The Crimson Rooms

The Crimson Rooms
افزودن به بوکمارک اشتراک گذاری 0 دیدگاه کاربران 3 (1)

مشارکت: عنوان و توضیح کوتاه هر کتاب را ترجمه کنید این ترجمه بعد از تایید با نام شما در سایت نمایش داده خواهد شد.
iran گزارش تخلف

فرمت کتاب

ebook

تاریخ انتشار

2010

نویسنده

Katharine McMahon

شابک

9781101185315
  • اطلاعات
  • نقد و بررسی
  • دیدگاه کاربران
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نقد و بررسی

Publisher's Weekly

November 2, 2009
This brisk romantic mystery, set in post-WWI London, begins with a situation worthy of E.M. Forster as Evelyn Gifford and her family receive a visit from a nurse and a young boy who claim to be the wartime lover and child of Evelyn's late brother. Evelyn has little time to ponder the implications: a lawyer in training, she is pressed into service when her firm takes the case of a war veteran accused of murdering his wife and burying her body in the woods (along with all incriminating evidence). Evelyn believes in the man's innocence and tries to unearth new evidence that will exonerate him, but complicating her investigation are Nicholas Thorne, a handsome but engaged attorney whom Evelyn falls for, and the nurse, Meredith, who, having moved in with the Gifford family, begins to force Evelyn out of her settled existence. Despite these distractions, Evelyn doggedly follows a trail of clues leading back to a wartime coverup. In this determinedly old-fashioned novel of tangled mystery and morality, Evelyn makes for a smart and resolutely modest heroine.



Kirkus

Starred review from January 1, 2010
Another inventive, nuanced historical novel from McMahon (The Rose of Sebastopol, 2009, etc.), again focused on a progressive female protagonist constrained by the expectations of her era.

Evelyn Gifford, 30 and one of England's first female lawyers, must not only struggle against mockery and prejudice at work but also grapple with her grief over the loss of her beloved brother James; she's still bereft six-and-a-half years after he was killed in World War I. Evelyn's cash-strapped London household, which includes her widowed mother, aunt and elderly grandmother, is further burdened by the arrival of Meredith and Edmund Duffy, James' hitherto unknown lover and illegitimate child. McMahon captures the conflicts of class and impoverishment, work and privilege in telling detail through Evelyn's professional dilemmas, which take her to slums, prisons, orphanages and society drawing rooms. At home, Meredith undermines James' memory with her shocking recollections, but Evelyn is drawn to Edmund as the son she believes she will never have, since almost an entire generation of men has been lost to the war. Enter barrister Nicholas Thorne—"beautiful, intact, youngish…therefore a rarity"—who approaches Evelyn because she's involved in the trial of an ex-soldier (employed by one of Thorne's clients) accused of killing his wife. Quickly, Evelyn finds herself obsessed with the barrister; though engaged to another, he personifies all her yearnings for sexual and emotional fulfillment. But larger, darker, more complex forces may deny Evelyn easy solutions or happy endings, although they may not obstruct a resolute woman from moving forward.

A fine, compassionate, elegiac combination of human and courtroom drama—the author's best yet.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)



Library Journal

Starred review from December 15, 2009
The Great War is over, but the Gifford women still live in isolated grief. The daughter of the house, Evelyn supports the family by clerking in a lawyer's office at a time when women weren't lawyers. Evelyn is thrown when a woman and child show up on her doorstep. The child is unmistakably the son of her brother James, killed in the war. Meredith, the mother, was James's nurse in a field hospital. Interwoven with this story line is Evelyn's increasingly difficult professional life, which includes fighting to get an impoverished woman's children returned to her and helping defend a man on trial for murder who won't defend himself. Caught between the old guard of English society and the new world of art and jazz, Evelyn teeters on the brink of something very interesting, indeed. VERDICT McMahon's historical novels ("The Alchemist's Daughter; The Rose of Sebastopol") are often complex but extremely rewarding in their depth and character development. Her latest is her best novel to date. Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy Sarah Waters, Geraldine Brooks, and Jacqueline Winspear.Anna M. Karras, Collier Cty. P.L., Naples, FL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.



Booklist

December 15, 2009
Even though the Great War is over, it still casts a shadow. Haunted by the death of her beloved brother, James, Evelyn Gifford leads a cheerless life. But though time seems to have stopped in the London house she shares with her mother, grandmother, and aunt, Evelyn has a career outside. As one of Englands only female attorneys, she has to work hard for acceptance and finally gets involved in two cases, one involving a mother trying to regain custody of her children and the other involving a veteran who is accused of murdering his wife. Then there is Meredith, the irrepressible young woman who shows up on the Giffords doorstep with a child she claims is James son. And a possible love interest presents itself in the person of another attorney, Nicholas Thorne. A lot of balls in the air, but McMahon does a superb job of juggling them all. Evelyns personal and professional struggles are convincingly rendered, and the period ambience and courtroom drama are equally satisfying. A thoroughly engrossing read that will appeal both as mystery and historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)




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