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rosannelortz's review against another edition
3.0
My favorite historical fiction blog, Historical Tapestry, featured books by Anya Seton last month. Since I greatly enjoyed Seton’s book Katherine several months ago, I decided to join in the wild rumpus and read another of her books.
Devil Water is set during the Jacobite Rebellion of the early eighteenth century. In case your historical knowledge is a little fuzzy on this period (as was mine when I started this book), I will give you a little background. In the year 1688, England deposed the Stuart king James II because he was a Papist. This Glorious Revolution (so called because it was virtually bloodless) replaced the old monarch with his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange. When Mary and William died childless, the throne passed to Mary’s younger sister Anne. James Stuart, the younger Catholic son of James II, objected to being overlooked in favor of his Protestant sisters. He spent the rest of his life intriguing to gain the throne of England. The Latin name for James is “Jacobus,” and hence, all of James Stuart’s supporters were called Jacobites.
The first part of the novel focuses on Charles Radcliffe, a reckless younger son committed to the Jacobite cause (and illegitimate cousin to the Stuart pretender). Being of a somewhat Libertine propensity, Charles at the age of sixteen gets a farmer’s daughter pregnant, setting himself up for disastrous consequences. The farmer and his sons capture Charles and force him to marry the girl so that her child will be born in wedlock. This destroys Charles’ chances of a brilliant court marriage but produces Jenny Radcliffe, the half-border-lass, half-noblewoman who is the true heroine of the novel.
Jenny Radcliffe lives with her mother for several years until Rob Wilson, one of the local farmboys, takes the child to London to return her to her rightful father. The timing is unfortunate. Implicated in a Jacobite plot, Charles is languishing in the Tower of London, so Lady Betty (the one woman who truly loves him) raises Jenny as her own. Through wily means, Charles escapes from the Tower and heads to France.
Time passes quickly as Jenny grows into a young woman. Her lowborn mother dies, freeing Charles to marry again, and he makes a surreptitious visit to England to reveal himself to his daughter and gain her mother’s death certificate. On a trip to northern England where she was born, Jenny encounters Rob Wilson once again, and a mutual attraction flares up between them. Rob, knowing that Jenny is above his station, intends to stay out of her way, but when he discovers a plot by an insidious Viscount to rape Jenny, he intervenes and saves her honor. Refusing to explain his actions for killing a man, Rob is sentenced to penal servitude in the colonies.
Jenny goes to the continent to live with her father and her new stepmother but finds that her presence is a constraint upon their household. Learning what Rob did to save her, she decides to follow Rob to the Americas–but before she leaves, her father Charles Radcliffe makes her swear an oath that if he ever asks for her, she will come to him. Jenny uses her own money to free Rob. The two marry and set up a homestead in the colonies, living happily–although childless–for over a decade.
In time, news comes that the Jacobites have revolted again, and once again, Charles Radcliffe is in the Tower of London. This time, however, there will be no escape. Jenny receives his message asking for her, but Rob–despising everything about the Jacobites–refuses to let her go. Jenny must make a choice between her father and her husband, a choice that will either violate a promise or cause her to lose everything….
This book was an interesting read, although not quite the page turner that Katherine was. The end was particularly compelling, and I will admit to shedding a few tears. The title Devil Water refers both to a river in Northern England and also to an old English saying that means fear.
Devil Water is set during the Jacobite Rebellion of the early eighteenth century. In case your historical knowledge is a little fuzzy on this period (as was mine when I started this book), I will give you a little background. In the year 1688, England deposed the Stuart king James II because he was a Papist. This Glorious Revolution (so called because it was virtually bloodless) replaced the old monarch with his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange. When Mary and William died childless, the throne passed to Mary’s younger sister Anne. James Stuart, the younger Catholic son of James II, objected to being overlooked in favor of his Protestant sisters. He spent the rest of his life intriguing to gain the throne of England. The Latin name for James is “Jacobus,” and hence, all of James Stuart’s supporters were called Jacobites.
The first part of the novel focuses on Charles Radcliffe, a reckless younger son committed to the Jacobite cause (and illegitimate cousin to the Stuart pretender). Being of a somewhat Libertine propensity, Charles at the age of sixteen gets a farmer’s daughter pregnant, setting himself up for disastrous consequences. The farmer and his sons capture Charles and force him to marry the girl so that her child will be born in wedlock. This destroys Charles’ chances of a brilliant court marriage but produces Jenny Radcliffe, the half-border-lass, half-noblewoman who is the true heroine of the novel.
Jenny Radcliffe lives with her mother for several years until Rob Wilson, one of the local farmboys, takes the child to London to return her to her rightful father. The timing is unfortunate. Implicated in a Jacobite plot, Charles is languishing in the Tower of London, so Lady Betty (the one woman who truly loves him) raises Jenny as her own. Through wily means, Charles escapes from the Tower and heads to France.
Time passes quickly as Jenny grows into a young woman. Her lowborn mother dies, freeing Charles to marry again, and he makes a surreptitious visit to England to reveal himself to his daughter and gain her mother’s death certificate. On a trip to northern England where she was born, Jenny encounters Rob Wilson once again, and a mutual attraction flares up between them. Rob, knowing that Jenny is above his station, intends to stay out of her way, but when he discovers a plot by an insidious Viscount to rape Jenny, he intervenes and saves her honor. Refusing to explain his actions for killing a man, Rob is sentenced to penal servitude in the colonies.
Jenny goes to the continent to live with her father and her new stepmother but finds that her presence is a constraint upon their household. Learning what Rob did to save her, she decides to follow Rob to the Americas–but before she leaves, her father Charles Radcliffe makes her swear an oath that if he ever asks for her, she will come to him. Jenny uses her own money to free Rob. The two marry and set up a homestead in the colonies, living happily–although childless–for over a decade.
In time, news comes that the Jacobites have revolted again, and once again, Charles Radcliffe is in the Tower of London. This time, however, there will be no escape. Jenny receives his message asking for her, but Rob–despising everything about the Jacobites–refuses to let her go. Jenny must make a choice between her father and her husband, a choice that will either violate a promise or cause her to lose everything….
This book was an interesting read, although not quite the page turner that Katherine was. The end was particularly compelling, and I will admit to shedding a few tears. The title Devil Water refers both to a river in Northern England and also to an old English saying that means fear.
ablotial's review against another edition
3.0
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. On the one hand, I found the story (meaning the plot and characters) fascinating, and moreso because it is based on real people and real events. I found myself looking multiple things up on Wikipedia during each sitting. And yet... it was an INCREDIBLY slow read. It kept putting me to sleep. Partly because it seemed to drag on and on - events seemed to take far more pages than needed (spoiled by the internet much?) and ... I don't know, I guess I just didn't care for the writing style. Which makes me sad, because this author has been recommended by many people. Then again, they have never recommended this book in particular, so perhaps this one isn't really representative.
The story revolves around Charles Radcliffe and his daughter, Jenny. Charles is the grandson of King Charles II of England, and his older brother is the Earl of Derwentwater (translated as Devil Water) at Dilston. They are fervently Catholic in a time when England is moving quickly toward Protestantism, and are supporters (to the death!) of "The Pretender", "King James III" (in quotes, because he was never recognized as King although he was technically next in succession, but he was Catholic and there was a new-ish law preventing Catholics from taking the throne).
But the story more surrounds his daughter, Jenny (Jane), who was the result of a childhood affair with a country girl named Meg, whose father forced a marriage between them when he discovered her pregnancy, of course causing a scandal in the upper class life of Charles and his family. Jenny is torn in many ways due to her mixed heritage - between country life and life as "a lady", between Catholicism and Protestantism, between life in the north country and life in London, between romantic love to a childhood companion and fixed marriage to better her status and that of her family. I cried at multiple points in her story, and ESPECIALLY a lot at the ending... I began to believe I was in love with Rob myself, and was horrified by his reaction [to a spoiler], but glad of how he 'remedied' it.
And the historical details thrown in are just fascinating. I do think it's worth struggling through the writing style, but be prepared to take forever reading this. It -is- broken up into six shorter "Books" by timeline, so that gives good stopping points, where you can stop and come back to it months later like I did :)
The story revolves around Charles Radcliffe and his daughter, Jenny. Charles is the grandson of King Charles II of England, and his older brother is the Earl of Derwentwater (translated as Devil Water) at Dilston. They are fervently Catholic in a time when England is moving quickly toward Protestantism, and are supporters (to the death!) of "The Pretender", "King James III" (in quotes, because he was never recognized as King although he was technically next in succession, but he was Catholic and there was a new-ish law preventing Catholics from taking the throne).
But the story more surrounds his daughter, Jenny (Jane), who was the result of a childhood affair with a country girl named Meg, whose father forced a marriage between them when he discovered her pregnancy, of course causing a scandal in the upper class life of Charles and his family. Jenny is torn in many ways due to her mixed heritage - between country life and life as "a lady", between Catholicism and Protestantism, between life in the north country and life in London, between romantic love to a childhood companion and fixed marriage to better her status and that of her family. I cried at multiple points in her story, and ESPECIALLY a lot at the ending... I began to believe I was in love with Rob myself, and was horrified by his reaction [to a spoiler], but glad of how he 'remedied' it.
And the historical details thrown in are just fascinating. I do think it's worth struggling through the writing style, but be prepared to take forever reading this. It -is- broken up into six shorter "Books" by timeline, so that gives good stopping points, where you can stop and come back to it months later like I did :)
maplessence's review against another edition
3.0
On Good reads we all have our little quirks as readers. One of mine is that when I settle down with a book unless its a favourite author I'm expecting at least a 3* read. For me thats a good, but not memorable read. Even though I'm not the slightest bit mathematically inclined. I have a little line graph in my head until I settle on my final rating.
This is a book where the graph looked like the Swiss Alps until I ended up back where I started at 3*
For me, a big part of the problem was when the story changed from Charles/James to Jenny. I now know this is part of Seton's family history (which I didn't know till afterwards when I read the author's note) but I think Seton was probably hoping to discover more about the character of Jenny. Since she didn't I now know what a Goodreads “Mary Sue” is, as in spite of her sufferings, Jenny remains a blank perfect doll. Rob is better drawn but Seton doesn't make him a sympathetic character.
I do think Seton may have been better to have kept her focus on Charles. The narrative in that part was a real page turner. The language felt authentic (other than a slightly too early use of the expression about needing to break eggs to make an omelette) Doubtful even if it would have been in use in France at that time – really can't see a man from Northern England using it.
I have a copy of Katharine which is considered by many to be Seton's best work. If I don't enjoy that - & I am now not in a rush to get to it!- I'm just going to assume this is author that for me has dated badly.
Can't win them all. :)
This is a book where the graph looked like the Swiss Alps until I ended up back where I started at 3*
For me, a big part of the problem was when the story changed from Charles/James to Jenny. I now know this is part of Seton's family history (which I didn't know till afterwards when I read the author's note) but I think Seton was probably hoping to discover more about the character of Jenny. Since she didn't I now know what a Goodreads “Mary Sue” is, as in spite of her sufferings, Jenny remains a blank perfect doll. Rob is better drawn but Seton doesn't make him a sympathetic character.
I do think Seton may have been better to have kept her focus on Charles. The narrative in that part was a real page turner. The language felt authentic (other than a slightly too early use of the expression about needing to break eggs to make an omelette) Doubtful even if it would have been in use in France at that time – really can't see a man from Northern England using it.
I have a copy of Katharine which is considered by many to be Seton's best work. If I don't enjoy that - & I am now not in a rush to get to it!- I'm just going to assume this is author that for me has dated badly.
Can't win them all. :)
smiley938's review against another edition
3.0
The overall verdict: decent but would not recommend.
It took me a good 100 pages before I got into this book. Anya Seton throws a lot of unimportant names at you in the beginning which is confusing and burdensome. Once I got into the book, it was a real page turner. However, there are a few issues that I can think of (major spoilers ahead):
The character development is very strange and arguably absent. Seton moves through the story by using different character point of views. Normally, this is a great literary tactic. In this case, it never really connected for me. One minute, you're Charles. The next minute, you're James. Then you're Betty. Then you're James again for a long time, get to know him, start to like him, and then he dies. Then you're back to Charles. The jumping around made the character development scant and choppy. I never really got into the mindset of the character because you get so little time with each one. The POV is much more constant by the end of the book (primarily only Charles and Jenny), but still never really works.
Throughout the book, I found myself questioning why the character was acting like this. Robbie, for instance, has the most shocking turnaround. For 99% of the book, he's this "perfect" guy who is ambitious, kind, loving, gentle, loyal... and then for like one page, he unforgivably attacks Jenny. Um. What? Not believable.
And then Jenny - the star of the novel... she has absolutely no personality. Well, actually, her personality is being pretty. Almost all the descriptions about her and what people think about her revolve around how beautiful she is. For someone with such an interesting upbringing, she sure is boring. She also takes back Robbie in the end and is overall just a terrible example of a female heroine. On the day of her and Robbie's wedding, she suddenly panics and is terrified of him. This is probably Seton's attempt at foreshadowing, but it was completely out of character in this part of the book and did not elevate the storyline at all.
Considering the overall breadth of the book, I enjoyed how epic it was. Seton covers a lot of years. However, I prefer a little more "historical" in my "historical fiction." Granted, Seton clearly did a ton of research on her characters but there just isn't enough historical information about many of the main characters, particularly Jenny and Robbie. I don't fault Seton for making most of it up. It is fiction after all. I'm just warning you that if you think you're going to learn about the Jacobite rebellion, you won't learn much. I'd say this book was 20% historical and 80% chick lit. Unfortunately, you read about 300 pages before you realize how much of a chick lit book this is. The ending is very disappointing.
