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Loading... Still She Wished for Company (1924)by Margaret Irwin
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Belongs to Publisher SeriesPeacock Books (14)
The story moves between the 1920s and the 1770s, following two heroines: 20th century Jan Challard, a London girl, and 18th century Juliana Clare, the youngest daughter of an aristocratic Berkshire family. Jan is independent and spirited, but leads a humdrum life, working in an office, and walks out with a very suitable young man. Juliana, at 17 years of age, is getting the upbringing of a young lady in the enormous family mansion, Chidleigh, and her life is devoid of excitement and event. The two heroines can see one another from time to time, momentarily, through some rent in the fabric of time, but never manage to meet and interact. Their lives converge as Juliana's world is turned upside down; her father dies and her notoriously wicked and mysterious brother, Lucian Clare, returns to take his position as head of the family.Lucian recognizes a supernatural power in Juliana, and uses this to reach out to Jan through the ages. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.91Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.09)
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Wikipedia in English
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The bulk of the book is set in the 1770s, where Juliana lives in the manor amid her large extended family. Everything is shaken up when her scandalous rake of a brother arrives home. After she admits that she's seen the ghost of Edward VI on the estate, he makes her the object of special attention, treating her to study sessions in the library that resemble a combination of Pythia and Svengali. Soon she is seeing more and more of an oddly dressed girl and dreaming of a time when the estate is shut up and the nurse's cottage disappeared. This, and the fact that she rarely remembers what happens when she's closeted up with her brother begin to bother her, but surely her brother can only have the best of intentions, right? Because it soon turns out that he holds her fate in his hands.
The dreamy time travelling and wandering spirits, make Still She Wished for Company stand out from its contemporaries. The characterizations are strong, even among the supporting staff, and the world building, such as it is, is impressive. Recommended for anyone who likes a good story, especially one that sends a few chills of foreboding down your spine.
Note on my edition: For those who are easily annoyed by typos, "Duc", the French title of one of the supporting characters, is constantly misspelt throughout the book: first it is "dug" and for the rest of the book it is "due". I'm pretty sure that this happened when the book was digitized, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't caught in the publishing process, because it got old really fast. Oh, for an editor! (