When I was fourteen or so, I remember reading Katherine by Anya Seton. It seemed that everyone in my class at school was doing the same and the impact of the story of Kathryn Swynford and her passionate love affair with John, Duke of Gaunt stayed with me a long time. My love of historical novels in my teens and the knowledge that I gleaned from my voracious reading of same caused some surprise during history lessons where my teachers were surprised at what I came up with (thank you Anya and Jean Plaidy).
This author's books were out of print for quite some time but are now being republished by the Chicago Review Press and I stumbled across these when actually visiting Chicago and making my daily visit to Borders on Michigan Avenue. I practically cleaned them out of the Seton books they had on their shelves and then ordered more through Amazon as they gradually all became available.
Have had these on my shelves for a while now, glad they were there but no hurry to read them, when this week the time came to take one or two down and have a look to see if they were as I remembered and if I would enjoy them as much.
Foxfire tells the story of Amanda Lawrence, a rather naive but charming New York socialite whose family has lost money in the Crash of the 1930's but is hopeful of making a good marriage and restoring the family's fortunes, when she meets and falls in love with Jonathan Dartland ('Dart'), a half Apache mining engineer who is on his way to a job in a mine in Lodestone, Arizona. They marry and she then discovers just how hard and difficult a life she has chosen and one for which she is ill fitted. Amanda is met with hostility and jealousy by society in Lodestone and her husband suffers from a difficult working relationship with the manager of the mine, who is careless of safety matters and prone to cutting corners.
The marriage is at breaking point when, after losing his job, Dart finally gives in to Amanda's desire to track down an old gold mine which has been researched and charter by Dart's father, an English professor. So off they go in search of 'Foxfire' the elusive fortune striven for by every miner and explorer and seldom found. Well, they find the valley and the mine but what they discover there is not what they expected though a treasure in its own way.
The Turquoise - Sante fe Cameron, the daughter of a Spanish noblewoman and her Scottish husband, both estranged from their families, is orphaned at a young age and brought up in poverty by a Mexican family. She discovers that she has the 'sight', the gift of foretelling the future and seeing into people's souls and, when she meets Terry, a travelling salesman she hitches a ride with him out of town and he utilises this gift to make money. This does not last long as the 'sight' cannot be used for commercial purposes and once Fey loses her uncanny ability she is abandoned and left alone and pregnant, her only treasure the Turquoise she wears round her neck which was given to her by an Indian wise man in her childhood.
Fey has strength of character and is determined to make a better life for herself and her daughter by a good marriage into wealth and riches. This she achieves, but at a cost as she learns that the loss of her gift and integrity comes at a price.
(Note that this edition of the Turquoise has fallen vitim to the fashion of the Headless Woman on the cover)
OK so did I enjoy these again? Yes, I did but I think mainly because of the memories they brought back of my teenage years when I read these and found them wildly romantic. However, though they are now abut fifty years old they still read very well though perhaps the style is slightly old fashioned by today's standards. No bodice ripping for a start, not that I am complaining, and some of the story lines simplistic. And yet, I found myself engrossed once more and Foxfire exerted the same fascination for me that it did when first read. The Arizona setting and Dart's Indian ancestry are all used to great effect and contrast beautifully with the Noel Coward'ish society life of Amanda.
One of my other favourites by Anya Seton was Dragonwyck which I read again a few years ago (here is my review HERE). This one is wildly over the top with a Gothic glamour to it which, once again, appealed enormously to a romantic teenager. I remember watching the film starring Vincent Price, perfect casting because if anybody is wildly over the top as a villain it is certainly this actor. I see from this earlier post that I have mentioned Alan Rickman as a possible replacement if ever it is filmed again......
I have other titles awaiting me: the Hearth and the Eagle, My Theodosia, the Winthrop Woman, Avalon, the Green Darkness, Devil Water. I shall enjoy reacquainting myself with these once again and remembering the time of my life when these books first fascinated me.
Ah, nostalgia - not what is used to be.
