Perhaps Rachael Innes would not have taken a summer rental on a sprawling mansion by the sea if she had known it was haunted. By the time she had spent the second--mostly sleepless--night in “Sunnyside”, the house proved not only haunted but the site of a murder. To make matters worse, that very night she received news of a spectacular bank failure whose engineer might be under her roof.
I just finished this today. I liked it and it's certainly a page-turner (or in the case of an ebook, I guess it's really a button-pusher), but it would never be published today: too much tell and not enough showing. Also it had way too many characters with similar names. Warren and Wallace and Warner, oh my! I can see why it was so popular in its day. How fun to read the 1908 equivalent of The Da Vinci Code.
Keeping in the cast-picking mode of late, I see Helen Mirren as Rachel Innes. Not sure who's playing Liddy, but the two of them are a riot. Maybe Judi Dench.
Hi, Margaret. I agree that the characters can get confusing. Luckily, there are only a handful that you actually have to keep track of. Nice thing about an ebook is that if you can't remember who a character is, and it's important to find out, you can run a search to see when and where he/ she was introduced. That's great for us senior citizens whose memories aren't what they used to be. That's the best feature of e-readers next to the ability to change the font size.
That is really funny that you should think of Helen Mirren, because we will be publishing another ebook (The Third Miss Symons) within the next couple of weeks in which I chose Helen Mirren (or the third actress in our terrific triumvirate, Maggie Smith for the title role.)
I just realized my comments make it sound like I didn't like the book. I did like it, very much, and would like to read more books by this author. I just thought it was funny how a very popular book from 100 years ago, that inspired so many other writers in an evolution that continues today, wouldn't get published today. I say the same thing about Georgette Heyer's books and she's one of my favorite authors.
I have a bit of a girl-crush on Helen Mirren and I tend to think of her in roles for strong older women, but Maggie Smith would also be good as Rachel. She would also be an awesome Liddy, come to think of it. I can't remember if they had any scenes together in Gosford Park.
(5 votes)
I just finished this today. I liked it and it's certainly a page-turner (or in the case of an ebook, I guess it's really a button-pusher), but it would never be published today: too much tell and not enough showing. Also it had way too many characters with similar names. Warren and Wallace and Warner, oh my! I can see why it was so popular in its day. How fun to read the 1908 equivalent of The Da Vinci Code.
Keeping in the cast-picking mode of late, I see Helen Mirren as Rachel Innes. Not sure who's playing Liddy, but the two of them are a riot. Maybe Judi Dench.
Hi, Margaret. I agree that the characters can get confusing. Luckily, there are only a handful that you actually have to keep track of. Nice thing about an ebook is that if you can't remember who a character is, and it's important to find out, you can run a search to see when and where he/ she was introduced. That's great for us senior citizens whose memories aren't what they used to be. That's the best feature of e-readers next to the ability to change the font size.
That is really funny that you should think of Helen Mirren, because we will be publishing another ebook (The Third Miss Symons) within the next couple of weeks in which I chose Helen Mirren (or the third actress in our terrific triumvirate, Maggie Smith for the title role.)
I just realized my comments make it sound like I didn't like the book. I did like it, very much, and would like to read more books by this author. I just thought it was funny how a very popular book from 100 years ago, that inspired so many other writers in an evolution that continues today, wouldn't get published today. I say the same thing about Georgette Heyer's books and she's one of my favorite authors.
I have a bit of a girl-crush on Helen Mirren and I tend to think of her in roles for strong older women, but Maggie Smith would also be good as Rachel. She would also be an awesome Liddy, come to think of it. I can't remember if they had any scenes together in Gosford Park.