que tambie se ve el cambio en la vida de los protagonistas. Si la veis me entenderéis lo que quiero decir, ah!, y antes de que se me olvide el final queda un poco abrupto. Me ha faltado el que le ha sucidido a algunas personas en la vida de Carolan como la gente de la hacienda Haredon.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story of three women.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope to read this again as I enjoyed it so much the first time.