I have been on a big Tracy Chevalier kick lately. A portion of the front blurb on this book reads:

"In her new book Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, again dazzles us with a novel that is at once elegant, daring, original and compelling. Set against a gaslit backdrop of social and politial turbulence in early twentieth-century London, she draws a picture of family life that exposes the prejudices and flaws of a changing time."

This book took on a lot of charactors and presented their point of view over a decade period. It was interesting to read from their perspective, but also a bit limiting.

Just opened my mail and here it is! I can't wait to read it; it really does look good. I read GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING so I've got high expectations. Nice cover! Many thanks!

EDIT 7/31/04: Finished & is now available! It took a while for me to get into this. I found it slow at first, then put it down for a few months. I got back into it & literally finished most of the book in two days! Fascinating example of the limitations of females in the early 1900's, with a bit of real history thrown in & made to fit the story. Narration takes place from the viewpoint of several characters. I REALLY recommend you stick with this book- take a break from it if you need to, then come back later on. You won't regret it, and you won't regret being a modern woman either.

Thank you, Tracy Chevalier! And thank you, suffragettes!

Reserved for hulamonkey!

Released today & on its way to hulamonkey! Enjoy! ;D

Thank you so much for the RABCK! I will try to do the same after I finish it.

Loved the book! I started it yesterday and finished it today- just couldn't keep away from it.
The characters were so interesting, and I loved the way Chevalier set it up- Maude's view... Livy's... Jenny's...and so on.

Thanks again, zeena666, for sending me this book off my wishlist.

RABCK on the way to GABAGirl.

Enjoy!

Arrived today from hulamonkey. Thanks so much! Hopefully I can continue this book's RABCK adventures when I'm finished!

A good book! I really got into the writing style. Excellent.

RABCK to booklady2005! Enjoy!

Just rec'd today from Gabagirl! Thanks a bunch! Can't wait to read it and RABCK to someone else since it looks like that's been this books purpose in life :)

I'm not quite sure what to think of this book. I liked it, it was a fairly easy read, the characters seem to be nicely thought out, but there is just something about it that bothers me. Maybe it's the prevailing theme of Death. I'm not one to shy away from death as a subject matter but it just ran rampant in this book, not in the literal sense of a lot of people dying but just the thought of it was everywhere. It was a very sad book with a mildly happy ending.
The sufferage portion of the book really kind of bugged me. I know it was a good cause and all but Kitty's behaviour toward her family was just unacceptable (I don't care how good of a cause it is).

About the characters I must say that I despised Livy, felt sorry for Maude and wanted to hug Simon.

I am continuing the RABCK tradition of this book. librarymousie had this on her wishlist so I will be sending it off to her today. Enjoy!

Came in today's mail. Thanks so much to BookLady2005!

This has sat unread on my shelf for way too long. So, I finally read it :)

Thanks so much for letting me be part of this book's journey. The story was well-paced and its telling by several characters worked nicely. It was very sad--the relationships, or lack thereof, between the different characters broke one's heart, yet made me profoundly grateful for the relationships I have with members of my own family. And that I don't have to trust my husband to pick out the best candidate for whom to vote.

Since this book came to me as a RABCK and seems to have done most of its journeying in this fashion, I'm going to try and continue this lovely tradition.