Amazon.com
As with so many contemporary classics of female friendship--and make no mistake, The Book Borrower joins the ranks--Alice Mattison's novel begins in a park with two young mothers minding their children. Toby Ruben and Deborah Laidlaw strike up a prickly, talky relationship when Deborah loans Toby a book, Trolley Girl. Toby is charmed by her new friend: after Deborah calls, she "felt that swirl in the throat, as when the teacher said hers was the best; and she was also troubled." She's equally charmed by the book, reading as she pushes her baby in his stroller, reading late into the night. Trolley Girl forms a narrative-within-the-narrative; we read it along with Toby. It is the memoir of a woman whose sister was killed in a 1921 trolley strike. A third sister, an anarchist rabble-rouser named Jessie, may or may not have been responsible for the death.
Ten years later, despite their problems, Deborah and Toby are still friends, still raising their families together. They may talk about Trolley Girl, but there seems to be little time for reading; instead, the two women teach classes, take classes, scold children. The novel leaps ahead another 10 years: The women's friendship comes to a tragic end. Just when Toby is at her lowest ebb of despair, who should appear in her (real) life but Jessie, the anarchist sister, who happens to live nearby. Jessie brings Toby an unexpected measure of comfort.
Alice Mattison's novel of friendship and history succeeds on so many levels it's almost dizzying. As a portrait of friendship it is difficult and true. As a diagram of loss it is exacting and rigorous. Yet the author has bigger goals here. Like Margaret Drabble in her later work, Mattison seeks to connect the bloody events of the world to the quiet lives of her characters. And, finally, she comes up with an allegory of reading itself: the character Jessie steps out of the pages of Trolley Girl to provide Toby with the solace she needs. So books daily come to our rescue. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
On the first page of The Book Borrower, Toby Ruben and Deborah Laidlaw meet in 1975 in a New York City playground, where the two women are looking after their babies. Deborah lends Toby a book, Trolley Girl,--a memoir about a long ago trolley strike and three Jewish sisters, one a fiery revolutionary--that will disappear and reappear throughout the twenty-two years these women are friends.
Through two decades Deborah and Toby raise their children, embark on teaching careers, and argue about politics, education, and their own lives. One day during a hike, they have an argument that cannot be resolved--and the two women take different, permanent paths--but it is ultimately the borrowed book that will bring them back together. With sensitivity and grace, Alice Mattison shows how books can rescue us from our deepest sorrows; how the events of the outside world play into our private lives; and how the bonds between women are enduring, mysterious, and laced with surprise.
Customer Reviews:
Why is this disjointed text beloved?.......2005-11-28
I read this book without any previous acquaintance with Alice Mattison and her previous works. The backcover promotes the novel as a truthful tale about friendship between two women. As someone who loves and appreciates the relationships that I have with various women in my life, I looked forward to something that neared verisimilitude. What I found instead was a novel that made me wonder, as many others apparently have, why were these two women friends? Perhaps it is because I don't have as many disagreements with my friends as the two protagonists, Deborah and Toby, who annoyingly refers to herself as Reuben (her last name)throughout the text, do. Perhaps because there seemed to be a basic lack of respect between the two, or rather, that Toby exhibits toward Deborah. Twice in the course of their friendship she questions her "best friend's" intelligence to their superiors, leading to Deborah's termination from one of those jobs. Deborah at one point says that Toby believes herself to be superior to everyone else, and that may have been the truest moment in the book. Indeed, the fact that the tale is told from her perspective is irritating. I found myself much more interested in Deborah and her life. I thought the portrayal of almost all of the relationships in the text lacking -- maybe because the goal was to portray the quotidian existence of each character, but I could not, for the life of me, understand how these people lived near each other, much less supposedly loved one another.
As for the book-within-a-book, I thought the tale of the anarchist as told from the point of view of her sister was interesting, certainly more so than the overarching framework. In that story, I thought the author much more aptly captured how women, sisters, love each other.
Overall, I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I finished it just to get through it, and soon I will donate it to the nearest library -- perhaps someone else with a different opinion on friendship will enjoy it.
Alice Mattison has written a masterpiece!.......2003-08-05
Alice Mattison is an exceptional, critically acclaimed author
of both short stories and novels. With "The Book Borrower,"
Mattison has reached a new artistic peak. This novel is
engrossing, stimulating, and artistically satisfying. Toby
Ruben is the book borrower. Toby borrows the book from her
new friend Deborah Laidlaw. The book is about a young female
Jewish anarchist. The lives of Toby and Deborah, their
husbands and children, and the Jewish anarchist twine and
intertwine.
