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The Splendour Falls
Susanna Kearsley
Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Seal Books (McClelland/Bantam)
(1996)
ISBN: 0770427189
Number of Pages: 380
Cover Illustration from a painting by Paul
Rhoads
Out of print, but not too hard to find.
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Cover Blurb:
"Chinon -- château of
legend,
steeped in the history of France and
England. It is to Chinon that Emily goes on a long-awaited
holiday,
to meet her charming but uinreliable cousin, Harry. Harry wanted
to explore the old town and the castle, where Queen Isabelle, child
bride
of King John, had withstood the siege of Chinon many centuries ago, and
where, according to legend, she hid her casket of jewels. But
when
Emily arrives at her hotel she finds that Harry has disappeared, and as
she tries to find him she becomes involved with some of the other
guests
and learns of a mystery dating from the German occupation during the
Second
World War. Another Isabelle, a chambermaid at the hotel, fell in
love with a German soldier, with tragic results.
"Emily becomes increasingly aware of
strange tensions, old enmities
and new loves; as she explores the city, with its labyrinthine dungeons
and tunnels and its ancient secrets, she comes ever closer to the
mystery
of what happened to both the Isabelles of Chinon's history."
Introductory Poetry:
The
splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story:
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
-- Tennyson, The Princess
* Note: the book contains a number of other quotes from
this same poem.
Author's Note
"If you walk the streets of
Chinon, you will find each setting and each
building mentioned in this story. Because of this, I wish to
remind
the reader that while the places may be real, the people who inhabit
them
are entirely fictional.
"To the Chinonais, I offer my apologies,
for moving their gendarmerie.
To Paul Rhoads, who became my guide, and to Dorothée Kleinmann,
who shared her Chapelle with me, I give my heartfelt thanks."
Dedication:
"And to all my friends at the Hotel de France, both past and present,
I dedicate this book."
About the Author:
"Born in Canada in 1966,
Susanna
Kearsley has been writing since the age
of seven. She read politics and international development at
university,
has worked as a museum curator, and has had two short novels published
in the US. She lives in Ontario.
Susanna Kearsley's previous novel, Mariana,
is also published
by Corgi and was the second winner of the Catherine Cookson Fiction
Prize
which was set up in 1992 to celebrate the achievement of Dame Catherine
Cookson."
Karen's Thoughts:
(May
Contain Spoilers)
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