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Diary of Miss Idilia
A tragic tale of young love lost...One summer's day in 1851, a seventeen-year-old Scottish girl, on holiday with her family in the German Rhineland, sets off with her sketchbook, and disappears - never to be seen again. Eleven years later, a ruined turret near to the inn where Idilia and her parents had been staying is dismantled by local builders. Among the rubble, they come across the bones of a young girl and then, when the coping of the tower wall is removed, a small, gilt-edged diary, wedged into a gap in the mortar. Its tattered pages finally unravel the mystery of Idilia's disappearance - the story of an illicit love affair which, through a cruel twist of fate, had ended in tragedy.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
8 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 29, 2023
I read this book in swedish, but for some reason the swedish version isn't on goodreads.
It was a nice read and very fascinating because it says that it's real. But I don't know. There are some places where idilia expresses herself in a manner that is typical for novels. Maybe she liked to read, maybe it's edited a lot, maybe it's not real, it's still really good.
They use to say that fiction can never surpass reality, and I'd like to second that. No one would have bought this ending to a fictional story. So very sad!
4 stars from me.
It was a nice read and very fascinating because it says that it's real. But I don't know. There are some places where idilia expresses herself in a manner that is typical for novels. Maybe she liked to read, maybe it's edited a lot, maybe it's not real, it's still really good.
They use to say that fiction can never surpass reality, and I'd like to second that. No one would have bought this ending to a fictional story. So very sad!
4 stars from me.
April 4, 2019
Det är en väldigt fin berättelse men jag har svårt att tro att allt detta verkligen har hänt, att det är en renskriven version av hennes dagbok. Det känns som att den mer är ”baserad på” hennes dagbok. Och om det är så att den är baserad på dagboken, så kunde dem ha beskrivit vissa saker bättre och inte bara gått vidare från saker så snabbt, men om det är hennes riktiga dagbok är det mer förståeligt att det är lite hoppigt. Även om jag visste att den ledde till hennes död så var det väldigt sorgligt. Väldigt mycket resande och ganska lite handling, därav betyget.
June 16, 2011
While I was traveling in England I happened upon the cutest little book store in Bath where I picked this up. Unfortunately, you can't buy it in the states. It is total mind candy. And I ate it all in two days. Lost myself in this story.
April 8, 2019
En mycket filmisk berättelse. Det var lätt att se händelserna framför sig när man läste. Att veta det tragiska slutet redan från början störde inte läsningen . Berättelsen fick mig att vilja besöka de landskap där den utspelades.
February 8, 2012
Idilia Dubb was 17 when she and her parents went on a holiday to the Rhine. This book, apparently, is an edited version of her diary. It describes her adventures right from the trip on the steamship, her arrival at the Rhine, and the ending of her young beautiful life.
It completely amazed me the adventures that she had, the language employed, and the maturity of thoughts contained in this book. I have to take into consideration though the disclaimer at the end of the book noting that the diary was given to a good friend of Idilia Dubb, Genevieve Hill. Hill intended to published this book but found not a publisher. It was handed down through the generations until it was found less than 2 decades ago. Therefore, the truth of the content cannot be verified nor denied. Nevertheless, it was an easy, entertaining, but poignant one-sitting read.
It completely amazed me the adventures that she had, the language employed, and the maturity of thoughts contained in this book. I have to take into consideration though the disclaimer at the end of the book noting that the diary was given to a good friend of Idilia Dubb, Genevieve Hill. Hill intended to published this book but found not a publisher. It was handed down through the generations until it was found less than 2 decades ago. Therefore, the truth of the content cannot be verified nor denied. Nevertheless, it was an easy, entertaining, but poignant one-sitting read.
May 28, 2016
Good book but I found it hard to believe all of it really happened. The setting and most of the events in the book were plausible but some of them were a little bit over the top.
It's supposed to be a true story, her real diary, but I think it was more 'based on a true story'.
It's supposed to be a true story, her real diary, but I think it was more 'based on a true story'.
August 4, 2016
It was a fascinating book about Idilia's life and you got an inside look at how they lived what duties a girl could have (finding a husband). I liked the book because I'm quite interested of history so I thought it was fun to read and get to know how she lived and all of that stuff.
July 24, 2015
It's such a beautiful book and I recommend everyone to read it. I love this book so much though it has a wonderful story with a sad end. 5/5
June 16, 2022
Hated it.
September 14, 2017
Gepresenteerd als waargebeurd dagboek komt Idilia Dubb wel erg progressief over voor haar tijd, wat het waarschijnlijk maakt dat haar redigerende vriendin Genevieve Hill nogal aan de haal is gegaan met het verhaal. Dat neemt echter niet weg dat de feiten nog wel even blijven hangen: Idilia komt tragisch aan haar einde in de ruïne van Slot Lahnstein en wordt bijna een decennium later pas gevonden, samen met de restanten van haar dagboek. Hoewel het echte leven van Idilia vermoedelijk niet zo kleurrijk was, vergeef ik het Genevieve graag dat ze haar vriendin als avontuurlijke heldin wilde vereeuwigen...
Meer informatie is te vinden op de website van de Lahnstener Altertumsverein, incl. een overzichtje van historische onjuistheden in het zogenaamde dagboek. Wel frusterend is dat ik nergens kan vinden welke gebeurtenissen daadwerkelijk door Idilia zijn opgeschreven, en welke door Genevieve zijn toegevoegd en/of verfraaid.
Meer informatie is te vinden op de website van de Lahnstener Altertumsverein, incl. een overzichtje van historische onjuistheden in het zogenaamde dagboek. Wel frusterend is dat ik nergens kan vinden welke gebeurtenissen daadwerkelijk door Idilia zijn opgeschreven, en welke door Genevieve zijn toegevoegd en/of verfraaid.
September 4, 2022
This story is supposed to be the diary of a girl who died after exploring a castle that caved in. It was "found" by her bestie years later and published under mysterious circumstances against her family's wishes and I can see why...
This is not a diary. It is written in present tense! And nothing at all in it is believable for a proper Victorian young lady. Not a wooooord. It does however read like a Victorian fanfic which made it absolutely hilarious to me. Lurid. Strange. Nonsensical. And in Victorian slang!
Yes, I rated it badly, but I still suggest reading it. In the same way I may suggest watching an old Vincent Price movie. Enjoy how bad it is.
This is not a diary. It is written in present tense! And nothing at all in it is believable for a proper Victorian young lady. Not a wooooord. It does however read like a Victorian fanfic which made it absolutely hilarious to me. Lurid. Strange. Nonsensical. And in Victorian slang!
Yes, I rated it badly, but I still suggest reading it. In the same way I may suggest watching an old Vincent Price movie. Enjoy how bad it is.
March 21, 2018
This book wasn't the best but it wasn't completely bad either. I am debating on actually if this book is worth 1.5 stars or 2 stars. I have it hard to believe that this was someones actual diary.
May 23, 2020
En bra bok med ett tragiskt och sorgligt slut.
Read
September 29, 2017this is actually a hard book to rate. i first read it when i was fifteen, enchanted by the cover which was a closeup of an ophelia painting (john william waterhouse 1910). for nostalgic reasons, i want to rate it 4 stars. and sometimes nostalgia can be reason enough, but re-reading it i feel like this: there have been questions and discussions about whether it actually is a real diary, written by an actual girl named idilia dubbs, about real events and with an ending that is so painful to read. if it is – then it's amazing. a four star book.
idilia is a warm and likable narrator. her adventures through-out the german landscapes, her strained relationship with her mother, her bond with christian, henry – it's all captivating, almost too-good-to-be-true. which of course, makes it even more amazing if it is true. if it's not however, i would've wished for deeper contexts about idilia's earlier life, and less short-lived drama . a three star book.
if the story of idilia is real, it's also easier to forgive some of her reactions – or maybe lack of reaction – because maybe you don't want to deeply share every emotions even if it's in a letter to a dear friend. however, if it's not real, i don't see the reason for the author to put such a scene in without properly handling it.
you might think – just enjoy the book, why is it so important to you whether it actually is a real diary? well, if it's not real, then i would be disappointed. it doesn't have to be real to be good, of course, but since it claims to have happened i would feel cheated upon if it isn't. and if idilia existed, and this was her diary, wouldn't there have been more discussions about it then what it is? wouldn't this book have been more talked about? or is a girl's life worth that little, although it took place 166 years ago?
PS: i'm adding the painting on the cover of the edition i read, because it's beautiful (but the cover version is cropped fyi).
idilia is a warm and likable narrator. her adventures through-out the german landscapes, her strained relationship with her mother, her bond with christian, henry – it's all captivating, almost too-good-to-be-true. which of course, makes it even more amazing if it is true. if it's not however, i would've wished for deeper contexts about idilia's earlier life, and less short-lived drama . a three star book.
if the story of idilia is real, it's also easier to forgive some of her reactions – or maybe lack of reaction – because maybe you don't want to deeply share every emotions even if it's in a letter to a dear friend. however, if it's not real, i don't see the reason for the author to put such a scene in without properly handling it.
you might think – just enjoy the book, why is it so important to you whether it actually is a real diary? well, if it's not real, then i would be disappointed. it doesn't have to be real to be good, of course, but since it claims to have happened i would feel cheated upon if it isn't. and if idilia existed, and this was her diary, wouldn't there have been more discussions about it then what it is? wouldn't this book have been more talked about? or is a girl's life worth that little, although it took place 166 years ago?
