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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I wasn't as swept away as I had hoped to be. I'm not sure what my issue with it really was but it felt very boggy. They fell in love too fast maybe? Also I think I needed to know more about the relationship between Selina and Rupert.
The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey is one of my top 5 books read in 2019! It arrived from the publisher in a precious, gold package. The book's cover is magical, the plot was dynamic and the pacing was perfection, but it’s the writing that actual wove its way to my heart. It was the most beautifully written book of 2019 for me.
Told in two timelines, from two points of view, The Glittering Hour is the most beautifully written book I’ve read in 2019. I mean THE WRITING was beautiful and lyrical and dynamic. I think I’ve found a new favorite author. I loved it so much I purchased the audiobook because I just need to hear it read via audio!
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Synopsis from Publisher
Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying on just the right side of scandal, all while running from the life her parents would choose for her.
Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina's orbit one night and can never let her go even while knowing someone of her stature could never end up with someone of his. Except Selina falls hard for Lawrence, envisioning a life of true happiness. But when tragedy strikes, Selina finds herself choosing what's safe over what's right.
Spanning two decades and a seismic shift in British history as World War II approaches, Iona Grey's The Glittering Hour is an epic novel of passion, heartache and loss.
Told in two timelines, from two points of view, The Glittering Hour is the most beautifully written book I’ve read in 2019. I mean THE WRITING was beautiful and lyrical and dynamic. I think I’ve found a new favorite author. I loved it so much I purchased the audiobook because I just need to hear it read via audio!
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Synopsis from Publisher
Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying on just the right side of scandal, all while running from the life her parents would choose for her.
Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina's orbit one night and can never let her go even while knowing someone of her stature could never end up with someone of his. Except Selina falls hard for Lawrence, envisioning a life of true happiness. But when tragedy strikes, Selina finds herself choosing what's safe over what's right.
Spanning two decades and a seismic shift in British history as World War II approaches, Iona Grey's The Glittering Hour is an epic novel of passion, heartache and loss.
Why would you read a love story when you know from the first page that it's doomed to fail? Well, Iona Grey expertly weaves the story of Selina and Lawrence's secret affair throughout the pages of The Glittering Hour. What makes the story more unique, however, is the time jumps. Selina's 9-year-old daughter Alice in staying at her grandmother's house while mom and dad are off in Burma on business. Through a series of letters, Selina sends Alice on a treasure hunt, all while unfolding the "story of how Alice came to be." It's in this story Selina tells Alice about her apparently glamorous life in the 20s as a Bright Young Thing, traversing all over town with her friends. It's during a treasure hunt of their own that Alice meets Lawrence and the affair begins. But when Alice has to choose between love and safety, she chooses safety in Alice's dad Rupert. Seems straight-forward? Nothing is ever as it seems, which was the true treasure of The Glittering Hour.
The first half of the book was a bit hard to connect, in my opinion but the second half totally turned it around. What a beautiful portrayal of this kind of love story. The last quarter had me in tears many many times.
I wanted to love this one, and I did really like parts of it, but it never really sucked me in like I hoped it would.
This made me cry. Few books do. You should read it. That is all.
“it’s the most romantic story ever. it makes ‘the notebook’ look like ‘saw v’.”
Really, you should just read this book. Coming-of-age, mystery, unrequited love, and historical fiction all rolled into one. Very original plot line. I absolutely adored Alice, and I can tell the author put a lot of effort into her character development.
I had some parts of the plot figured out early on, but others were a surprise. I loved the letters and I could sense the bond between mother and daughter.
My one complaint is that chapters were titled by a character’s name and the chapter would start off focusing on them, but then it would flip to another perspective and throw me off. For example, the last chapter was entitled “Selina.” The first 1.5 pages of this chapter focused on Selina, but then there was a page break and it switched to Alice without any notification that it was doing so. All the chapters were like this. It took a while to figure out whose perspective you were getting since the chapter titles only applied until the page break.
A couple of quotes that stuck with me:
“She wanted to forget that their paradise was a fool’s one, and all this bliss only borrowed.”
“I can’t live like that - like we did; everything heightened and intense - so intense it hurts. It’s dangerous, love like that. It’s an addiction . . . It feels marvellous at the time, of course . . . when you’re glittering and invincible - but it doesn’t last. It can’t. You have to know when to stop or it’ll destroy you.”
“On the morning of her birthday [the pain in Alice’s tummy] was worse than usual. The date had always held a special kind of magic, but the very fact of it rolling around as if everything was normal felt like a mockery.”
I had some parts of the plot figured out early on, but others were a surprise. I loved the letters and I could sense the bond between mother and daughter.
My one complaint is that chapters were titled by a character’s name and the chapter would start off focusing on them, but then it would flip to another perspective and throw me off. For example, the last chapter was entitled “Selina.” The first 1.5 pages of this chapter focused on Selina, but then there was a page break and it switched to Alice without any notification that it was doing so. All the chapters were like this. It took a while to figure out whose perspective you were getting since the chapter titles only applied until the page break.
A couple of quotes that stuck with me:
“She wanted to forget that their paradise was a fool’s one, and all this bliss only borrowed.”
“I can’t live like that - like we did; everything heightened and intense - so intense it hurts. It’s dangerous, love like that. It’s an addiction . . . It feels marvellous at the time, of course . . . when you’re glittering and invincible - but it doesn’t last. It can’t. You have to know when to stop or it’ll destroy you.”
“On the morning of her birthday [the pain in Alice’s tummy] was worse than usual. The date had always held a special kind of magic, but the very fact of it rolling around as if everything was normal felt like a mockery.”
From the very beginning of this book, I was captivated. A good prologue should catch your interest, ask you questions, then leave you hanging. The prologue in this book certainly does that. Who was the woman in bed with her lover? Whose was the wedding dress hanging up in another room across town? And why is the prologue entitled The End?
Like Alice following her mother’s clues, this book completely captured my imagination and I eagerly read about the young Selina. I liked the way their stories were connected with young Alice following a treasure trail of clues left by her mother and finding out more about her through her letters. From the letters, the story slipped into the past to reveal Selina’s story in more detail. And at various points of the story we hear from several key characters and their connection to Selina.
Society girl Selina is expected to marry Rupert Carew and settle into a life of respectable domesticity. But she is such a spirited girl that all this seems thrown into uncertainty when she meets impoverished painter and photographer Lawrence Weston one evening. Theirs was such an achingly beautiful love story but could it ever happen?
Iona Grey writes so vividly that it was easy to imagine the glamorous set of Selina and her friends in 1920s London – “The Bright Young Things” – the beautiful clothes, the decadence, the heady lifestyle. The rush of joy at being alive after World War One when so many didn’t survive or were badly damaged in different ways, both physical and psychological. In a way, it was a tribute to the dead to carry on living and making the most of every opportunity.
This is a glorious feast of a book to be savoured. It is gorgeously romantic and heartbreakingly tragic by turns and goes straight into my top reads list for this year.
Like Alice following her mother’s clues, this book completely captured my imagination and I eagerly read about the young Selina. I liked the way their stories were connected with young Alice following a treasure trail of clues left by her mother and finding out more about her through her letters. From the letters, the story slipped into the past to reveal Selina’s story in more detail. And at various points of the story we hear from several key characters and their connection to Selina.
Society girl Selina is expected to marry Rupert Carew and settle into a life of respectable domesticity. But she is such a spirited girl that all this seems thrown into uncertainty when she meets impoverished painter and photographer Lawrence Weston one evening. Theirs was such an achingly beautiful love story but could it ever happen?
Iona Grey writes so vividly that it was easy to imagine the glamorous set of Selina and her friends in 1920s London – “The Bright Young Things” – the beautiful clothes, the decadence, the heady lifestyle. The rush of joy at being alive after World War One when so many didn’t survive or were badly damaged in different ways, both physical and psychological. In a way, it was a tribute to the dead to carry on living and making the most of every opportunity.
This is a glorious feast of a book to be savoured. It is gorgeously romantic and heartbreakingly tragic by turns and goes straight into my top reads list for this year.
This was really good historical fiction set in 1920’s London and it was surprisingly emotional and I was super invested in the whole thing.