When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.
Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.
Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.
I just loved this book. There are so few retellings of the Bluebeard tale and this is the first one I read. I love fairy tale retellings. Not those modern ones like a Modern Cinderella or something like that. I love those who turn a short fairy tale into a 200-page novel.
But lets focus on this book. Firstly I love the cover. It`s one of the things that made me pick it up today. I`m kind of happy that there isn`t anything blue on it. I don`t know why. Maybe the same reason I bought a copy of The Portrait of Dorian Grey with Oscar Wilde on the cover. I told my mom then: I don`t want the cover to remind me of what`s inside the book!...Strange, huh!
Moving on. The story is set in 1855 in America, I think. I thought at first it was a modern day fairy tale, but then the heroine mentioned a bonnet and a carriage and I dismissed that though. The interesting thing about fairy tale retellings is that you know the main story and that makes you more interested in the writing style and the details than in the plot.
I always have high expectations for the heroes in a novel. The main heroine, Sophia, was not one of the best characters. I liked her curiosity though it got her into trouble. Other good trait of hers is how she is ready to help her family in any way even if it means marrying for such a monster as de Cressac and I think that's what I like the most in her. I am very fond of clever and bright heroines. Sophia was not the brightest girl I have ever read about. I always see signs in books and can sometimes predict how a book is going to end. And I`m quite irritated when the main hero or heroine can`t see those signs. I mean if Sophia was that curious and eager to find out what really happened to the other wives she would have used the keys the first time de Cressac left her alone and gave her the keys. And she saw what beast "her husband" can be at the very beginning when he found out about those love letters she had received long time ago. And he was keeping her isolated, he even hid the letters her family sent her.
As for de Cressac`s character I can`t say much. I think it was well build. Only sometimes it looked like he had schizophrenia. One minute he was good and caring and the next he was mad and full of rage. Maybe that was what the author wanted to imply.
However the book was very good and I recommend it! I hope yu read it and like it. The second re-telling by Jane Nickerson comes out 2014 and I'm hopingto get an ARC.
See ya next time with another post!
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