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Susan Howatch

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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Post by Margaret » Sun January 25th, 2009, 5:27 pm

I knew next to nothing about the history of the Anglican church before I picked up Glittering Images, and the story still riveted me. Although it does illuminate a great deal about church history, it doesn't read like a history lesson at all. Howatch is very good at depicting the inner lives of her characters, and I got very involved with them. As Julianne says, theology is an important thread running through these novels, but it is treated with a complexity, both intellectual and emotional, that is poles apart from fiction that delivers an obvious and pat religious message.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Mon February 23rd, 2009, 12:36 am

I started Cashelmara yesterday and I had to pop in and say this is even better than Penmarric, which I believe was her first book. The characters are not only more interesting as a whole, but I'm finding myself caring about them more (at least most of them). It pains me to say this (given the way it's been over used in recent publications), but the way Howatch uses the multiple POV in five different "books" really gives some incredible insight into the thoughts and motives of the individual characters.

I am currently reading the POV of *Edward II* and boy am I dying to get into the POV of *Isabella* and *Mortimer*.

So far one of the best $1 used books I've ever bought.

MissMarplestein
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Post by MissMarplestein » Mon February 23rd, 2009, 11:25 am

[quote=""Misfit""]I started Cashelmara yesterday and I had to pop in and say this is even better than Penmarric, which I believe was her first book. The characters are not only more interesting as a whole, but I'm finding myself caring about them more (at least most of them). It pains me to say this (given the way it's been over used in recent publications), but the way Howatch uses the multiple POV in five different "books" really gives some incredible insight into the thoughts and motives of the individual characters.

I am currently reading the POV of *Edward II* and boy am I dying to get into the POV of *Isabella* and *Mortimer*.

So far one of the best $1 used books I've ever bought.[/quote]

Is Cashelmara a sequal to Penmarric? I'll have to locate the book and read it since Penmarric is still so fresh in my mind. Thanks for the tip!

"I have dreamed thee too long,
never seen thee or touched thee
but known thee with all of my heart.
Half a prayer, half a song,
thou hast always been with me,
though we have been always apart." Man of LaMancha

MissMarplestein

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Mon February 23rd, 2009, 1:19 pm

Miss M, the answer is no, but then it's yes. How about that for an answer :D

All three books, Penmarric, Cashelmara and Wheel of Fortune are set in different places with different characters, but the parallels to the Plantagenets put them in a chronological order. Penmaric - Henry II and their brood. Cashelmara, Edward I (starting at his second marriage), Edward II and Isabella and then Wheel of Fortune which as I understand from reading reviews on Amazon (so I'm not positive) finishes off Edward III, Richard II and finally through Henry Bolingbroke. Again, I'm not positive but one of the sections in Wheel is the POV of John of Gaunt and his "Katherine". Oh boy...

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue January 5th, 2010, 7:34 pm

Lol! I was on Amazon UK and the DVD for Penmarric popped up on my recs. Had to share,

Image

My best guess is the young one with the sailor hat and grumpy face is *John*?
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Tue January 5th, 2010, 7:52 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Lol! I was on Amazon UK and the DVD for Penmarric popped up on my recs. Had to share,

Image

My best guess is the young one with the sailor hat and grumpy face is *John*?[/quote]

In that case they changed it from the book and made one of the children younger than him, ie the little one in the bonnet. SH stuck to the historical birth order as far as I remember.

Noir-It-All
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Post by Noir-It-All » Tue February 2nd, 2010, 3:31 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]In that case they changed it from the book and made one of the children younger than him, ie the little one in the bonnet. SH stuck to the historical birth order as far as I remember.[/quote]

I would like to discuss Penmarric with all of you. Who was your favorite character? In some ways for me it was Philip.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue February 2nd, 2010, 4:52 pm

[quote=""Noir-It-All""]I would like to discuss Penmarric with all of you. Who was your favorite character? In some ways for me it was Philip.[/quote]

Hi and welcome. That's going to take some thinking its been almost a year.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Sat September 15th, 2012, 12:54 pm

I finished Penmarric whilst on holiday. I thought it was a fabulous read and beautifully written. I'm now wondering why it has taken me so long to get round to reading it!!

I can't think who my favourite character was. Perhaps Adrian or Jan Yves. I wasn't too sure of Philip! Seemed a bit of a trouble maker.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Prof.Hirata
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Post by Prof.Hirata » Sun December 8th, 2013, 10:53 pm

I hapenned to read her first novel The Dark Shore (1965), which is gothic, maybe thrity years ago. And, strange thing, it comes to my mind now and then since that time. But not the plot, though, the atmosphere - the scene is laid in Penzance, and all those cliffs and waves, the end of land etc. naturally charmed me a lot. Maybe there is sense in reading her other gothic things, if she's so smart at it? But it may so happen that I will not be as impressed as thrity years ago :o
I did not know, though, that she became so prolific saga-producer, kind of got her out of my head, whereas she made that twist.

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