Alice Mattison gives us a picture of life in New Haven from the
early 1970's through the 1980's, and life in a small New
England town in the 1920's. Mattison has done her research, and the characters and the events in their lives ring true.
"The Book Borrower" is an extraordinary literary tour de force.
Don't miss it!
Beautiful narrative-within-narrative novel.......2003-03-24
Mattison has created a wonderful novel about the friendship of two magnificent women. There is so much to love about this book, especially the narrative-within-narrative plot. I find the styling and characters superb in their authenticity; the author has demonstrated an unerring voice for dialogue that transmits emotion into a funny, moving account. The Book Borrower is a wonderful reading experience. It's difficult to believe this is Ms. Mattison's first novel, and the rave reviews she received for this brave effort are well deserved. If you like narrative fiction, I guarantee this will not be a disappointment, but rather a joyous discovery...
An apparent prickly friendship is nonetheless abiding!.......2002-10-09
Two young women, both with little ones in tow, meet by chance in a park. From that brief beginning an unusual relationship is begun. I say "unusual" because it does not appear, over the 20 years that are briefly described, to have a lot of glue. The conversations are in bits `n snatches and switch topics rapid fire. Reuben (and we never quite learn why this character is only occasionally referred to by her first name, Toby) seems to be the adversarial, critical one and Deborah seems to be the target.
Both women teach part time, yet Reuben is critical of Deborah's style, her lack of preparedness for classes, and the cursory way she apparently skims over the subject matter with her students. So what keeps drawing these two women together? Reuben at times appears jealous of Deborah and her friendship with another teacher. Ultimately she contributes to Deborah's being laid off because of an off-handed remark to the woman who does the hiring and firing.
A more interesting part of this book is its journeys back to the 20s when Gussie Lipkin was a rebel and an activist. Her demonstration activities in behalf of the failing trolley industry end in a trolley derailment, the death of her sister and in a trial from which she is acquitted.
I found myself wondering what the link was between Reuben who literally borrows the book that narrates Gussie's life and rebellious activities and Reuben's own life and times. This remains obscure for more than half the book, although there are hints of danger and possible injury or death; but the worries are more mothers' worries in behalf of their own vulnerable little ones.
The conversation between the two women is choppy, sometimes prickly, and most of the time "all over the place". Again the question, what bonded these two women for twenty years? Nonetheless when Deborah dies in a car accident just after the two women's confrontation as they hiked one evening, Reuben is devastated and that's the point at which the depth of her love for Deborah is more fully articulated. Moreover it is from this point onward that the extent of the friendship becomes more evident and believable. Until that point, Reuben seemed the distant of the two women, the more cerebral. Following Deborah's death, the memories of little things came flooding back (and perhaps it's the little things that formed the elusive glue to the relationship?)...the places visited...the lunches they shared. And Reuben is desolate!
It is at this point that Gussie re-enters the story; she is still very much alive, frail and living alone..in need of caregiving. Her rebelliousness during the mostly un-chronicled portion of her life was manifested in large, abstract sculptures, pieces that are literally crushing her old home.
Reuben is fascinated with Gussie a.k.a. Berry and it seems to be this fascination for an aged, spunky, iconoclastic sculptor that provides more mystery than answers to the story. Did Gussie really kill her sister? Will Gussie and Berry becomes friends? Will Gussie provide some sort of solace for Reuben? She is quite an iconoclast and doesn't seem given to sympathy. Hers is more of a "get on with it" attitude. Is that what Reuben needs?
Some of the most shocking questions nonetheless remain: Was Deborah really having an affair? And why did she never confide in Reuben?
Tryin' to..........2002-07-13
Reading this story is like looking at a framed picture of a framed picture.
The two tales, one of two self-absorbed women making a half-hearted attempt at a friendship, the other of a family tragedy relayed in a story-within-a-story, converge when a character from the second story arrives on the "friendship" scene. That took the focus of the book from the book borrower and the friendship and placed the entire narrative firmly into deus ex machina.
Also, the relationship between Toby (Ruben) and Deborah is more of an acquaintanceship than a friendship. They don't connect except in a superficial way. The "book" about the trolley strike is amazingly dull and I wondered why anyone would read it in the first place. Literary devices like the use of dashes instead of quotation marks and jumping back and forth from "reality" to the fantasy of the book are distracting and amateurish. I had to fight to finish this book. I kept falling asleep.
I'm not sure what the author intended here. Was it to show how a book can provide distraction from the trials of life? Or how it could affect a friendship and/or a life? Or to, as the ... reviewer said, "reconnect the bloody world to the lives of her characters?" Through fantasy? Whatever, it didn't work.
There's an old Southern expression that fits here: "Tryin' to but can't."
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Borrowers (Novel units) Teacher Guide
Mary Norton
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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
ASIN: 156137069X |
Amazon.com
Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of "little people" living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers--a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book--has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publication. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.
Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they've "borrowed" from "human beans," employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, "Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for 'knocking about in the mornings.'"
The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the country house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistake a Borrower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose brother might--just might--have seen an actual Borrower in the country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12)
Book Description
This is the classic story--read and loved by children all over the world--of Pod, Homily, and their daughter, Arrietty, who live under the kitchen floor in a quiet, half-empty house and get their livelihood by borrowing from the “human beans.” “Delectable fantasy.”--Booklist
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
The Borrowers are tiny little guys, but otherwise people. They get along by using junk that is lying around and adapting it for their own use. This book is about what happens when a human boy actually discovers them, after moving into their area.
Not a particularly uncommon theme, and this one is pretty dull.
What would they "borrow" from your home?.......2007-08-18
Have you ever pondered where your hairclips, bobby pins and thimbles have gotten to? Do you wonder why small quantities of your father's tobacco and Madeira seem to smoke themselves or evaporate? Did your wooden knight ever ride off the chessboard never to be seen again?
You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you? OK, so have you ever lost your iPod Nano? Maybe the Borrowers needed a stereo for their home entertainment system. The same thing happened to your Nintendo Gameboy.
Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" published in 1952 is about a race of little people living beside a rain pipe, over the mantel, behind the harpsichord and in all the nooks and crannies of the house. These little people "borrow" from us, the big people. They use blotting paper for their carpets, a single onion ring for their cooking and postage stamps for wall portraits.
In the book, Pod, Homily and Arriety are the last Borrowers left in Aunt Sophy's house. They lived in the floorboards under the kitchen ad entered and exited their home from a hole behind the grandfather clock. They weren't rich but they had everything they needed - potatoes for their supper, a gas pipe leak for their cooking, a foie gras dish for their bath. Pod, the father, ventures into the house every now and then for supplies.
This is the story of how Arriety, after being allowed to go borrowing with her father, befriended a nine-year old boy who was a visitor in the house. Then their lives change forever: They discover news about their Borrower relatives, gain new riches and then lose everything they own.
This is a good story to read in a big house on a rainy afternoon. Perhaps you can explore the house for little corners where a Borrower may be living. Or you can guess which of the little things lying around the house are useful for them.
Even if you live in an apartment in the big city with the most modern furniture and high tech gadgets, it would still be fun to imagine what a Borrower family would be using these days. What would a Borrower your age be playing with? What would they use for furniture? Where would they be living?
I bought a package of IKEA tealight candles once and some of them have disappeared. Perhaps a family of Borrowers illuminate their cozy little home with them. Well, they can buy their own iPhone if they need to surf the internet; I'm not letting mine out of my sight.
The Borrowers.......2007-06-15
The book I read was the" The Borrowers" by Mary Norton. The story is about two families. One family is little, only 6 inches tall! They live under a house. They then get caught by the family living in the house. Finally, the big family tries to kill the little ones, but then they realize they are nice and friendly so they become friends. They decide to live to share the house.
I like this book because it was interesting. It is a real page turner! I could relate to this book. There are many surprises in this story. This is the perfect book for you to read. If you like interesting and funny books then this one is for you!!!
Yea, Fantasy, But If It Were Only True.......2007-02-28
Look at the floor. Imagine seeing a pencil-tall person who would have to climb over your shoe like it was an enormous rock. Wouldn't that be fascinating? The Borrowers, rarely seen by anyone, are such secretly living "creatures."
Perhaps, we can call them people, very tiny ones--though they don't consider THEMSELVES human beings. (That would be an insult.) In THE BORROWERS the family's secret living quarters under the kitchen floor gets discovered. First by a friendly boy; then by others who want to exterminate them...like rats. Exciting, suspenseful and amusing.
The Borrowers.......2006-09-27
The book I chose to read is called The Borrowers, written by Mary Norton. I would have to say that the main conflict or theme to this story is about a girl named Arrintrey. She starts on a jouney to find or get in touch with members of her family who live far away with the help of a special boy. Throughout this journey they help one another and become good friends who rely on each other very much.
This book was exciting to read because this was a story about little people. When I mean little, I mean about the size of a mouse, maybe even smaller. Distances for a regular person were about a thousand times farther for the borrowers. I also like this book because it reminded me of another story I read. They are similar because both main characters are on a journey to find their family.
I like the way the author wrote because she wrote in a way that was interesting to me. She made the story sound like the characters were right there talking to you. An example of this would be when the boy in this story said to Arrintrey that he would bring her letter to her family, Arrintrey shouted "Would you really do that for me?".
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this book about an 8. I think this book was better than other books I have read because it kept my interest throughout the whole book. If you like adventure and things not always normal, you will love this book.
The Borrowers is a good book to read. Sometimes it can really make you think about what is going on in the story many times it made the book more exciting. I don't want to give the whole thing away but, this one time Arrintrey had to go borrowing for the first time with her dad. She ended up talking with a boy the whole time. So as I was saying the borrowers is a good book to read for a book report or just for all around reading. Read this book and find out what your favorite part is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Book review by Rachel
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The Borrowers (Mary Norton) (Novel units)
Anne Troy
Manufacturer: A. Troy, P. Green
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B00071TW7E |
Book Description
A Daring Masquerade...
For three years, London's haute ton has been captivated by the cool elegance of Philip "Phizz" Marston. Tall, refined, an expert gambler with a cold, unerring eye for style, what keeps the ruthless social climbers attuned to this dandy's every move is something more unsettling...a grace and beauty that leaves women and men alike in a state of unthinkable yearning...
...Will Be Deliciously Undressed...
Lord David Hervey must be losing his mind. How else explain the disturbing desires he feels whenever his eyes meet the penetrating gaze of Mr. Marston? When he overhears a threat on the gentleman's life, he intervenes and alone discovers the glorious truth...beneath the bindings of Mr. Marston's masquerade hides an exquisite body that is every bit a woman's...
...And Every Hidden Desire, Revealed.
Armed with desire and entrusted with her bold game, Lord David won't give up till the lady gives in, revealing herself to him completely, surrendering her deepest secrets with every persuasive pleasure he can offer...
Customer Reviews:
Are you kidding me?.......2006-07-05
I thought this book was awful. I could barely slog through it. Toward the end contained so many typos that apparently the proof-reader at the publishing company agreed with me. If you are just going to completely ignore any historic context (characters speaking the term "titanic", social norms of the 18-teens, etc.) then just save yourself the research trouble and set your story in the modern age.
Very weird.......2006-06-26
I found that the heroine enjoyed being a man a little to much for my taste. I'm not a homophobe by any means but I found this book just too strange. Even with all that, the book was still quite boring.
Fascinating Insight into the Characters.......2006-01-09
What could possibly motivate a woman of the English ton to abandon her high society life and all that she'd previously held dear? Why, tragedy, of course. Our heroine, Phoebe, or Lady Claringworth as the ton knows her, has suffered a horrible family tragedy, not to mention a horrible family situation in general, that as a result drastically changes her outlook on life. Forsaking her lofty trappings and supposed airs, she transforms herself into the most celebrated, sought-after and yet mysterious dandy the ton has ever seen. Her new identity is none other than the lean, superior and sarcastically sharp-tongued Phizz Marston. His mode of dress is envied by all, and many attempt to copy him. Wallflowers bask in the glow of his polished dance moves and the attention he gives them. Women watch him with curiosity and adoration, while some men secretly wish to know him "better". One of those men, much to his own chagrin, is David Hervey, the Earl of Linseley. David is a rare down-to-earth kind of lord, much more at home and farming in the open fields than twirling about the floors of Almack's with young debutantes. At just such an event one night, his and the mysterious Phizz's gazes collide, and David's world is forever altered. Why is he so attracted to the younger, more dashing man? Why must he care so much about Marston, especially when he learns of the threat to Marston's life? Ultimately resigned to the attraction, David is determined to do anything to ensure young Phizz's safety. In doing so, he discovers Marston's secret, much to his everlasting delight.
I was so fascinated with the deep delving into the mind of a female character with the urge to masquerade as a man. Some may think that her reasoning behind the whole thing is a little sketchy, but the losses she suffered at he hands of a dominating and cruel husband is something that many people cannot relate to or realize the lengths it could drive a person to. I for one loved the whole aspect of fooling the ton and its many lecherous and seedy members. The character development of our heroine is so detailed and through her, both as a woman and as a dandified gentleman, readers are introduced to a much different side of the ton than we usually see in historical romances. This is no whirlwind read, as it does at times slow down in pace, but it just may prompt readers to think about what they are reading, in effect making one feel a part of the story instead of an outsider looking in. Very nice for a change to find a book I wanted to take my time in reading, instead of rushing to a climactic, and often disappointing end. I would have liked to see Marston's secret revealed to David in a much more exciting way though, that scene was definitely lacking, but it wasn't enough to spoil the book for me. I was sad too, to see Marston's character coming to an end, but then all good things must do so at some point. That end was just another phase to Phoebe's healing process.
The overall feel of his book had to me, for lack of better words, a more grown-up feel to it. If you like historicals with more depth and emotion to them, I strongly urge you to give this one a try. Great lead characters, wonderful supporting characters and beautiful, almost poignant writing put "Almost a Gentleman" by Pam Roensthal in a category by itself.
Boring, lacking real conflict and strangely unromantic... .......2005-03-08
Spoilers ahead... A woman trying to experience freedom and life in the guise of a man in regency England high on the cliché list right behind woman finding love with the highwayman who's really a duke and the pirate with the heart of gold. However, the romance genre does work best when taking those old story lines and giving them a fresh twist. This book attempts, and fails miserably, at trying to do just that. The idea of a woman so heartbroken, so devastated over a terrible marriage and loss of a child that she would forsake her gender to try and find some modicum of peace is intriguing. However Phoebe is nothing more than bitter woman taking out her anger through snotty, inconsequential comments and being beloved for being mean. Her adopting the disguise of a man does nothing to increase her intelligence, spirit or heart. It makes no sense that she is even trying to make the rounds of London society, yes it's in the guise of "getting back" at an institution that helped mold her awful marriage, but she only gives these people what they want. How is that rising above them? There is very little to like about Pheobe/Phizz.
David, while a little more appealing, has as few interesting qualities as Pheobe. His acceptance of his attraction to a "man" was interesting, and wholly unbelievable. Again, another interesting twist that was ruined by poor execution.
One thing that is almost comical in this book are the resolutions to the big conflicts. He's tracking a man he's lusting for across the country, and whoops! she just walks right in front of him perfectly recognizable. And neither of them really seem to care about it. Later, when someone tries to kill her and others they all, good guys and bad, basically say "hey this is more trouble than I'd thought it would be, why don't we just forget any of this happened" and they all go on their way. (Of course except for the hero, who completely missed the entire episode.)
Finally - was this supposed to be an erotic romance? Nothing of interest happens for the first half (or more) of the novel and yet there is no build up, no feeling that tensions are being released, that there is any reason for it to be happening. For an erotic novel to be erotic it either has to be shockingly, wonderfully explicit or so shamelessly fully of hearts and valentines that it doesn't take it's self seriously. Preferably an erotic novel should be both. This is neither.
While Almost a Gentleman has a couple of hints of thinking outside the box, the complete lack of likeability of the heroine, wet blanket eroticism and laughable conflict makes it a waste of time.
An interesting debut novel - some thoughts.......2004-05-15
There was much interest when this novel first appeared and although it took a while for it to get to the top of the TBR pile, I did enjoy it. However, there were some issues in the story that did not work for me.
Although the "cross dressing" sub-genre does not particularly appeal to me, I have read better examples (cf Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades or The Masqueraders) wherein the cross dressing and masquerading as a man seems to have some believeable raison d'etre. However, I felt in reading Almost a Gentleman that it was not wholly a credible action on the part of our heroine, Phoebe. There was never a fully acceptable explanation for her to do this and it seemed a somewhat strange reaction for her following the death of her husband and children. Instead, it appeared to be more of a device used to examine the reactions and behaviour of the hero, Lord Linseley. This was the best aspect of the book - the way he reacts to "Philip" and the soul searching it causes him.
I compliment the author on her prose; excellent quality although she does let the odd Americanism slip in (e.g. "vacation" instead of "holiday") but overall, she is easy and delightful to read.
With respect to the sexual aspects of the story, although her language is, in my view, too frank for the timeframe of the story, nonetheless it was galaxies ahead of the deplorable Emma Holly.
I look forward to reading this author again. I don't think this was a 5 star effort but for a first novel I was very impressed and recommend this to the discerning reader.
