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Green Darkness
This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age. As in other historical romance titles by this author, the past comes alive in this flamboyant classic novel.
591 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
Anya Seton
44 books881 followersAnya Seton (January 23, 1904 (although the year is often misstated to be 1906 or 1916) - November 8, 1990) was the pen name of the American author of historical romances, Ann Seton.
Ann Seton was born in New York, and died in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the daughter of English-born naturalist and pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America, Ernest Thompson Seton and Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. She is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.
Her historical novels were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts, and some of them were best-sellers.[citation needed] Dragonwyck (1941) and Foxfire (1950) were both made into Hollywood films. Two of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present; Katherine, the story of Katherine Swynford, the mistress and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, and their children, who eventually became the basis for the Tudor and Stuart families of England, and Green Darkness, the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations. Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords by Philippa Gregory.
Her novel Devil Water concerns James, the luckless Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with the Jacobite rising of 1715. She also narrates the story of his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth between Northumberland, Tyneside, London and America.
Anya Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. Anya certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at Felton. Billy Pigg, the celebrated Northumbrian piper played 'Derwentwater's Farewell' especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Anya Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to Miss Amy Flagg of Westoe Village in South Shields, her father's birthplace.
Ann Seton was born in New York, and died in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the daughter of English-born naturalist and pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America, Ernest Thompson Seton and Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. She is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.
Her historical novels were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts, and some of them were best-sellers.[citation needed] Dragonwyck (1941) and Foxfire (1950) were both made into Hollywood films. Two of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present; Katherine, the story of Katherine Swynford, the mistress and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, and their children, who eventually became the basis for the Tudor and Stuart families of England, and Green Darkness, the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations. Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords by Philippa Gregory.
Her novel Devil Water concerns James, the luckless Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with the Jacobite rising of 1715. She also narrates the story of his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth between Northumberland, Tyneside, London and America.
Anya Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. Anya certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at Felton. Billy Pigg, the celebrated Northumbrian piper played 'Derwentwater's Farewell' especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Anya Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to Miss Amy Flagg of Westoe Village in South Shields, her father's birthplace.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 595 reviews
April 16, 2015
1960s Great Britain back into mid-16th century England. reincarnation. undying loving. characters reborn but carrying the same damn baggage. all of that.
for the most part this is an enjoyable novel about two lovers reborn who knows how many times, destined for tragic ends until they are able to sort out all of their issues. I loved the opening chapters: cosmopolitan aristocrats lounging around the pool, touring historical sites with rolled eyes, making loaded comments to each other during a dinner party... it was all so fun and chic. I should read more 'contemporary' novels written during that era featuring similar characters. what a droll life! i also enjoyed the remaining nine-tenths of the book set during the reigns of Edward VI, Lady Jane, Bloody Mary, and Elizabeth the Great. Seton clearly spent a lot of time researching the book, and it shows. the details are amazing but never overwhelm the story. and she does more than show off her extensive research - the novel is written by a person with such a strong feeling for the era that I eventually felt like I was living there as well. I love that kind of immersive experience, a world that feels real. all of the characters felt real as well - even major figures like Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth who appear only briefly.
the moments when the characters experience what their future lives hold in store for them were great, but even better were the eerie moments when they glimpse their past lives. Seton doesn't explore those past lives, pre-16th century, so I can only imagine what they were like based on those very brief and haunting bits of imagery. tragedy on a Grecian isle? maybe.
my friend Richard criticizes the book for its gay character (reincarnated as well), but honestly I don't see a problem. I think Seton treated the 16th century version very fairly and sympathetically. his modern incarnation is dismissed as a "queer" by other characters, but that clearly is not Seton - it's her characters and the era itself.
the villainess is brilliantly characterized. the petty, vindictive motivations. the weird rages during her many times of drunkenness. those dead black eyes.
the big problem with the novel is in the characterization of its male lead. the protagonist Celia is very well done, three-dimensional and true to the era, frustrating and surprising, in general fairly passive but also often strong, or wayward, or defiant, or idiosyncratic. the sequence when she gives up on God was impressive. all in all, a richly developed character. her lover - not so much. well, he's well-developed but he's just such a pain in the ass. Stephen remains an obstinate, uptight, unappealing prude in each incarnation and is not only utterly unsympathetic but is genuinely a drag to have to read about. he's the only thing that brings this novel down. ugh.
but all in a all, a good book and well worth reading for fans of historical melodramas.