It took me a good 100 pages before I got into this book. Anya Seton throws a lot of unimportant names at you in the beginning which is confusing and burdensome. Once I got into the book, it was a real page turner. However, there are a few issues that I can think of (major spoilers ahead):
The character development is very strange and arguably absent. Seton moves through the story by using different character point of views. Normally, this is a great literary tactic. In this case, it never really connected for me. One minute, you're Charles. The next minute, you're James. Then you're Betty. Then you're James again for a long time, get to know him, start to like him, and then he dies. Then you're back to Charles. The jumping around made the character development scant and choppy. I never really got into the mindset of the character because you get so little time with each one. The POV is much more constant by the end of the book (primarily only Charles and Jenny), but still never really works.
Throughout the book, I found myself questioning why the character was acting like this. Robbie, for instance, has the most shocking turnaround. For 99% of the book, he's this "perfect" guy who is ambitious, kind, loving, gentle, loyal... and then for like one page, he unforgivably attacks Jenny. Um. What? Not believable.
And then Jenny - the star of the novel... she has absolutely no personality. Well, actually, her personality is being pretty. Almost all the descriptions about her and what people think about her revolve around how beautiful she is. For someone with such an interesting upbringing, she sure is boring. She also takes back Robbie in the end and is overall just a terrible example of a female heroine. On the day of her and Robbie's wedding, she suddenly panics and is terrified of him. This is probably Seton's attempt at foreshadowing, but it was completely out of character in this part of the book and did not elevate the storyline at all.
Considering the overall breadth of the book, I enjoyed how epic it was. Seton covers a lot of years. However, I prefer a little more "historical" in my "historical fiction." Granted, Seton clearly did a ton of research on her characters but there just isn't enough historical information about many of the main characters, particularly Jenny and Robbie. I don't fault Seton for making most of it up. It is fiction after all. I'm just warning you that if you think you're going to learn about the Jacobite rebellion, you won't learn much. I'd say this book was 20% historical and 80% chick lit. Unfortunately, you read about 300 pages before you realize how much of a chick lit book this is. The ending is very disappointing.
meglet_kitten's review against another edition
2.0
The ending of this book really irritated me. It would spoil the plot to say exactly why, but let's say it didn't mesh with my modern feminist sensibilities. I really love this author, but I found this book less engaging and harder to get into than her other books.
rosemaryandrue's review against another edition
3.0
This is the tale of Charles Radcliffe and his daughter, Jenny. We follow them over decades as they grow up, mature and go after those causes to which they will dedicate their lives to - to varying effect.
This is my first Anya Seton, and it was a very conscientious read, packed with historical detail and intriguing side characters. I learned quite a lot about the Jacobite uprisings. However, Charles somewhat faded compared to the characters surrounding him, and Jenny I found rather flavorless. Still, I will read more Seton, if only for the history.
This is my first Anya Seton, and it was a very conscientious read, packed with historical detail and intriguing side characters. I learned quite a lot about the Jacobite uprisings. However, Charles somewhat faded compared to the characters surrounding him, and Jenny I found rather flavorless. Still, I will read more Seton, if only for the history.
ryner's review against another edition
4.0
It's unfortunate that this title is no longer in print because it's easy to see why it was a best-seller. Anya Seton again brings the past to life in her story about the Radcliffe family during the Jacobite movement in England and Scotland. Brothers James and Charles participate in the rebellion, knowing that they risk their wealth, property, titles and even their lives in support of the exiled James Stuart, whom the Jacobites believe the rightful king of England. Eventually, with James Radcliffe having been executed and Charles himself in exile, the Radcliffes move to the background and the book focuses on Charles' daughter Jenny.
Seton's characters are not always likable -- at one of the book's climaxes, Jenny's husband Rob Wilson seems to completely step out of character and I wanted to strangle him! -- but that doesn't stop the reader from becoming completely engrossed, sucked into this turbulent time in England's history. Before reading Devil Water, I had only the vaguest notion of what the Jacobites were about, and now I can't help but wonder how history would have been different had James Stuart managed to secure the English throne.
Seton's characters are not always likable -- at one of the book's climaxes, Jenny's husband Rob Wilson seems to completely step out of character and I wanted to strangle him! -- but that doesn't stop the reader from becoming completely engrossed, sucked into this turbulent time in England's history. Before reading Devil Water, I had only the vaguest notion of what the Jacobites were about, and now I can't help but wonder how history would have been different had James Stuart managed to secure the English throne.
craftmomma55's review
5.0
This is my favorite Anya Seton book ever! IT is exciting and a wonderful slice of American/British history
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