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With World War II on the horizon, a British woman risks her life to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her twin sisterVioletta Denver and her twin sister Dorabella are inseparable—until Dorabella falls in love with Dermot Tregarland. The newlyweds settle in Dermot’s isolated ancestral home along the Cornish coast, and Dorabella soon has a little boy. But Violetta can’t shake the terrible foreboding she’s felt since her sister’s marriage. When she hears that Dorabella show more went swimming one morning and was swept out to sea, she refuses to believe that her beloved twin is really gone, so a grief-stricken Violetta travels to the Tregarland estate. There, against the terrible grandeur of sea-swept cliffs, Violetta learns that Dermot’s first wife also drowned under suspicious circumstances. When death claims another victim, Violetta knows the answer lies in the history of the Tregarlands—and a haunting legacy of madness and bad blood. With the help of Jowan Jermyn, Dermot’s neighbor, Violetta moves closer to the truth . . . and closer to a murderer whose long-awaited revenge is about to come full circle. show less
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Read during Spring 2003
A Cornwall-based, Daphne du Maurier-inspired, romance mystery which was going along fairly well until the last few pages. The primary characters are twins; flightly Dorabella and practical Violetta. Dorabella marries Dermot and goes to live in Cornwall but with constant visitations from her famliy, particularly her twin sister, who becomes intrigued with the mysteries of the first Mrs. Tregarland and her untimely death by drowning. Mutiple deaths and secrets later, the fairly predictable truth comes out. All enjoyable until Dorabella returns after having faked her death to run away with a French artist, uncaring of the pain and suffering she inflicted on her family, but we should all be happy because she didn't show more die. As a secondary plot line, WWII starts..... show less
A Cornwall-based, Daphne du Maurier-inspired, romance mystery which was going along fairly well until the last few pages. The primary characters are twins; flightly Dorabella and practical Violetta. Dorabella marries Dermot and goes to live in Cornwall but with constant visitations from her famliy, particularly her twin sister, who becomes intrigued with the mysteries of the first Mrs. Tregarland and her untimely death by drowning. Mutiple deaths and secrets later, the fairly predictable truth comes out. All enjoyable until Dorabella returns after having faked her death to run away with a French artist, uncaring of the pain and suffering she inflicted on her family, but we should all be happy because she didn't show more die. As a secondary plot line, WWII starts..... show less
“The Gossamer Cord” is a huge improvement on the previous book in the Daughters of England series.
I liked the twins, who were similar only in their appearance. Dorabella is selfish in most respects, yet deep down she’s not all that bad. Her love for her sister Violetta makes Dorabella likable.
The sensible and good-natured Violetta narrates the story, which is set from 1936–39. Events mainly take place in England, and more specifically in Cornwall, though early on the twins take an eventful trip to Germany.
I worked out who the villain of the piece is, and figured out a few other "mysteries", but I’m pleased to state that certain threads kept me guessing.
On the minus side, we get the usual Carr/Plaidy/Holt traits: repetition, show more writing in the passive voice, “telling” instead of “showing”, etc.
For example, “It was clear that he was delighted to see me” is not only passive, it’s blatant “telling”.
In the most part, though, I found this novel to be a good read. show less
I liked the twins, who were similar only in their appearance. Dorabella is selfish in most respects, yet deep down she’s not all that bad. Her love for her sister Violetta makes Dorabella likable.
The sensible and good-natured Violetta narrates the story, which is set from 1936–39. Events mainly take place in England, and more specifically in Cornwall, though early on the twins take an eventful trip to Germany.
I worked out who the villain of the piece is, and figured out a few other "mysteries", but I’m pleased to state that certain threads kept me guessing.
On the minus side, we get the usual Carr/Plaidy/Holt traits: repetition, show more writing in the passive voice, “telling” instead of “showing”, etc.
For example, “It was clear that he was delighted to see me” is not only passive, it’s blatant “telling”.
In the most part, though, I found this novel to be a good read. show less
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256+ Works 37,364 Members
Jean Plaidy was a British writer who wrote under various pen names. Her real name is Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert. She was born in London on September 1, 1906. Most of the books written as Jean Plaidy are historical romances based on English history featuring historical figures. The first, Beyond the Blue Mountains, was published in 1947. Hibbert show more also wrote five nonfiction histories and two children's books. Besides Jean Plaidy, Hibbert wrote under Victoria Holt, Phillipa Carr, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, and her maiden name, Eleanor Burford. Hibbert died on January 18, 1993. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Gossamer Cord
- Original title
- The Gossamer Cord
- Original publication date
- 1992
- First words
- When I look back I can see that it all began one morning at breakfast in our home at Caddington Hall when my mother said casually, looking up from the letter she was reading: "Edward has asked that German boy to stay with t... (show all)hem for a holiday in England."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Yes," I said. "I shall wait."
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- Reviews
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- (3.42)
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- English, Finnish, German, Spanish
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 8
