Tag: Victorian Lit

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Review: The India Fan by Victoria Holt

by The Lit Bitch10 Comments on Review: The India Fan by Victoria Holt

Blackmail. Murder. Scandal. Lies. Deceit. Romance. Adventure. This book has it all!

Growing up, I loved Victoria Holt but sadly I haven’t read her in a number of years…..nor have I read many of her novels.

But she is the queen of a genre that calls to me–the gothic romance genre. When I saw The India Fan on Amazon, I knew it was time to it up this talented authoress again and see if she could still seduce me with her tales of suspense.

Drusilla Delany is the rectors daughter and has always grown up in the shadow of Framling House and the Framling family.

Fabian Framling has always been a spoiled child….over indulged by his domineering mother. Then there is his sister, the beautiful and impetuous Lavinia–she is everything that Drusilla is not.

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Review: Dark Angel: A Gothic Fairy Tale by T.J. Bennett

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Dark Angel: A Gothic Fairy Tale by T.J. Bennett

Strong winds and storm surges batter the hull of a ship carrying the young widow Catherine Briton home to England.

Catherine spots land and tells the captain that they should abandon ship and try to make it to the island. To her dismay the captain refuses and denies that he even saw the land.

The ship eventually sinks and Catherine is left floating in the ocean waiting for death to overtake her. Instead of dying, she wakes up on the beach of the island she saw from the ship.

A stranger rescues her and takes her back to his castle. When she awakes she finds that the man, Gerard, not only saved her life but he is ridiculously good looking as well.

As she regains her strength she finds that things are a little strange on the island. She seems to be stuck in some weird time  lapse. There is also a feral beast that stalks the island.

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Review: Bellman and Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Bellman and Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

As a child, William Bellman makes one tragic mistake that will haunt him all his life. Though it doesn’t seem like a big deal, William soon finds out what a big deal it was.

William is showing off for a few of his friends. He has perfected his slingshot and to impress his friends he claims he can hit a rook (of the raven family) with absolute precision.

When he kills the bird with that fateful shot, he has no idea it will be the mistake that alters his life and the lives of those present that day forever and those that William cares for most.

The Bellman family has done quite well for itself over the years. They are widely known for their textile mill throughout the country side. When William reaches adulthood, his uncle takes him under his wind and start showing him the ropes of mill operation.

His uncle’s own son has zero interest in the running of the mill so that means that when the uncle dies the mill for go to his son but he will need a trusted advisor to run it for him.

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Review: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Reading this book was like peeling the petals off of a flower, each petal a little more beautiful than the one before.

This novel is a complex family saga surrounded by the beauty of the budding botanical world.

We begin with the base born Henry Whittaker who dares to dream and make something of himself.

After stealing his way into some wealth, his father’s employer discovers that poor Henry has been robbing him blind.

Instead of turning him over to the authorities, he sends Henry on a voyage with the famous explorer Captain Cook.

On that voyage Henry learns a great deal about botany and life, and when he returns to England four years later he is rewarded with another voyage, this time to South America.

Here is learns more about cultivating plants and exotic botany. After a falling out with his benefactor, Henry ventures out on his own and quickly becomes one of the wealthiest men in America.

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Review: Mrs Poe by Lynn Cullen

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Mrs Poe by Lynn Cullen

The greatest love affairs are between two souls that speak to each other in a language that no one else but them can understand.

On a fateful night in 1845, Frances Osgood meets the most famous writer in all of New York society, the dark and mysterious Edgar Poe. From the moment they are introduced, Frances can’t help but feel a strange and unexplainable connection to Poe.

A writer herself, they run in the same circles of New York society. At the time, Frances’s philandering husband has taken up with a rich divorcee and basically abandoned Frances and their children.

Frances and the girls are staying at the home of the Bartlett’s while Frances tries to get more of her poetry published so they can have money.

Meanwhile, Poe’s fame is taking off with the success of his poem, The Raven. Poe is also married and has been for some time, but his wife is in ill health and has been for a number of years. He has not been especially happy with Virginia Poe for some time, but like everything in his life he just accepts it and moves on…..until he meets Frances Osgood.

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