The Looking Glass: A Novel
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
A lushly imagined, sensual novel about memory, desire, and the power of storytelling, from a Booker Prize nominee.
Geneviève is an outsider, raised in an orphanage, now living an isolated existence as a maid to the widowed Madame Patin in a small French village. A teller and collector of stories, she is entranced by Madame Patin's oft-told folktales, which mask cunning and doom beneath beauty. As Geneviève grows into a woman, her life becomes both more sensual and more dangerous. She flees her village home, escaping to another word-spinner, a poet who captivates women -- his mother, his mistress, his niece's governess, and, soon, Geneviève. The poet is kind, but he too is a collector of stories -- and sometimes of secrets beyond words.
An exquisite, knowing, and irresistible novel, The Looking Glass introduces to an American audience "one of Britian's best novelists" (The Independent on Sunday).
Michèle Roberts
Michèle Roberts is the author of twelve highly acclaimed novels, including The Looking Glass and Daughters of the House, which won the WHSmith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and, most recently, the highly-acclaimed Ignorance, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013. Her memoir Paper Houses was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently collected in Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. Half-English and half-French, Michèle Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
Read more from Michèle Roberts
Daughters of the House: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ignorance: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Walworth Beauty Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Looking Glass
Related ebooks
Original Short Stories — Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOriginal Short Stories — Volume 03 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Winter of Content Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRose in the Sand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA House in Corfu: A Family's Sojourn in Greece Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Treetop to Treetop Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Long Ago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor Sale: Old Manor House (Free Ghosts Included) A Caitlin McLeod Gothic Romance Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFriendship Village Love Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiver Meets the Sea: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Railway Station Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collected Poems | Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long Ago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pull of the River: A Journey Into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island Cottage: The BRAND NEW uplifting and heartwarming romantic read from award-winning author Jane Lovering for 2024 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Keening Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Candlelight Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sisters of Grass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5These Few Seeds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChantemesle: A Normandy Childhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unforgotten Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Salute to Adventurers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Samian Summer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last to See Me: The Last Ghost Series, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes of a Shorewalker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Village Ophelia and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreathing in the Midnight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Painted Lady Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPenelope Brandling: A Tale of the Welsh coast in the Eighteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFreedom Warrior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Fiction For You
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Queen's Gambit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prophet Song: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tender Is the Flesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nigerwife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna Karenina: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salvage the Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Looking Glass
13 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was rather an enjoyable read. It follows the life of an orphan-turned-domestic servant in early 20th century Normandy, and touches on the lives of four other women who are connected to her through a male character. Throughout the novel the author weaves in exquisite descriptive detail of setting and domestic life (she almost makes ironing sound enjoyable). On the downside, I found the structure of the book didn't quite work, and there was some crude language near the end that was jarring and didn't fit the rest of the novel. Overall, a quiet, moody work.