Winsor, Kathleen. Forever Amber. Chicago Review Press, 2000.
Reason read: Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February. Read Forever Amber in honor of love or obsession or something like it.
Young and provincial Amber has an instant attraction to the much older and dashing Lord Roger Carlton. Being impetuous and high spirited, Amber runs away to London with him despite his threats that he will never love her or stay with her. His warnings fall on deaf ears as Amber proves to be obsessively ambitious. This is an introduction to Amber’s personality. Impetuous and vain, she spends her days scrambling for her next meal ticket and does not care who she climbs over or destroys to get it.
I appreciated Winsor’s effort to write within the period in which Forever Amber takes place. Words like rushlight and turnspit dog gave me pause. Another kudo for Winsor is her description of the Plague. Her attention to detail was so spot on one would think she suffered the symptoms for herself. The Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Breda are other significant events of the era.
My only complaint about Forever Amber is that is was aptly named. Amber’s story went on forever. Considering I did not really like her character I found myself getting bored of her antics from time to time. I wanted Amber to have more of a backbone when dealing with Bruce Carlton. No matter how poorly Bruce treated her she always shamelessly came crawling back. Pride simply was not in her vocabulary.
As an aside, admittedly, there was one moment when I could completely relate to Amber. Just when she was finally rid of feelings for someone he came swooping back into her life to possess her heart once again. I’ve been in that predicament where a person would not let me move on.
Author fact: Winsor passed in 2003. Forever Amber was her first novel and the only one I am reading for the Challenge.
Book trivia: my version has a foreword written by Barbara Taylor Bradshaw, a queen of romance herself.
Music: “Chevy Chase,” “Phillida Flouts Me,” and “Highland Mary.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Romance Novels: Our Love is Here to Stay” (p 203).
~*LunaSea*~ 