Instead of the Thorn
by Georgette Heyer
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'Instead of the Thorn' is one of Georgette Heyer's early novels. It follows Elizabeth Arden, a young woman raised by a cold, distant father and a prim, proper aunt. Unsurprisingly Elizabeth comes of age with no sense of how to make her way in the world or what will make her happy. At a young age she marries a man she does not love and embarks on a life that does not fulfill her. Her wedding night on her marriage is a complete disaster. After a time she separates from her husband and tries to show more make her way in the world. To start she is little more than a spoiled girl, but as the book unfolds Elizabeth struggles to become her own person and is surprised by just who she is and what she wants. A thoroughly satisfying novel. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
If, as Mary Fahnestock-Thomas reported in her _Georgette Heyer, A Critical Retrospective_, what Heyer thought of women in general could be culled from her writing, then shame on Heyer! This book's description of women: their coquetry, their dependency on men for happiness, simply gags. If her later writing (from the 40-60s) didn't shine with both femininity and feminism I could never have read her. Clearly, Heyer matured along the road of life, and her writing evidences that. Don't bother to read this book unless there isn't so much as a cereal box to read in the house. Title alludes to Isaiah 55:13: "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for show more a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." show less
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128+ Works 78,036 Members
Georgette Heyer was born on August 16, 1902 at Wimbledon, London. She wrote The Black Moth as a story for her brother Boris. Her father, impressed with his daughter's imagination, suggested that she prepare it to be published, which it was by Constable in 1921. Having scored an instant success with The Black Moth at the age of nineteen under her show more own name, Georgette Heyer, she experimented with a pseudonym, Stella Martin, for her third book, published by Mills & Boon. She continued writing and in 1925 she married Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. After reasonable but not spectacular sales from her first few books the instant success of These Old Shades in 1926 brought her a solid source of income which was very necessary at the time since the family relied to a large extent on the income from Georgette Heyer's writing. She wrote over fifty books during her lifetime and created the Regency England genre of romance novels. She died on July 4, 1974 at the age of 71. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1923
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 55
- Popularity
- 554,399
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 3
