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Chargement... The Taxidermist's Daughter (original 2014; édition 2014)par Kate Mosse (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Taxidermist's Daughter par Kate Mosse (2014)
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I needed a reading break from more serious fare, and I decided to read this throwback gothic written in 2014 but set in 1912. The heroine, Connie, is a single woman living with her father, a too often inebriated but once successful taxidermist. Connie suffers some severe memory loss that dates from her twelfth year and an accident that injured her head and was barely survived. Of course, the plot is strung around her recovery of that memory and the events that occurred at that time but are influencing a present day mystery that involves a murder and several disappearances. Mosse does a good job of capturing the more macabre elements of the gothic, but there is little in the way of surprise here. I certainly could have drawn a straight line from the beginning to the end of the novel and never have strayed off course for a second. I picked the love interests outcomes, the major bad guy and the motive long before the reveals. Still, it was a bit of fun and served its purpose. This is the third book I've read by Kate Mosse. I thoroughly enjoyed The Winter Ghosts, and couldn't get through Labyrinth, so with the book with the interesting title I decided to give her a third chance. It was a good quick read, and the writing was very good, with a good fast pace and effortless flow. There were a lot of characters to remember but they were all well described and I never lost track of who was who. There were quite a few names with crow references in them (which I'm guessing was deliberate), and quite a few names beginning with C (which may also have been deliberate). This is a gothic novel, which I didn't know to begin with but quickly became apparent as there were quite a few elements of gothic tales scattered throughout. I was a little disappointed at how unoriginal the story turned out to be, with gatherings of crows and sudden storms and suchlike, and a main character who lost memories of certain events that gradually resurfaced throughout the book, which was used as a way of introducing a sinister backstory. The story became predictable, and I had worked out the ending about half way through, but it was interesting to see it unfold nonetheless. Going back to the characters in the book, I was a little bit disappointed in the main character, who through her memories sets the scene that leads up to the main events in the book. Unfortunately I found that was all she was really there for, and the story would have turned out the same had she not been present at all. I gave the story three stars as I enjoyed it overall, and the writing was very good, but I wish the story had been a little more original and the characters more developed. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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Sussex, 1912. Dans le cimetière d'une église, des villageois se rassemblent. Selon une vieille superstition, c'est cette nuit que l'on verra marcher en procession les fantômes de ceux qui mourront dans l'année à venir. Or ici, où l'estuaire ouvre sur la grande mer, les superstitions ont la vie dure.Seule, un peu à l'écart, la fille du taxidermiste observe la scène. À vingt-deux ans, Constantia Gifford vit avec son père, dans une maison délabrée qui contient les vestiges de l'ancien musée de taxidermie, jadis mondialement célèbre. Les oiseaux empaillés qui ornaient autrefois les salons des maisons bourgeoises sont passés de mode, et Gifford est devenu un homme amer, frappé par la disgrâce. Les événements qui ont mené à la fermeture du musée tenu par son père ne sont jamais évoqués. Or, suite à un accident, Connie a perdu la mémoire, et elle ne garde aucun souvenir de cette époque.La cloche se met à sonner, tous les yeux sont fixés sur l'église. Personne ne voit les mains gantées ni le fil d'acier qu'elles tiennent. Les derniers échos des tintements s'égrènent dans le noir... une femme gît là, tout près.Tandis que le village se prépare à affronter la montée des eaux et la plus forte marée de la saison, Connie s'efforce de découvrir qui est responsable de cette mort, et pourquoi cet incident fait remonter à la surface les souvenirs de ses années enfuies, oubliées.Traduit de l'anglais par Valérie Rosier Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.92Literature English English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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It's been a while since I've read Kate Mosse. In general, her story descriptions pull me in, and while she is a good writer, sometimes her writing is overly detailed and more lengthy than it needs to be. This story has a Gothic, dark feeling to it, with slowly revealed details which gradually unfold the story. I liked this for the most part, and I didn't feel it was dragged out quite as long as some of her earlier novels. The biggest problem I had with this one was that I had trouble keeping track of all the male characters in this novel, and due to the plot, it was necessary to do so. Having listened to this on audio, I think that made things more difficult to track, and I suspect I could've followed things a little easier in print. Nevertheless, I mostly liked this one. It was very atmospheric, if you're into that sort of thing. ( )