Sunday Seconds

Sunday Seconds -- there are books that I would really love to re-read -- if I could make the time. Sometimes books have profound impacts on one's reading experience. Sometimes you just know these books could be even greater if you could go back and read them with again better understanding and life experiences under your belt. Sometimes books don't hold up the memory the second time around -- that's the risk. Sunday Seconds will be a cataloging of that kind of wish list.

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THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY by Karleen Koen

Originally published in 1986. I was working in a bookstore when it came out and I remember all the hoopla about it. And I read and I liked it. Then the author didn't write another book for 10 years.

Here's a description:

Queen Anne of England has died, and a new dynasty has come to rule in England. King George I is from the small German kingdom of Hannover, and has a very tenuous claim to the English throne. Already there is a brewing rebellion, and for one noble English family, strife is already pulling the family apart. Alice, the Duchess of Tamworth, is elderly, and has already buried her beloved husband and all of her children, save one. That particular child, the vicious, sexual Diana, is creating scandal by trying to divorce her husband, a known Jacobite rebel, and is more than willing to do anything to see it happen. One of those things is selling her daughter, the beautiful, vivacious Barbara off to the highest bidder. The same goes for her son, Harry. Clearly Diana is one of those parents who doesn't care too much for the wellbeing of her children. For Barbara, there is only one man that she cares for -- the wealthy, charming Roger, Lord Devane. She has had a hopeless love for him since childhood, and now at the age of fifteen, she's certain that he is the man for her, despite the fact that he's more than old enough to be her father. And Roger, for his part, has always been on good terms with the Tamworth family -- he was a close friend of Alice's husband, Richard, serving alongside him in the long wars with Louis XIV of France. And Barbara, with her enchanting voice, red-gold hair and vibrancy, has more than a little of her grandfather with her. But for every rosy romance, there's bound to be a few spots of trouble. And for Roger and Barbara, the list is long. There's her mother, Diana, whose greed nearly ruins everything, Aunt Abigail who wants Barbara to marry not at all, her hulking son Tony, the current Duke of Tamworth. But Barbara perserves and when she finally manages to get Roger as her husband, it seems that the future is going to unfold itself into a glamourous future. Most of the novel takes place in Paris, where Barbara and Roger settle for a time. This is the time of the Regency, where the child-king Louis XV is little more than a mouthpiece for his uncle, Philippe d'Orleans. Paris is a decadent, free-wheeling society where gambling, sex, duels and adultery are common. For an innocent like Barbara, madly in love with her husband, it's going to be an eye-opening adventure. She attracts several would be lovers, including the wicked Duc de Richelieu, and finds out that wanting isn't quite the same as having -- especially when an old friend of her husband's turns up, more than eager to renew the relationship...

Historical setting, some romance, court intrigue. Approximately 743 pages.

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More working on the newsletter today. I asked Steve to walk Tug today so I could get a jump start on working it but I think he turned it down. Sigh. So I'll finish up quickly here and get going.

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster