On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Pub. Date: December 9th, 2003
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Hardcover
403 pages
403 pages
Synopsis from Goodreads
A Victorian boarding school story,
a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a
dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this
complicated and unusual first novel.
Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an
unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother's
death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to
England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls' academy with a mysterious
burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful
Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and
Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been
followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off
the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a
child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The
clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions
"for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as
Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are
overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge
that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out
the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible
Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a
fascinating trilogy.
So, what do you think? Is it one that you'd like to add to your wish list? Have you already read it?
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