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Almost a Gentleman: An Autobiography : 1955-1966
John Osborne
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0571166350 |
Customer Reviews:
Less than a Gentleman.......2000-06-28
Having read A better Class of Person, of course I had to buy Almost a Gentleman. This picks up the story of John Osborne's life from 1955 and continues through 1966. The book was written a couple of years before Osborne's death in 1993, and he may or may not have planned to write a concluding volume. The writing is very good, although the subject matter may pall at times for someone who wasn't in England during the "Ban the Bomb" years. Osborne's love life is a different story, and gives the lie to all the tales of the sexually repressed Englishman. He flits from one wife to another with no satisfactory explanation other than "things weren't going too well": evidently he was sexually attracted to the next one and simply dumped the previous one. As Dr. Johnson said, "a triumph of hope over experience". He has little bad to say about his former wives, other than some amusing sarcasm for Penelope Gilliat, until we reach a postscript. This consists of some of the richest vituperation in literature, directed at Jill Bennett. It's the work of a cad, of course, as it was written on the occasion of Ms. Bennett's death, but it's nonetheless a gem.
Average customer rating:
- A favorite
- a good read if you want erotic
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Almost A Gentleman
Manufacturer: Brava - Kensington Publishing Corp.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739434438 |
Customer Reviews:
A favorite.......2007-01-17
I absolutely love this book and return to it time and again. Though some silly plot devices do make it into the story, the protagonists are both winning. I particularly like the independence and smarts of Phoebe. Rosenthal writes some of the smartest romances around. Buy this book -- you won't regret it.
a good read if you want erotic.......2006-03-22
Countrified widowed old-fashioned gentleman farmer, Lord David Linseley who takes his duties seriously in the House of Lords to advocate for the landless, poor, and helpless and who hates the corrupted London scene finds himself against his conscious will uncontrollably lusting for a well-tailored dandy of a young "soft-faced" gentleman named Phizz Marston who knows more about stylish cravats and gambling successfully than he would think Phizz would know anything about the latest Land Reform Acts. But somehow, Linsely is drawn by the "gentleman's" eyes and is surprised their political views are in the same direction. And somehow, Linseley's body feels what his mind is confused about when he gazes at Phizz.
Linseley later tracks Phizz on the tail of a possible enemy of Phizz's and he finds out Phizz is a SHE, named Phoebe, a widow of a disgusting lord who treated her badly. Phoebe would rather be a gentleman with a gentleman's freedoms such as being able to flout her opinions willy-nilly, rather than endure the restrictions of society on a woman. Unfortunately, people are trying to unmask and harm Phizz, so when David faces her and unmasks her, she asks for his help and they plan a strategy to trap the enemy. Unfortunately, this also means David learns of her associations with a boy who was her lover. He's angered at her until she finds out about HIS past. Instead of the usual, "Let the hero kiss the heroine to stop her from saying anything more and let's have this lead to a lovemaking scene," what happens instead is she gets angry at him for his hypocrisy, he leaves and mulls it over and later humbly apologizes to her for his hypocrisy. He's the type of "hero" who is not the "take in charge" type. He stammers uncontrollaby, is shy with Phoebe, and waits for her direction. But in the bedroom, he's a totally take-in-charge guy (this is Kensigton Brava publishers so yes, you'll get the erotic here like Ellora's Cave!) It's not a great story but it's not a bad story. Just the erotic scenes will most definitely keep you awake.
I wish the author had waited longer before "unmasking" Phoebe so that the tension between them had reached a crescendo and i also wished that there were more instances of Phoebe playing a gentleman in London. Instead at least half the book takes place at Linseley's boring country manor as he tries to protect her from her enemies.
I've got to say this story is much better than Judith Glad's "The Anonymous Amanuensis" but still not as good as Julia Templeton's "Now and Forever"(go over my last reviews.) What i forgot to say in my last reviews is that if you want a GOOD regency book with a woman disguising herself as a man, read Catherine Coulter's "Lord Harry." it's not erotic but it's a great must-turn-the-page story nonetheless with lots of twists and turns and tension built up.
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Almost a Gentleman
Billy Cdtopi 780 Bennett
Manufacturer: TOPIC RECORDS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: 6307115475 |
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Almost a gentleman
Harold Shumate
Manufacturer: RKO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Screenplays | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008902YC |
Books:
- The Bookshop, The Gate of Angels, The Blue Flower (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
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- The Edge of Honor (Bookcassette(r) Edition)
- The Future Has a Past: Stories
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Books Index
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Intuition
