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linaherondale's review
4.0
J'ai adoré plonger dans l'univers des médiums de Londres, cette atmosphère de mystère nébuleuse est très bien rendue par l'auteur! L'appui d'éléments historiques donne une dimension encore plus réelle à l'histoire et on oscille d'autant plus entre doutes et vérités. J'ai passé un très bon moment aux côtés de Violet, un personnage attachant et (merci!) qui sort du standard de la jeune fille innocente et naïve. une belle lecture!
marite's review
4.0
Året er 1900 og foreldreløse Velvet sliter nesten livet av seg i et dampvaskeri. Heldige omstendigheter gjør at hun får en langt bedre jobb hos den vakre og mystiske Madame som livnærer seg svært godt som medium. Men har egentlig Madame og hennes kjekke medhjelper rent mel i posen? Spennende og interessant historisk roman med et islett av romantikk. Engelsken er enkel og grei. Denne bør kunne få mange unge lesere, og det var svært underholdende for gamle meg også.
laurabeane's review
4.0
I've always thought I disliked historical fiction, but Velvet really changed my mind. Having won a set of Mary Hooper's historical novels from Wondrous Reads I figured I should at least give them a go and I'm glad I did.
The interweaving of historical fact with a fascinating fictional tale was superb. The author doesn't dilute the story with boring unnecessary history, rather keeping everything relevant whilst still being descriptive enough to evoke a great tale of Victorian/Edwardian Britain (there's some informative notes at the back for readers wanting to know more about the history). Velvet's level of scepticism about the ways of mediumship was also a real pleasure to read in a genre which seems to be obsessed with the paranormal at the moment. The characters are relatable, from the main characters to the peripheral ones visiting the Madame for spiritual guidance. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable book.
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and looking forward to reading more of Mary Hooper's novels.
The interweaving of historical fact with a fascinating fictional tale was superb. The author doesn't dilute the story with boring unnecessary history, rather keeping everything relevant whilst still being descriptive enough to evoke a great tale of Victorian/Edwardian Britain (there's some informative notes at the back for readers wanting to know more about the history). Velvet's level of scepticism about the ways of mediumship was also a real pleasure to read in a genre which seems to be obsessed with the paranormal at the moment. The characters are relatable, from the main characters to the peripheral ones visiting the Madame for spiritual guidance. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable book.
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and looking forward to reading more of Mary Hooper's novels.
chwaters's review
3.0
Velvet is an orphan and working in a laundry in London. The year is 1899 and times are tough for young women with no one to support them. Velvet figures this is about as good as it's going to get, especially since she has secrets to hide. She has a small room that she rents and mostly gets enough to eat. When she has a fainting spell, she is eventually promoted to doing laundry for the more wealthy clients. Velvet acquires the regular duties of laundering the clothes of Madame Savoya, a prominent psychic. As the new year begins, so too does a new life for Velvet. Madame takes Velvet in as her personal assistant and introduces Velvet to the world of spiritualism. Velvet joyfully embraces her new position. As time goes by, however, Velvet starts to question the ethics driving the Spiritualist community.
Spiritualism was big business in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era. The descriptions of seances throughout the book are representative of how these mediums worked. Author's notes at the end of the book are quite enlightening.
Spiritualism was big business in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era. The descriptions of seances throughout the book are representative of how these mediums worked. Author's notes at the end of the book are quite enlightening.
thosedarkpages's review
4.0
I've read and enjoyed all of Mary Hoopers historical fiction. Velvet was charming, well written and contained many intriguing characters. Plus the seance and clairvoyant aspect was very appealing.
aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition
4.0
Basically I love a nice good, historical fiction that I can sink my teeth and get lost in. Thankfully, my reading schedule has been blissfully packed with pages filled with the past as of late. Although I am reading many different historical books, they don’t get stale because the books span many, many eras. Velvet by Mary Hooper was actually an awesome read and one that I am sad didn’t seem to be too widely reviewed on the blogs I read, because you guys if you are into historical fiction books, chances are you’ll be into Mary Hooper. Her heroine in Velvet, named, LOL, Velvet, has so much spark and really feels larger than the pages she is contained in.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
kate2440's review
3.0
I was sent a email about this book from the publishers over at Bloomsbury which I am very grateful of. I had another one of Mary Hooper book so I thought I would give this one a try which I am glad I did as it's something different to what I usually read and I actually liked it.
The cover in a picture it doesn't look anything special but when I received a copy I loved it. I loved the colours as they really stand out and I also loved the flowers around the edges as it gave the book a more elegant look. What I loved the most was the texture of the book as it actually felt like velvet.
I may already have a Mary Hooper book but this is the first one that I have read which I did find an enjoyable read. This is also my first YA historical book which I thought Hooper did a great job of making me actually feel like I was in this time period which not a lot of books can do very successfully. What I also love is the way in which Hooper backs up her story with facts about the time which is found at the back.
What I did find a bit annoying was that in the blurb it stated that this book was 'A romantic and thrilling exciting' but I didn't find it to be any of these. There was some romance but not enough and none of it was believable. There was parts that had me guessing but most of it I guessed what would happen before it did. I did like a different take on the paranormal but that's all I will say on that as it will give too much of the story away. Even though at times I felt bored I still enjoyed it in most parts.
