liralen's review against another edition
3.0
I first read this in about 1996: I was eight, and I had to read a book of my choosing for a book report. My mother recommended Still She Wished for Company.
I was an advanced reader, and up to the challenge of the actual words involved, but Still She Wished for Company was—in retrospect—perhaps a wee bit too advanced for me thematically. I hated the book, and my book report amounted, if I remember correctly, to 'this book is terrible and nobody should read it'. My mother, aghast, wrote her own book report to assure the teacher that the book was not in fact terrible! The poor child was just uncultured! (Erm, perhaps she didn't say the latter part in so many words.)
In any case, it's been an inside joke between me and my mother for two and a half decades, so I thought it was high time I returned to the book to find out...you know...what actually happens in it. (All I could remember was that it was historical and confusing. Again, I don't actually recommend this as reading for an eight-year-old.)
The book opens in the 1920s, the same time period in which it was written, and yet parts of it sound like it could be a 1960s Harlequin:
Most of the book is set in 1779. It is not Lucian—the man whose picture Jan has seen—whom we follow, but his young sister Juliana, and yet Lucian, who has long been away, quickly becomes the centre of Juliana's world. Lucian...Lucian is a 1779 version of guys on Tinder whose profiles list the number of countries they've 'done' but have not a single story from any of those countries:
And yet I can see why my mother enjoyed the book—when it's funny, it's funny in quite a witty way, which is very much my mother's preference for humour. Lucian doesn't know that he's a pretentious fop, but both author and reader do. I can also see why I didn't get it as an eight-year-old: eight-year-olds are not known for their subtle wit. It's not going to go on my list of all-time favourites, but I'm glad to have at last returned to it.
I was an advanced reader, and up to the challenge of the actual words involved, but Still She Wished for Company was—in retrospect—perhaps a wee bit too advanced for me thematically. I hated the book, and my book report amounted, if I remember correctly, to 'this book is terrible and nobody should read it'. My mother, aghast, wrote her own book report to assure the teacher that the book was not in fact terrible! The poor child was just uncultured! (Erm, perhaps she didn't say the latter part in so many words.)
In any case, it's been an inside joke between me and my mother for two and a half decades, so I thought it was high time I returned to the book to find out...you know...what actually happens in it. (All I could remember was that it was historical and confusing. Again, I don't actually recommend this as reading for an eight-year-old.)
The book opens in the 1920s, the same time period in which it was written, and yet parts of it sound like it could be a 1960s Harlequin:
“Oh dear, now you are really angry. Don, I like you better than anyone I know. Isn’t that enough?”
“It doesn’t seem to be,” he replied after a pause, “since it’s not enough to make you promise you’ll marry me.”
“No. I would rather wait until I like you better than anyone I don’t know. It would be a pity to marry you and meet my ideal just after.” (9)But Jan—the woman talking to Don there—is half in love with an idea of a man, with a picture of someone out of the 18th century. And we aren't with Jan long, because the book catapults itself back to that man's family, in (you guessed it) the 18th century. In this dull year of grace, 1779, nothing pretty and romantic ever happened (24).
Most of the book is set in 1779. It is not Lucian—the man whose picture Jan has seen—whom we follow, but his young sister Juliana, and yet Lucian, who has long been away, quickly becomes the centre of Juliana's world. Lucian...Lucian is a 1779 version of guys on Tinder whose profiles list the number of countries they've 'done' but have not a single story from any of those countries:
“What,” he [Lucian] continued, “are you surprised that I should find this life tedious? Oh, I am not speaking only of life here at Chidleigh. I have travelled since I was fifteen, I have done all that I wished, there is nothing left for me to try or to discover. Paris, London, Rome, Vienna are as dull as Chidleigh, the people there as interminably the same. I am twenty-six, and I am faced with the prospect of finding nothing new to do for the rest of my life.” (140)
...
“Lucian! Mamma is always telling me that the present age is the most enlightened the world has yet seen.”
“Juliana, that is exactly my complaint against it. It is so enlightened that it can wish for nothing better. We are at the pinnacle of civilization and can only hope to remain exactly where we are. Everything is entirely satisfactory, therefore poetry is dead, religion is démodé, enthusiasm is worse than vulgar, it is ridiculous, the supernatural is for children’s tales, patriotism for troublesome scoundrels, and the Hanoverians remain heavily planted on the throne.” (141)Oh but Lucian is tedious. Unfortunately Juliana is young and innocent and doesn't know any better, and of course Jan is fortunately separated from him by a hundred and fifty years or so and doesn't know the reality of it, but lawdy. Spare us from the Lucians.
And yet I can see why my mother enjoyed the book—when it's funny, it's funny in quite a witty way, which is very much my mother's preference for humour. Lucian doesn't know that he's a pretentious fop, but both author and reader do. I can also see why I didn't get it as an eight-year-old: eight-year-olds are not known for their subtle wit. It's not going to go on my list of all-time favourites, but I'm glad to have at last returned to it.
booksnacks's review against another edition
2.0
Thank you to Agora books for the copy of Still She Wished for Company.
This was a strange tale originally published in 1924. Usually I love classics, but this one was difficult. It took me weeks of puttering through to finish, and honestly, I will forget by the next. While the premise sounds interesting, what it delivers is not what you expect. It is a ghost story, science fiction, historical fiction, but also none of those with strength. Most of the tale is told between Juliana and Lucian, her brother, and neither particularly fascinated me.
If you enjoy a slow-paced tale, this may be for you. However, this was highly forgettable for me.
This was a strange tale originally published in 1924. Usually I love classics, but this one was difficult. It took me weeks of puttering through to finish, and honestly, I will forget by the next. While the premise sounds interesting, what it delivers is not what you expect. It is a ghost story, science fiction, historical fiction, but also none of those with strength. Most of the tale is told between Juliana and Lucian, her brother, and neither particularly fascinated me.
If you enjoy a slow-paced tale, this may be for you. However, this was highly forgettable for me.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent and gripping story that kept me hooked till the last page.
Great character development and world building, a tightly knitted plot.
It's the first first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Great character development and world building, a tightly knitted plot.
It's the first first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
annarella's review
5.0
An excellent and gripping story that kept me hooked till the last page.
Great character development and world building, a tightly knitted plot.
It's the first first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Great character development and world building, a tightly knitted plot.
It's the first first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
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