for the most part this is an enjoyable novel about two lovers reborn who knows how many times, destined for tragic ends until they are able to sort out all of their issues. I loved the opening chapters: cosmopolitan aristocrats lounging around the pool, touring historical sites with rolled eyes, making loaded comments to each other during a dinner party... it was all so fun and chic. I should read more 'contemporary' novels written during that era featuring similar characters. what a droll life! i also enjoyed the remaining nine-tenths of the book set during the reigns of Edward VI, Lady Jane, Bloody Mary, and Elizabeth the Great. Seton clearly spent a lot of time researching the book, and it shows. the details are amazing but never overwhelm the story. and she does more than show off her extensive research - the novel is written by a person with such a strong feeling for the era that I eventually felt like I was living there as well. I love that kind of immersive experience, a world that feels real. all of the characters felt real as well - even major figures like Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth who appear only briefly.
the moments when the characters experience what their future lives hold in store for them were great, but even better were the eerie moments when they glimpse their past lives. Seton doesn't explore those past lives, pre-16th century, so I can only imagine what they were like based on those very brief and haunting bits of imagery. tragedy on a Grecian isle? maybe.
my friend Richard criticizes the book for its gay character (reincarnated as well), but honestly I don't see a problem. I think Seton treated the 16th century version very fairly and sympathetically. his modern incarnation is dismissed as a "queer" by other characters, but that clearly is not Seton - it's her characters and the era itself.
the villainess is brilliantly characterized. the petty, vindictive motivations. the weird rages during her many times of drunkenness. those dead black eyes.
the big problem with the novel is in the characterization of its male lead. the protagonist Celia is very well done, three-dimensional and true to the era, frustrating and surprising, in general fairly passive but also often strong, or wayward, or defiant, or idiosyncratic. the sequence when she gives up on God was impressive. all in all, a richly developed character. her lover - not so much. well, he's well-developed but he's just such a pain in the ass. Stephen remains an obstinate, uptight, unappealing prude in each incarnation and is not only utterly unsympathetic but is genuinely a drag to have to read about. he's the only thing that brings this novel down. ugh.
but all in a all, a good book and well worth reading for fans of historical melodramas.
March 15, 2009
I read this book when it was "new" and omg I LOVED it. It was complex and dark and romantic and my then 14 yr old self couldn't get enough.
Someone commented that it's "dated". It wasn't then but it's a reason I've never tried to re-read it. I want to keep the feeling of how wonderful it was to younger less world-weary me.
Someone commented that it's "dated". It wasn't then but it's a reason I've never tried to re-read it. I want to keep the feeling of how wonderful it was to younger less world-weary me.
November 1, 2021
Rating: 3 stars out of five, but only because I still love the memory
The Publisher Says: This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age. As in other historical romance titles by this author, the past comes alive in this flamboyant classic novel.
My Review: My sister used to have a book store. She, our mother, and I all spent the summer of 1973, damn near 40 years ago now, reading this book. We'd been stealing it back and forth from each other until finally she gave Mama and me our own copies so she could read it in peace. We did a sort of group read on the book, and oh my heck how we liked it!
I was a teenager then. I wasn't an inexperienced reader, but I was completely suckered in by anything to do with reincarnation. Mama was just getting the Jeebus infection that ate her sense of humor, compassion, and decency...all oddly enough while sexually abusing her teenaged son, funny how often religion masks corruption...and my sister was in one of the periodic hellish patches that have punctuated her road through life.
We all resonated with the travails of the characters, trying to work out their manifold interconnections and karmic debts. The book's very Gothicness was deeply appealing to each of us for our own reasons, and gave us hours and hours of fun things to talk about. For that, a whole star in grateful memory.
Rereading this at fifty-two was probably a mistake. The writing is very much what one would expect of an historical novelist whose career began in the 1940s. She was renowned in the day for her meticulous research, and yet says in her Preface (p. vi of the 1973 Houghton Mifflin hardcover I got from the liberry), “Source books make for tedious listing, but for the Tudor period {of Green Darkness} I have tried to consult all the pertinent ones.” Imagine someone, even a novelist, trying to get away with that now! There would be calumnious mutterings and sulphrous aspersions cast on the character and the ability of such an author. As if it matters in a work of fiction.
The humid Gothic atmosphere of lust and love denied, the surrendered to, then disastrously brought to a close, was a little hard on my older self. I like romantic stories just fine, but the moralizing you can keep. And there is a deal of moralizing! Whee dawggie! The gay characters are ugly...as within, so without, and Seton clearly has the attitude of her day towards gay men...the lusty lower-class wenches get their bastards and get turned out, the Catholic Church and its hypocrisy suffer agonies at the hands of the vile Protestant politicians...Seton was raised a Theosophist...good people turn hard and cold when given property to protect...the Exotic Hindu Doctor who understands Modern Medicine but Knows How to Be In Touch With the Spirits, oof!...oh, the lot!
So not so much on the attitude. I get it, and in those days I absorbed it because it was the way my family thought, but how I wish I could go back to 1973 and smack this book out of my young hands! Along with Stranger in a Strange Land, its misogyny and homophobia leached right into my brain and lodged there. Never made me one whit less gay, just made me feel terrible about it, like the culture's messages continue to do to young and impressionable kids to this day.