With the character Velvet I found she was a bit gullible and very naive. There was times I just wanted to shake her so she can actually open her eyes to what was going on around her. I am very gullible myself but even I knew what everyone was up to Velvet however didn't. Charlie was a sweet enough character but I thought he should have been in it a lot more than what he was.
Overall an enjoyable read but I just didn't find it grabbed my attention for too long.
The cover in a picture it doesn't look anything special but when I received a copy I loved it. I loved the colours as they really stand out and I also loved the flowers around the edges as it gave the book a more elegant look. What I loved the most was the texture of the book as it actually felt like velvet.
I may already have a Mary Hooper book but this is the first one that I have read which I did find an enjoyable read. This is also my first YA historical book which I thought Hooper did a great job of making me actually feel like I was in this time period which not a lot of books can do very successfully. What I also love is the way in which Hooper backs up her story with facts about the time which is found at the back.
What I did find a bit annoying was that in the blurb it stated that this book was 'A romantic and thrilling exciting' but I didn't find it to be any of these. There was some romance but not enough and none of it was believable. There was parts that had me guessing but most of it I guessed what would happen before it did. I did like a different take on the paranormal but that's all I will say on that as it will give too much of the story away. Even though at times I felt bored I still enjoyed it in most parts.
With the character Velvet I found she was a bit gullible and very naive. There was times I just wanted to shake her so she can actually open her eyes to what was going on around her. I am very gullible myself but even I knew what everyone was up to Velvet however didn't. Charlie was a sweet enough character but I thought he should have been in it a lot more than what he was.
Overall an enjoyable read but I just didn't find it grabbed my attention for too long.
serendipity_viv's review
5.0
With every new book I read by Mary Hooper, the more she becomes one of my favourite authors. I just adore the way she writes. She is so descriptive in her prose, that I find myself floating off to whichever time in history she is writing about. This book is set in the early 1900's around the time of Queen Victoria's passing and Mary Hooper brings to life that time period with ease. You learn so much from the detailed stories she writes, providing us with an insight into the world during that time period.
Within this book we get to delve into the world of spiritualism which was big business during the Victorian age. These people were ruthless and would stop at nothing to scam grieving people out of their inheritances. They would keep inventing new ways to stun their audience into believing they could contact the spirits.
There were certain chapters within the book that really stood out for me. The first one was Christmas Day, where we got to see a true Victorian Christmas through the eyes of Velvet, who had never experienced one before. I found myself rereading this chapter again a couple of times as it was just so beautiful.
The second one that really stood out for me was the chapter describing the seances. I just love reading about the flamboyancy of the Victorian seances and the lengths they will go to fool their paying customers.
I find the whole Victorian seance scene fascinating and would love to have experienced one. I am a great believer in spiritualism and have had enough experiences to be content in my beliefs. Yet it is quite obvious that during Victorian times, they were all scams to make people rich.
I struggled with Violet's innocence a little bit and I wanted to sit her down and give her a good talking to, so that she realised what was actually going on around her. I wanted her to see clearly what was occurring around her, before she became in danger.
I love the way Mary Hooper included famous people from history in her books. In this one we get a glimpse of Arthur Conan Doyle as well as other characters from history such as Amelia Dyer, the baby farmer. The whole baby farming issue really shocked me, I had never heard of such a thing and it really appalled me that babies were treated so badly.
Mary Hooper is excellent at balancing fact with fiction and creates a book that flows beautifully and is easily read. I am definitely a Mary Hooper fan and would recommend this book to others to read it.
Within this book we get to delve into the world of spiritualism which was big business during the Victorian age. These people were ruthless and would stop at nothing to scam grieving people out of their inheritances. They would keep inventing new ways to stun their audience into believing they could contact the spirits.
There were certain chapters within the book that really stood out for me. The first one was Christmas Day, where we got to see a true Victorian Christmas through the eyes of Velvet, who had never experienced one before. I found myself rereading this chapter again a couple of times as it was just so beautiful.
The second one that really stood out for me was the chapter describing the seances. I just love reading about the flamboyancy of the Victorian seances and the lengths they will go to fool their paying customers.
I find the whole Victorian seance scene fascinating and would love to have experienced one. I am a great believer in spiritualism and have had enough experiences to be content in my beliefs. Yet it is quite obvious that during Victorian times, they were all scams to make people rich.
I struggled with Violet's innocence a little bit and I wanted to sit her down and give her a good talking to, so that she realised what was actually going on around her. I wanted her to see clearly what was occurring around her, before she became in danger.
I love the way Mary Hooper included famous people from history in her books. In this one we get a glimpse of Arthur Conan Doyle as well as other characters from history such as Amelia Dyer, the baby farmer. The whole baby farming issue really shocked me, I had never heard of such a thing and it really appalled me that babies were treated so badly.
Mary Hooper is excellent at balancing fact with fiction and creates a book that flows beautifully and is easily read. I am definitely a Mary Hooper fan and would recommend this book to others to read it.