US Release Date: July 10, 2009
From Publishers Weekly
Inspired by the Victorian photography of Julia Margaret Cameron, Canadian author Humphreys creatively invents the world behind the images of a costumed house maid. Acknowledging a debt to Jane Eyre, Humphreys sets her beguiling tale in the mid-19th-century English countryside, where doe-eyed Annie Phelan comes to work at Middle Road Farm. What she encounters there is alien to her strict, religious upbringing as a servant after her family died in the Irish famine. Her new mistress, Isabelle, is the unconventional daughter of local gentry and a passionate artist attempting to prove her skill in the new medium of photography. Isabelle uses her house staff as models in elaborately concocted photo shoots and discovers the obedient Annie to be an expressive and intriguing portrait subject. Viewing Annie dressed up as Ophelia, Sappho or the Madonna, 30ish Isabelle begins to feel an attraction to the younger woman the kind of attraction she no longer feels for her husband, Eldon. He is a mapmaker with ambitions to be a world explorer, and he also admires Annie, whom he calls "Phelan" when she becomes a participant in his imaginary expedition to the Arctic. He also helps her to satisfy her own obsession, which is reading, by allowing her to borrow books from his library. The atmosphere that encloses this evolving love triangle is sometimes erotic, sometimes poignant and always complicated by Victorian class issues. A fiery denouement causes Annie to question her past and reconsider her future with Isabelle. Humphreys, author of four books of poetry and the acclaimed novel Leaving Earth, has an impeccable command of imagery, and her prose finds strengths in its subtlety. A hauntingly beautiful reproduction of a Cameron photo on the jacket should pull readers to this finely wrought novel.
I get a little wary when a blurb writer starts off by describing the heroine's eyes (here, doe-eyed). To me, that always signals that we're in for a lot of pretty clothes and pretty sex. But I could be dead wrong, of course!
ReplyDeleteNope not for me.. the doe-eyed expression that PW uses turned me off.. but that whole storyline about feeling an attraction for her rather than her husband is where it officially loses me. Perhaps I ama prude.. could b eso since I am not a fan of erotica either :)
ReplyDeleteI did make me go hmmm too, I am just not sure, it sounds good, and then not again. A true hmm book
ReplyDeleteOh, now I see that I missed the fact that the "doe-eyed" quote was from a review, not the publisher. So maybe there's hope after all.
ReplyDeleteThat review makes me go hmmmm...nah.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think that it's probably not the best idea to look for new books when you're drunk. Kinda clouds your judgement =)
ReplyDeleteThis one isn't looking too good after all.
I have read some positive reviews for Helen Humphrey's previous novel Coventry, they were good enough for me to put it on my wish list (plus it has a great cover, which always influences me no matter how hard I try to resist!)
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds like a maybe...
I've read a few of Helen Humphrey's books-Coventry being excellent and Lost Garden which I enjoyed as well. She's a very good writer. I see that this is being released in July. I'll probably give it a shot based on having enjoyed these other two books. Thanks for posting-I didn't realize she had this coming out.
ReplyDeleteWell, its Victorian, so for me thats a plus. Dunno about the love triangle, but I'm hungry for some Victorian novels so I may give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI would give the book a chance regardless of the doe-eyed. Could be intresting especially with the dress up part.
ReplyDeleteI read Afterimage when it first came out, about eight years ago. (This appears to be a reprint, and the original cover is much more appropriate!) I found it rather emotionless and self-consciously literary, but that could be just me.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read Helen Humphreys for ages, but I would probably start with Coventry, or I think she wrote one about the Thames freezing over - either of those really.
ReplyDeleteI've never read any of her books, but this one does seem iffy.
ReplyDeleteI've read and enjoyed Coventry earlier this year. I enjoyed her writing a great deal. Hopefully this will be better than hmmmm... :)
ReplyDeleteI picked it up for 4 dollars on amazon (used). I hope I enjoy it :) Either way I'll let you know.
ReplyDelete