But the fact that the lady wrote this, her next-to-last book, when she was nearing seventy and had only just been divorced from her husband of nigh on forty years, and was beginning her long decline into ill health, makes Green Darkness a poignant re-read for me. Her life was unraveling, and mine was too (what little there was of it at that point); I think both my mother and my sister felt the same way. I suspect some resonance of that bound all of us to this book and spoke to each of us about its unhappy people in unhappy lives. There is, in the best romantic tradition, a happy ending. But I for one have never believed it.
The Publisher Says: This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age. As in other historical romance titles by this author, the past comes alive in this flamboyant classic novel.
My Review: My sister used to have a book store. She, our mother, and I all spent the summer of 1973, damn near 40 years ago now, reading this book. We'd been stealing it back and forth from each other until finally she gave Mama and me our own copies so she could read it in peace. We did a sort of group read on the book, and oh my heck how we liked it!
I was a teenager then. I wasn't an inexperienced reader, but I was completely suckered in by anything to do with reincarnation. Mama was just getting the Jeebus infection that ate her sense of humor, compassion, and decency...all oddly enough while sexually abusing her teenaged son, funny how often religion masks corruption...and my sister was in one of the periodic hellish patches that have punctuated her road through life.
We all resonated with the travails of the characters, trying to work out their manifold interconnections and karmic debts. The book's very Gothicness was deeply appealing to each of us for our own reasons, and gave us hours and hours of fun things to talk about. For that, a whole star in grateful memory.
Rereading this at fifty-two was probably a mistake. The writing is very much what one would expect of an historical novelist whose career began in the 1940s. She was renowned in the day for her meticulous research, and yet says in her Preface (p. vi of the 1973 Houghton Mifflin hardcover I got from the liberry), “Source books make for tedious listing, but for the Tudor period {of Green Darkness} I have tried to consult all the pertinent ones.” Imagine someone, even a novelist, trying to get away with that now! There would be calumnious mutterings and sulphrous aspersions cast on the character and the ability of such an author. As if it matters in a work of fiction.
The humid Gothic atmosphere of lust and love denied, the surrendered to, then disastrously brought to a close, was a little hard on my older self. I like romantic stories just fine, but the moralizing you can keep. And there is a deal of moralizing! Whee dawggie! The gay characters are ugly...as within, so without, and Seton clearly has the attitude of her day towards gay men...the lusty lower-class wenches get their bastards and get turned out, the Catholic Church and its hypocrisy suffer agonies at the hands of the vile Protestant politicians...Seton was raised a Theosophist...good people turn hard and cold when given property to protect...the Exotic Hindu Doctor who understands Modern Medicine but Knows How to Be In Touch With the Spirits, oof!...oh, the lot!
So not so much on the attitude. I get it, and in those days I absorbed it because it was the way my family thought, but how I wish I could go back to 1973 and smack this book out of my young hands! Along with Stranger in a Strange Land, its misogyny and homophobia leached right into my brain and lodged there. Never made me one whit less gay, just made me feel terrible about it, like the culture's messages continue to do to young and impressionable kids to this day.
But the fact that the lady wrote this, her next-to-last book, when she was nearing seventy and had only just been divorced from her husband of nigh on forty years, and was beginning her long decline into ill health, makes Green Darkness a poignant re-read for me. Her life was unraveling, and mine was too (what little there was of it at that point); I think both my mother and my sister felt the same way. I suspect some resonance of that bound all of us to this book and spoke to each of us about its unhappy people in unhappy lives. There is, in the best romantic tradition, a happy ending. But I for one have never believed it.
July 29, 2010
I must be the only man who has ever read this novel. If you've been having difficulty getting to sleep, Green Darkness can help. I'm surprised some pharmaceutical company hasn't named a hypnotic after it. It's a long, dreary romance, rendered in prose that's the stylistic equivalent of dishwater, about a modern couple plagued by unresolved issues from a past life exasperating in all the wrong ways. The story idea seemed interesting, and I slogged through it one summer when I was in junior high school. Many years later, in a different chapter of my life, I came across a copy at a Goodwill store and, glancing at the dust jacket illustration, felt again an inexplicable attraction, whose source I determined to isolate. What was causing the projection? Was Green Darkness for me somehow a symbol of adolescence? I brought the book home only to find that the best things about it were the cover's eerie green forest scene and the vague, mistaken sense of potential that had lured me to read it the first time. My wife's appetite for novels is equalled only by mine for nachos and margaritas, so after a maddening attempt to reread it, I handed it to her, hoping I was wrong and completely off base. When she was about halfway through it, I asked, "Is it really as bad as I think it is?" She looked up, nodding slowly, and her annoyed expression said it all. I gave it two stars, one for the cover art and another for the spell the story casts until the reader gets to know the characters, feels the numbing effects of colorless narration more suited to bibliographical entries or dissertation abstracts, and starts wishing Seton had hired a starving journalism major to bang it out from a rough outline.