PS: i'm adding the painting on the cover of the edition i read, because it's beautiful (but the cover version is cropped fyi).
July 21, 2011
1851 unternimmt die siebzehnjährige Schottin Idilia Dubb mit ihrer Familie eine Rheinfahrt. Eines Morgens verschwindet sie. Erst über zehn Jahre später werden ihre Gebeine in der Turmruine der Burg Lahneck entdeckt. Daneben liegt ihr Tagebuch – ein bewegendes Zeugnis ihrer aufregenden Reise, ihrer nicht standesgemäßen Liebe zu einem jungen Deutschen und des Konflikts mit den Eltern und ihrem Verlobten.
Eine romantische Rheinfahrt mit einem tragischen Ende: die wahre Geschichte der Idilia Dubb.
Dieses Buch basiert auf der wahren Geschichte von Idilia Dubb. Schnell hat man es, trotz der im 19. Jahrhundert gängigen Sprach- und Schreibweise, durchgelesen. Aber genau das macht die Authentizität des Tagesbuchs glaubhaft. Allerdings muss ich sagen, dass man an einigen Stellen das Gefühl nicht los wird, Genevieve Hill, die Herausgeberin, oder der nicht namentlich erwähnte amerikanische Schriftsteller hätten das Tagebuch um einiges „verschönert“. Ich kann mir einfach nicht vorstellen, dass dieser Schreibstil und Wortschatz vollständig aus der Feder eines siebzehnjährigen Mädchens aus dem 19. Jahrhundert stammen soll. Sieht man aber davon ab, schafft es dieses Tagebuch und die Abenteuer, die Idilia mit Christian auf ihrer Reise erlebt, den Leser in seinen Bann zu ziehen. Ich konnte das Buch nur sehr schwer aus der Hand legen und war, obwohl das Schicksal Idilias bereits auf den ersten Seiten verraten wird, sehr betroffen über das Ende.
Eine romantische Rheinfahrt mit einem tragischen Ende: die wahre Geschichte der Idilia Dubb.
Dieses Buch basiert auf der wahren Geschichte von Idilia Dubb. Schnell hat man es, trotz der im 19. Jahrhundert gängigen Sprach- und Schreibweise, durchgelesen. Aber genau das macht die Authentizität des Tagesbuchs glaubhaft. Allerdings muss ich sagen, dass man an einigen Stellen das Gefühl nicht los wird, Genevieve Hill, die Herausgeberin, oder der nicht namentlich erwähnte amerikanische Schriftsteller hätten das Tagebuch um einiges „verschönert“. Ich kann mir einfach nicht vorstellen, dass dieser Schreibstil und Wortschatz vollständig aus der Feder eines siebzehnjährigen Mädchens aus dem 19. Jahrhundert stammen soll. Sieht man aber davon ab, schafft es dieses Tagebuch und die Abenteuer, die Idilia mit Christian auf ihrer Reise erlebt, den Leser in seinen Bann zu ziehen. Ich konnte das Buch nur sehr schwer aus der Hand legen und war, obwohl das Schicksal Idilias bereits auf den ersten Seiten verraten wird, sehr betroffen über das Ende.
January 5, 2013
Eftersigende den ægte dagbog fra en skotsk pige, der forsvinder under en ferie i Tyskland i 1851 og først mange år senere findes død i tårnet af nogle gamle slotsruiner. Dagbogen fortæller om Idilias oplevelser frem til hendes død.
Historien er gansk sød omend særdeles utroværdig. Det kan umuligt være en ægte dagbog fra den tid. Det gør, at hele bogen føles som bedrag og karakteren bliver desværre derefter.
Historien er gansk sød omend særdeles utroværdig. Det kan umuligt være en ægte dagbog fra den tid. Det gør, at hele bogen føles som bedrag og karakteren bliver desværre derefter.
May 3, 2011
I cried for hours after finishing this - even though I knew from the prologue how it would end... but still, it was worth it. It sort of reminds one of Titanic, only.. better :)
June 16, 2015
Het blijkt goeie reviews te hebben, maar ik vond echt niets aan dit boek, behalve de laatste paar pagina's. Voor het overige: saai.
November 8, 2015
Uitgelezen, saai of uitgelezen saai. Ligt aan de komma. :-)
Leek wel een stuivertjesroman.
Praten we niet meer over :-)
Leek wel een stuivertjesroman.
Praten we niet meer over :-)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews