Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

This it the just kind of book my mother didn’t let me read when in her home. I felt naughty, just as the Spence girls did when reading Mary Dowd’s diary.

I first picked this up a year or so ago, and really disliked Gemma, the main character. But I’ve wanted to read as much YA Victorian and Edwardian as possible, and how could I resist it any longer? Beautiful title, beautful cover…

And wow. This one chilled me more than once, and I take pleasure in knowing that there’s another book waiting and one after that being written. Great prose, too. The thing that frightened me the most is that Mary and Sarah really reminded me of Pauline and Juliette from Heavenly Creatures. Which is a damn freaky movie. I’ll nix all the comments about historical fiction writers and fantasy realms.
Come to think of it, Peter Jackson would do a great job with the film version. Alas, Charles Sturridge is in charge of the screenplay and direction, seems like.