October 6, 2019
I do believe in reincarnation or transmigration of souls, and love good historical novels, so I was happy to come across a copy of this. It begins in 1968, in England, where Celia Marsdon is greatly troubles by angst that cannot be understood, and her husband Richard is becoming extremely abusive. Celia's mother has a friend, a Hindu doctor, Akananda, with a deep understanding of the laws of karma and past lives, who helps her get release from the troubles of a past life.
We are then taken to England of the Tudor period beginning in the reign of the sickly Edward VI and through Bloody Mary to the canny Queen Elizabeth I.
Celia de Bohun is a innocent but coquettish young beauty who unknowingly becomes caught up in the intrigues of the court and church. she is married off in a loveless marriage and is passionately drawn to the young priest Stephen who is torn between his love of Celia and his vows to the church. The saga ends in tragedy through the machinations of two jealous and malicious villains, but the journey to the past enables the 20th century Celia to find resolution in her current life.
A very fleshy passionate, vivid and well written work.
A Gothic cross between parapsychology and historic romance.
We are then taken to England of the Tudor period beginning in the reign of the sickly Edward VI and through Bloody Mary to the canny Queen Elizabeth I.
Celia de Bohun is a innocent but coquettish young beauty who unknowingly becomes caught up in the intrigues of the court and church. she is married off in a loveless marriage and is passionately drawn to the young priest Stephen who is torn between his love of Celia and his vows to the church. The saga ends in tragedy through the machinations of two jealous and malicious villains, but the journey to the past enables the 20th century Celia to find resolution in her current life.
A very fleshy passionate, vivid and well written work.
A Gothic cross between parapsychology and historic romance.
May 30, 2008
That's my absolute favourite by Anya Seton. She combines present and past in this story of a crime in a medieval setting and how it's still affecting the present. She explains political and social issues in an easy to understand way. One of the books I keep re-reading
July 24, 2016
Try switching the genders in this story -- now it's a lonely (male) student developing a crush on a (female) teacher, who doesn't encourage the crush and tries to dissuade the student. Student carries a torch for the teacher for years, despite rarely seeing each other (except for a weird-almost-sexual-encounter during the middle of a home invasion??) and being married and widowed. Student sees teacher again, sexual advances ensue, teacher says "No" very clearly in several ways. Student then gives the teacher a medieval date rape drug and doesn't take no for an answer. Teacher moves away again, but student follows and continues badgering the teacher into running away together. Tragic young-lovers death follows.
I would want the teacher to get away from this lunatic forever, not to get a chance to meet her again in another life and realize that he should have given in to a relationship earlier. She doesn't really understand the "love of her life" at all, and knows that she's doing wrong, and never once respects the guy's wishes. The only basis for their "love" seems to be that they're both good-looking and she's maniacally devoted; they certainly don't get to know each other in any meaningful way. Even in the modern story, they seem mis-matched with no real reason for being in love other than being chained into this recursive loop.
Terrible, terrible story.
I would want the teacher to get away from this lunatic forever, not to get a chance to meet her again in another life and realize that he should have given in to a relationship earlier. She doesn't really understand the "love of her life" at all, and knows that she's doing wrong, and never once respects the guy's wishes. The only basis for their "love" seems to be that they're both good-looking and she's maniacally devoted; they certainly don't get to know each other in any meaningful way. Even in the modern story, they seem mis-matched with no real reason for being in love other than being chained into this recursive loop.
Terrible, terrible story.
April 14, 2008
I was really looking forward to reading this book. Maybe that's why I was so disappointed with it. I truly liked the idea of the book (reincarnation and karma- two things I strongly believe in), which is the only thing that prevented me from rating it with one star.
The characters were not real, I didn't felt as though I knew very much about how they were feeling and that some things were ridiculously elaborate (Julian is from Italy- we get it! I think that is mentioned at least 300 times. Yet his marriage gets one sentence when it happens and a paragraph later?? Would that not be slightly more important thank knowing that he's from Italy?)
Worst of all, I felt like there was hardly much of a love story-- which is what the entire book is supposed to be based on (or that was my interpretation, at least.) It didn't seem to me that Celia and Stephen loved each other all that much (come on, she "forgot" about him SEVERAL times- you don't forget about the person you're truly in love with!) and Celia and Richard seemed to hate each other. They seemed to hardly know each other.
Overall, very disappointing. If you want to read a real love story- go for Outlander by Diana Gabaldon instead.
