Retro Reads discussion

Hi it is the 5th in my neck of the wood & I'm hoping to start this read later today.

I'm setting this read up the way I do in the Georgette Heyer group with 3 threads - first half of the book, second half of the book & a thread for spoilers & final conclusions.

If putting anything spoilerish in this thread, please use spoiler tags. We don't want to spoil a first time read for anyone. (that would include me!)

So who is reading this?
How many times have you read it?
What format are you using?

Enjoy!

Oh, dear! I love this book, so I'll try to finish up some others and join in soon.

Karlyne wrote: "Oh, dear! I love this book, so I'll try to finish up some others and join in soon."

No pressure Karlyne - reading should always be fun!

UGH! Mine had not come in yet. I hope it will soon. I got a notification that it has been shipped.

This is my first read of this book and this author. I'm very much looking forward to it! While I have some other books I am reading (including The Ivy Tree over in the MS group), I will want to start this one as soon as it comes in. I ordered a used paperback.

Enchantress debbicat ☮ wrote: "UGH! Mine had not come in yet. I hope it will soon. I got a notification that it has been shipped.

This is my first read of this book and this author. I'm very much looking forward to it! While I ..."

I have a paperback that I got from another library in my area. (I really should move to Whangamata - whoever does their book ordering is so in tune with my tastes! :D )

I've never read anything by this author either.

I checked out the ebook from my library. I have never read this title, or anything by this author.

I'm so excited to read this book. I started it over the weekend. The movie of it is on amazon prime, so I watched it too. I loved the movie, so I'm really looking forward to the book. This is my first time reading it and anything by the author. A friend of mine had suggested reading it a long time ago, so I bought it, but just never took the time to read it.

I started this novel yesterday and I love it already! How could I have missed this one all these years? I'm pretty sure one of my three daughters read it for a school assignment, but I dismissed it as a YA novel. The humour reminds me a bit of the Mitford sisters, so droll and British.

I like almost everyone in it already, not sure whether I have met everyone yet. Not sure about the Father, though.

That early exploring all over the castle and grounds was childlike and reckless. The description of everything about the castle was wonderful, and at that age, I would have loved to move into that castle.

I wish I had it! Mine has not arrived yet. :-(

I started yesterday. :)

Mine came in today. I'll start tomorrow. Just got home and it's here. :)

Just about to start Chapter 8 - after a slow start I'm really engaged by this family!

I've read this several times, and I'm always saddened that she didn't write more!

I didn't get to start yet. But, when I saw it was a movie available on Prime, i snuck a peak last night. I think it's delightful! Now I really want to read it. I think I'm gonna enjoy this quite a lot!

Heather wrote: "I'm so excited to read this book. I started it over the weekend. The movie of it is on amazon prime, so I watched it too. I loved the movie, so I'm really looking forward to the book. This is my fi..."

I watched a bit of the movie. It is so sweet and visually pretty. I will watch it again...and the ending when I finish the book. It gives me all the feelz goodz.

Best opening sentence maybe ever??? :-)

Topaz is described very differently than she appears in the movie. I always wonder why they change the looks of characters. I didn't realize Rose is 21 and Topaz is only 29! A very young stepmother. I wonder about the artists that painted her. She is in two galleries??? Macmorris and Allardy. I could google it. Lazy right now. I just wanna read. Are they real? Or fiction. Anyone know? She is a free spirit. I like her.

Ok, are we getting an inkling into what the title means? Page 10 in my book..ch. 1 (view spoiler)[ I was aware this wasn't a fair portrait of him. I must capture him later." Is she giving us a portrait of castle life with her writings? And the title connects to that? (hide spoiler)]

Enchantress debbicat ☮ wrote: "Ok, are we getting an inkling into what the title means? Page 10 in my book..ch. 1..."

Very good point!

I am just into chapter 7 now, and I do really like Cassandra and Topaz, and Stephen. Overall, the book has not captured me yet, but I am persisting.

Cassandra does come across as being about 13 or 14 years old, but even that is too old to not have complete bathing privacy.

The references to the paintings, Rose as Lady Hamilton by Romney

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3a/34/...

that is exactly how I imagined Rose to look!

Poor Cassandra as Reynolds Girl with a Mousetrap

http://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/...

I can understand Cassandra being offended by being likened to that!

And lastly Topaz as a Blake, I could not find one that seemed like something you would want to compare someone to, without it feeling a bit strange. Can anyone else find a good Blake to represent Topaz?

Yes, Lady Hamilton or Girl with Mousetrap? Snort.

❇ Critterbee wrote: "The references to the paintings, Rose as Lady Hamilton by Romney

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3a/34/...




