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Chargement... A Crowning Mercy (1983)par Bernard Cornwell, Susannah Kells
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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. 17th c. Puritan England - Dorcas Slythe - "Campion" + Toby - covenant +seals Enemies all want seal - very good. In mid seventeenth-century England, the nation was in upheaval. In the Dorset countryside, one sunlit afternoon, a young girl - illicitly bathing in a stream - first fell in love with a passing stranger. Her parents called her Dorcas, but he called her Campion and that's what she longed to be, then and forever. She had one gift left for her by her unknown father - a pendant made of gold, banded by tiny glowing stones and at its base was a seal engraved with an axe and the words: St Matthew. So when she flees before the unbearable, worthy suitor who is forced upon her after her forbidden meeting, she takes this and the delicate lace gloves with her, and hopes to find her father, and her lover. There are four of these intricately wrought seals - each owned by a stranger, each holding a secret within. And when all four seals are united, then the holder will have access to great wealth and power. That is Campion's inheritance. But to claim this and find again her summer love, she must follow the course her father's legacy charts for her. Set during the 1640s when King Charles I of England was at war with his own people, this story follows the up and downs of a beautiful woman with an ugly name: Dorcas Slythe. Not surprisingly, when she meets her dream man, who adores her but hates her name, she readily agrees to being called Campion after a beautiful flower. Campion is raised as a Puritan. Her unloving father beats her with his belt whenever she does anything he considers as sinful. Yet he’s hiding something from her; something that holds great riches and a means of escape from her miserable home. At length Campion discovers her father’s secret and leaves for London. For the rest of the story she experiences a mixture of great happiness and humiliating horrors. The two authors have done a good job of intermixing themes. Some readers won’t like this whilst others – including me – will appreciate the blend of different tones. In some instances they do this in the same scene. For example, early on in the book Campion’s enemies are trying to force her to marry an ugly man. During the service, while she’s being manhandled by someone she knows would rape her with pleasure, there’s also a comedy being acted out with the drunk priest. Again, some readers may not like this, but I found it high entertainment and cleverly written. I did consider some sections as dull but these were few. On the whole I thought this was an excellent tale, well-plotted, blending humour and horror to great effect, featuring a likeable heroine along with several strong characters. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la sérieA Crowning Mercy (book 1)
The civil war that is tearing England asunder in the year 1643 has not yet touched Dorcas Slythe, a secretly rebellious young Puritan woman living in the countryside south of London. She aches to escape the safe, pious tyranny of her father-and the opportunity appears with the arrival of Toby Lazender, dashing scion of a powerful royalist family, who awakens her to her passionate destiny. Her adventure truly begins with the discovery of an intricately wrought gold seal-one of four that, when joined, will reveal a great secret. Suddenly grave danger lies before her-not from Cromwell's advancing armies, but from relentless enemies who covet the great treasure to which she now holds the key. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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So when an unbearable prospective husband is forced upon her, Dorcas flees to seek her lover, taking with her the one gift left to her by her unknown father- a golden seal.
There are four of these jewels, each owned by a stranger. If one person can gather them all then that person will have access to great wealth and power. This is Campion's inheritance.
I am normally a great fan of Bernard Cornwell's books and this one was supposedly written in collaboration with Susannah Kells (which I believe is the pen-name of Cornwell's wife). I rather suspect that it was she who did most of the writing and the publishers cynically exploiting her husband's fame. The historical background was well researched and the plot if rather absurd moved along at a decent pace, but the characterisation was poor and stereotypical, whilst I wasn't ever tempted to throw in the towel the final supposed twist so transparent I found it laughable.
All in all I found this one a dud and I won't be rushing out looking for any more in the series. ( )