The characters were not real, I didn't felt as though I knew very much about how they were feeling and that some things were ridiculously elaborate (Julian is from Italy- we get it! I think that is mentioned at least 300 times. Yet his marriage gets one sentence when it happens and a paragraph later?? Would that not be slightly more important thank knowing that he's from Italy?)
Worst of all, I felt like there was hardly much of a love story-- which is what the entire book is supposed to be based on (or that was my interpretation, at least.) It didn't seem to me that Celia and Stephen loved each other all that much (come on, she "forgot" about him SEVERAL times- you don't forget about the person you're truly in love with!) and Celia and Richard seemed to hate each other. They seemed to hardly know each other.
Overall, very disappointing. If you want to read a real love story- go for Outlander by Diana Gabaldon instead.
January 23, 2017
My mom gave me this book to read as a teen. It was amazing! It is set in two time periods so is a modern and historical mixed into one.
You start with two people getting married in present day. Then due to circumstances they end up discovering they knew each other before in 1500s England. Obviously a very different time. Their love affair in the past was rather complicated as it wasn't "meant to be". The story explores past lives and reincarnation which was fascinating.
The author clearly did her research well and brings to life the politics and way of life of the 1500s. It's a great love story as well. Highly recommended if you enjoy historical fiction....
You start with two people getting married in present day. Then due to circumstances they end up discovering they knew each other before in 1500s England. Obviously a very different time. Their love affair in the past was rather complicated as it wasn't "meant to be". The story explores past lives and reincarnation which was fascinating.
The author clearly did her research well and brings to life the politics and way of life of the 1500s. It's a great love story as well. Highly recommended if you enjoy historical fiction....
August 11, 2016
I read Green Darkness when it was first published, so I would have been a young teenager. It was the beginning of my love of dual time stories, and the forbidden love between Celia, the fair maiden, and the monk struck a chord with me. When I added it to GR, my nostalgic memory rated it 4 stars.
If I was reading it now for the first time, I would be inclined to rate it 3 stars. The political and religious repercussions of the reigns of Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth made much more sense to me now and I enjoyed the historical details of setting, but the plot midway dragged terribly. I skimmed to the dramatic end of the 16th century tale which was the heart of the story.
Looking forward to rereading Katherine, another Anya Seton that I think is the "jewel" in her body of work.
If I was reading it now for the first time, I would be inclined to rate it 3 stars. The political and religious repercussions of the reigns of Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth made much more sense to me now and I enjoyed the historical details of setting, but the plot midway dragged terribly. I skimmed to the dramatic end of the 16th century tale which was the heart of the story.
Looking forward to rereading Katherine, another Anya Seton that I think is the "jewel" in her body of work.
August 24, 2012
I found this book sitting all by itself on a table at a library book sale. It was the last day of the sale and everything had been quite picked over except for this gem. Needless to say I grabbed it right away.
Thank goodness for the Mt. TBR Challenge which prompted me to read those books which have been on my shelves the longest. This being one.
The novel is divided into three parts and begins during what feels like the 1970's. Celia and Richard Marsdon are a wealthy young couple recently married and living in the Marsdon family home. One evening Celia falls into a trance-like state and we find out that she is revisiting her past life in the 1500's. Her past life involves a tragic love and ending which must be resolved in order for her present to be free.
I loved this middle section and thought it was really well done. The reign of Edward the VI and his subsequent death felt really well researched and that shows in the writing. Seton explores the idea of reincarnation and atonement in an interesting way that is believable and not gimmicky.
Another winner from Seton.
Thank goodness for the Mt. TBR Challenge which prompted me to read those books which have been on my shelves the longest. This being one.
The novel is divided into three parts and begins during what feels like the 1970's. Celia and Richard Marsdon are a wealthy young couple recently married and living in the Marsdon family home. One evening Celia falls into a trance-like state and we find out that she is revisiting her past life in the 1500's. Her past life involves a tragic love and ending which must be resolved in order for her present to be free.
I loved this middle section and thought it was really well done. The reign of Edward the VI and his subsequent death felt really well researched and that shows in the writing. Seton explores the idea of reincarnation and atonement in an interesting way that is believable and not gimmicky.
Another winner from Seton.
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September 15, 2018Such a great title this book has, but I just can not read it. Actually I tried once, several years ago, didn't get as far, and was cheesed out by the reincarnation stuff. This time I thought I could deal with it, read over a hundred pages, and just... The reincarnation plot is dumb and it also felt slightly racist with the wise Hindu man and all that. She didn't mean to be racist, I'm sure, and the book is from 1972. But I just didn't like it, and it is extraordinarily long.
March 10, 2010
The storyline and narrative structure of Green Darkness are very different from other books I have read. Green Darkness starts out in 1968 with a house party. The hosts, Sir Richard and Lady Celia Marsdon are newlyweds but their relationship is anything but blissful, as Richard has turned cold towards his new wife in recent months. Several strange events lead Celia to enter into a catatonic state. One of the guests, an Indian doctor, realizes that Celia and Richard had known each other in a past life and the only way to rescue Celia is to revisit that past life so that she can resolve old conflicts.
The novel then turns to Tudor times, beginning with the reign of Edward VI and ending with the early part of Elizabeth I's reign. It explores the forbidden relationship of the orphaned Celia de Bohun and the Monk, Brother Stephen Marsdon against a backdrop of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as well as strict Tudor social mores. Romance readers might complain that the romantic moments between Celia and Stephen are few and far between. However, in the context of a forbidden relationship in the 16th century, I don't think the scarcity of romantic encounters is all that surprising. I think a lesser writer would have given them a torrid affair lasting years, but Seton created a relationship that bordered on obsession, with Celia's unwillingness to control her longing for Steven, the one man she really couldn't (or shouldn't) have. For much of the novel, the relationship is a backdrop and drives key events in Celia's life. Towards the end of the Tudor section, Celia's recklessness in pursuing her relationship with Stephen leads to tragedy and torment for both herself and Stephen, which causes the unhappiness of the modern Celia and Richard. After the tragic ending of the Tudor story (which is well-foreshadowed in the first part of the book), the novel returns to 1968 and the conflict between the modern Richard and Celia is neatly resolved.
It took me a while to sink into the novel. I would give the first portion of the book only 2 or 2.5 stars. The Tudor section, however, is fantastic. I felt that in the Tudor part of the book, Seton found her comfort zone as a writer of historical fiction. The action moved swiftly, the historical settings were well created, the characters believable and human, each with real flaws. I would give that section (the bulk of the novel) 5 stars. The return to the present - the last 40 or so pages of the novel - felt like an after thought and in my mind, the story I cared about already ended with the section on the Tudor period.
I think I would have liked the novel better without the element of reincarnation. At least for me, I couldn't really develop an attachment to the modern characters and I really didn't care what happened to them. On the other hand, Green Darkness would have been less unique and perhaps less memorable - perhaps like a Tudor version of The Thorn Birds. Perhaps the novel would have been more effective had the first 1968 section been shorter and the medical crisis situation cut out - maybe having Celia revisit her past through hypnotherapy? - with brief interludes cutting into the Tudor period to remind the readers about the modern cast of characters and reinforce the reincarnation element. Although Seton does cut into the Tudor element by giving Celia de Bohun visions into her future self 400 years later, those brief reminders don't really enhance the broader plot.
All in all, Green Darkness as a whole might be my least favorite Anya Seton novel (I've also read Avalon, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman). However, the Tudor portion of the novel was very good, and that section alone was nearly as enjoyable to me as Katherine.
The novel then turns to Tudor times, beginning with the reign of Edward VI and ending with the early part of Elizabeth I's reign. It explores the forbidden relationship of the orphaned Celia de Bohun and the Monk, Brother Stephen Marsdon against a backdrop of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as well as strict Tudor social mores. Romance readers might complain that the romantic moments between Celia and Stephen are few and far between. However, in the context of a forbidden relationship in the 16th century, I don't think the scarcity of romantic encounters is all that surprising. I think a lesser writer would have given them a torrid affair lasting years, but Seton created a relationship that bordered on obsession, with Celia's unwillingness to control her longing for Steven, the one man she really couldn't (or shouldn't) have. For much of the novel, the relationship is a backdrop and drives key events in Celia's life. Towards the end of the Tudor section, Celia's recklessness in pursuing her relationship with Stephen leads to tragedy and torment for both herself and Stephen, which causes the unhappiness of the modern Celia and Richard. After the tragic ending of the Tudor story (which is well-foreshadowed in the first part of the book), the novel returns to 1968 and the conflict between the modern Richard and Celia is neatly resolved.
It took me a while to sink into the novel. I would give the first portion of the book only 2 or 2.5 stars. The Tudor section, however, is fantastic. I felt that in the Tudor part of the book, Seton found her comfort zone as a writer of historical fiction. The action moved swiftly, the historical settings were well created, the characters believable and human, each with real flaws. I would give that section (the bulk of the novel) 5 stars. The return to the present - the last 40 or so pages of the novel - felt like an after thought and in my mind, the story I cared about already ended with the section on the Tudor period.
I think I would have liked the novel better without the element of reincarnation. At least for me, I couldn't really develop an attachment to the modern characters and I really didn't care what happened to them. On the other hand, Green Darkness would have been less unique and perhaps less memorable - perhaps like a Tudor version of The Thorn Birds. Perhaps the novel would have been more effective had the first 1968 section been shorter and the medical crisis situation cut out - maybe having Celia revisit her past through hypnotherapy? - with brief interludes cutting into the Tudor period to remind the readers about the modern cast of characters and reinforce the reincarnation element. Although Seton does cut into the Tudor element by giving Celia de Bohun visions into her future self 400 years later, those brief reminders don't really enhance the broader plot.