Oh those paintings are wonderful, Critterbee! That is exactly how I imagined Rose looking!

Alrighty, I am back with this one now. I just finished Brat Farrar in the other BR. Wow that was a good one! Um, let me see where Ieft off here...

❇ Critterbee wrote: "The references to the paintings, Rose as Lady Hamilton by Romney

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3a/34/...

that is exactly how I imagined Rose to look!

Poor Ca..."

OH! Rose IS beautiful. Great photo. Thanks for adding those.

Loving the description of the Castle. I would have been all about that at that age. I bet their father seemed really cool and eccentric. He's funny. Mother too. Poor Mom. She had to put up with a lot.

Enchantress debbicat ☮ wrote: "Loving the description of the Castle. I would have been all about that at that age. I bet their father seemed really cool and eccentric. He's funny. Mother too. Poor Mom. She had to put up with a lot."

I love Cassandra's callousness, or maybe it's just her callowness, of assuring us that her mother died of purely natural causes, as though it makes her death just fine. Of course, she's right; it's much better that way than being stabbed to death with a cake knife. But, if her mother and father really did fight, then her mother must not have been as shadowy and insubstantial as Cassandra remembers. Death is hard from a child's viewpoint. (well, from anybody's, actually)

I had forgotten how purely funny the Cassandra in the bath scene is. Topaz as the ghost without legs, and Cassandra's green arms ("What is this - the house of Usher?") had me laughing out loud.

Rose annoys me, I just decided. Here she is, 21 years old, hates her life, blah blah blah, but she just sits around being miserable and infecting everyone else with her petulance. She has good points (she is somewhat protective of Cassandra, e.g.), but I have to wonder just what in the world she's been doing since leaving school. She was practically grown-up when her father married Topaz, so why hadn't she faced up to the fact that she needed to make a living? Their aunt didn't cast them off until after the marriage, so couldn't she have stayed with her and got some kind of training if she'd wanted to? Of course that's the operative phrase: "if she'd wanted to"...

Karlyne wrote: "Rose annoys me, I just decided. Here she is, 21 years old, hates her life, blah blah blah, but she just sits around being miserable and infecting everyone else with her petulance. She has good poin..."

I think Rose (& everyone else) assumed she would marry her way out of financial difficulty. I kept thinking Rose, Stephen & Cassandra were younger than they actually were!

Talk about having their heads buried in the sand! Cassandra tells us that they know no men (and never have!), and yet they expect Rose to marry well. Seriously, she's just going to sit there and let her clothes rot out from under herself until Prince Charming drops in her lap? That type of cranky laziness drives me batty...

Their Father was certainly not exerting himself to find any beaus for Rose. Maybe she could have tried for a job in London, but what would she have been qualified to do?

Topaz might have taken her, but perhaps Rose was not prepared to hold her own among urban adults, having a sheltered country upbringing.

There's no suggestion of Rose trying out for any kind of scholarship, either, although Thomas has one, or even thinking of attempting to train herself for any kind of job. She's literate and intelligent and beautiful, so if she had been determined to support herself she could have, but it's almost as though the ambitious years have passed her by and she's willing herself into falling into a miserable spinsterhood.

She obviously has no notion of how to behave in social situations (with men, anyway), but she could easily learn, and in a training/work environment she'd do fine. She only got into trouble when she was trying to catch money and being fake.

And the way that they're all willing to take Stephen's wages makes me cry...

All good points Karlyne. The characters' flaws are what makes this book so readable! :)

And I just started laughing at myself, because I realized that it's my sense of intelligent womanhood that's outraged. She makes us look such slackers...

Karlyne wrote: "Enchantress debbicat ☮ wrote: "Loving the description of the Castle. I would have been all about that at that age. I bet their father seemed really cool and eccentric. He's funny. Mother too. Poor ..."

That's funny! I posted that same thing in my update on my reading of this. About the House of Usher. Got my attention as well!

Karlyne wrote: "There's no suggestion of Rose trying out for any kind of scholarship, either, although Thomas has one, or even thinking of attempting to train herself for any kind of job. She's literate and intell..."

That makes me mad...about them taking Stephen's wages. He seems so good. and very smitten with Cassandra. I don't like Rose at all. She wants someone to take care of her...a handout. I agree...at 21 she could find employment. And SKILLS! She seems very coddled. Even more so that Cassandra. In fact, much more so.

Karlyne wrote: "And I just started laughing at myself, because I realized that it's my sense of intelligent womanhood that's outraged. She makes us look such slackers..."

She does! UGH!