All in all, Green Darkness as a whole might be my least favorite Anya Seton novel (I've also read Avalon, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman). However, the Tudor portion of the novel was very good, and that section alone was nearly as enjoyable to me as Katherine.
August 1, 2022
Published in 1972, I can see how it took the historical romantic genre by storm, spending 6 months on the NY Times best seller list. It must have been quite scandalous then…
… and it is still scandalous! There is a priest and a girl (Stephen and Celia), star-locked, forbidden love, yes some bodice ripping and kissing of soft breasts – definitely edgy for 1972 - and a wee cringy in 2022!
The story is solid, playing into the vertiginous Tudor arena –Edward IV’s short reign, a few days of Lady Jane Grey, the thankfully short reign of Queen Mary, and then to QEI – all covered and drawn in the perspective of a Catholic family and their Benedictine priest. The Royals do make appearances. Troubles!
Seton must have a thing about reincarnation, as the main characters are introduced in the modern era (the 60s!) and re-live the Tudor troubles to rectify a terrible wrong. The Hindu doctor, Jiddu Akananda, guides the (merry) crew in the 60s, is a reincarnation of an Italian court physician who fails Celia in 1555.
All together the book rises way above frothiness though it’s way too long (had to fight to finish it). The dialogue was okay, the story and side characters actually pretty good – but we are always pressured to get back to our very sad and melodramatic lovers (this hill, that chapel, this kitchen, that hut, many meetings), plus reincarnation has got to be explained (again). Yeah, a lot of the length was explaining stuff that was obvious.
But altogether some fun, especially if you have a taste for the Tudors and heavy breathing!
… and it is still scandalous! There is a priest and a girl (Stephen and Celia), star-locked, forbidden love, yes some bodice ripping and kissing of soft breasts – definitely edgy for 1972 - and a wee cringy in 2022!
The story is solid, playing into the vertiginous Tudor arena –Edward IV’s short reign, a few days of Lady Jane Grey, the thankfully short reign of Queen Mary, and then to QEI – all covered and drawn in the perspective of a Catholic family and their Benedictine priest. The Royals do make appearances. Troubles!
Seton must have a thing about reincarnation, as the main characters are introduced in the modern era (the 60s!) and re-live the Tudor troubles to rectify a terrible wrong. The Hindu doctor, Jiddu Akananda, guides the (merry) crew in the 60s, is a reincarnation of an Italian court physician who fails Celia in 1555.
All together the book rises way above frothiness though it’s way too long (had to fight to finish it). The dialogue was okay, the story and side characters actually pretty good – but we are always pressured to get back to our very sad and melodramatic lovers (this hill, that chapel, this kitchen, that hut, many meetings), plus reincarnation has got to be explained (again). Yeah, a lot of the length was explaining stuff that was obvious.
But altogether some fun, especially if you have a taste for the Tudors and heavy breathing!
June 14, 2023
I was a bit anxious to read Green Darkness, because most of my Goodreads friends had given it pretty lukewarm reviews, but I had really enjoyed Dragonwyck and wanted to delve into the author’s works, so I gave it a chance. I am so glad I did. This is an instant all time favorite. I do wish that the reincarnation story was built up even more (more alternating chapters rather than just bookends), but I found it to be absolutely enthralling. I also liked the fact that the protagonist is…not so nice. She’s a little vain, thinks too highly of herself, is selfish and essentially a crazed stalker, but her violent end is so horrible that we still feel for her and want her reincarnation to find happiness. The same applies to the Indian doctor, who wasn’t such an upstanding citizen in previous lifetimes. The villain was terrifying and I also wanted more of her. I think this will be my favorite book from Seton, even though most prefer Katherine (which I’ve started to read twice and have abandoned, but I hope the third time’s the charm).
February 26, 2019
Twas the moment deep
When we are conscious of the secret dawn
Amid the darkness that we feel is green…
Thy face remembered is from other worlds,
It has been died for, though I know not when,
It has been sung of, though I know not where…
Anya Seton has written here a dual-time tale of a girl, Celia Bohun, living in 1550’s Tudor England, and her reincarnated counterpart, Celia Marsdon, living in 1968. The Tudor story is three quarters of the novel and the modern day story only one quarter, which suited me well, since I usually seem to have more interest in the earlier time frames when reading such novels. We are told at the outset, so no spoiler, that the original Celia was walled up alive in a castle called Ightham Mote, after becoming pregnant at the hand of a monk, and this tidbit keeps the reader plowing ahead, after all, anyone would want to know how and why such a thing should happen to a young girl.
Unfortunately, that tidbit might have been the only reason I kept reading. I was vaguely interested in the developing relationship between Celia and Brother Stephen and Seton draws an intriguing picture of life for Catholics in the chaos of changing loyalties during the reigns of Edward, then Mary, and finally Elizabeth. However, I failed completely at feeling any connection or even concern for the two main characters. Much of their story made no logical sense to me. Perhaps I have become too old for stories in which the physical attraction of a body consumes one’s soul. I wanted there to be something deeper underlying this attraction, but Seton never gave me that, so the unrelenting nature of Celia’s love seemed naive and false and contrived. I was put in mind of a stubborn child who simply wants the toy and is pitching a tantrum for it. She did not receive the kind of encouragement that I would have thought necessary in order to take some of the ridiculous choices that she took.
I have read Seton before and enjoyed her writing, so this one was a disappointment for me. I have given it a 3✯ rating because I did “like” it, I just didn’t love it or think it would be very memorable. I suspect that if you asked me six months from now I would be hard pressed to tell you a single detail except the obvious one that comes early on and kept me reading.
When we are conscious of the secret dawn
Amid the darkness that we feel is green…
Thy face remembered is from other worlds,
It has been died for, though I know not when,
It has been sung of, though I know not where…
Anya Seton has written here a dual-time tale of a girl, Celia Bohun, living in 1550’s Tudor England, and her reincarnated counterpart, Celia Marsdon, living in 1968. The Tudor story is three quarters of the novel and the modern day story only one quarter, which suited me well, since I usually seem to have more interest in the earlier time frames when reading such novels. We are told at the outset, so no spoiler, that the original Celia was walled up alive in a castle called Ightham Mote, after becoming pregnant at the hand of a monk, and this tidbit keeps the reader plowing ahead, after all, anyone would want to know how and why such a thing should happen to a young girl.
Unfortunately, that tidbit might have been the only reason I kept reading. I was vaguely interested in the developing relationship between Celia and Brother Stephen and Seton draws an intriguing picture of life for Catholics in the chaos of changing loyalties during the reigns of Edward, then Mary, and finally Elizabeth. However, I failed completely at feeling any connection or even concern for the two main characters. Much of their story made no logical sense to me. Perhaps I have become too old for stories in which the physical attraction of a body consumes one’s soul. I wanted there to be something deeper underlying this attraction, but Seton never gave me that, so the unrelenting nature of Celia’s love seemed naive and false and contrived. I was put in mind of a stubborn child who simply wants the toy and is pitching a tantrum for it. She did not receive the kind of encouragement that I would have thought necessary in order to take some of the ridiculous choices that she took.
I have read Seton before and enjoyed her writing, so this one was a disappointment for me. I have given it a 3✯ rating because I did “like” it, I just didn’t love it or think it would be very memorable. I suspect that if you asked me six months from now I would be hard pressed to tell you a single detail except the obvious one that comes early on and kept me reading.
August 5, 2015
My mom always comments that you need to keep in mind not only the timeframe that a book is set within, but the timeframe it was written. This advice could not be more applicable than with this book - here is the late 60s in all its glory - reincarnation, rape as a romantic act (and as part of accepted marital behavior), and mysticism. I can see it being captivating to a young teenager (and reminded me of some of the impactful Victoria Holts I read from that time) but reading with 21st century adult eyes it was pretty bad.
August 20, 2008
I enjoyed the book, especially the middle part (the majority of the story) about the first Celia and Stephen the monk. They had a truly sad ending, my heart especially broke for the fate of Stephen. Maybe it is just me, but the last part of the book just didn't flow well for me, but I can't put my finger on why. All in all an enjoyable read, but it definitely isn't Katherine, which all lovers of historical fiction should read -- that one deserves 10 stars at least.
February 29, 2016
I think I would have liked this book more if I would have had time to read it faster. It was one of those books that called for devouring hours at a time. Instead I was lucky if I could sneak in 30-40 pages in a half hour. It was better than Devil Water but Katherine is still Seton's standard.
Read
June 27, 2022I'm just not rating this. This book actually took me over a year to read and I had to because it was lent to me by my boss!
I know many people love this but I found the characters seriously under-developed, lots of excruciatingly detailed lineage for like EVERY character that bored me witless. Then when it finally, finally got interesting at the end when we could see who the reincarnated characters were then and now? Boom! The book finishes. No sorry for seducing you as a monk from Celia. No sorry for being an asshole this time around from Richard!
No.
Just no.
I know many people love this but I found the characters seriously under-developed, lots of excruciatingly detailed lineage for like EVERY character that bored me witless. Then when it finally, finally got interesting at the end when we could see who the reincarnated characters were then and now? Boom! The book finishes. No sorry for seducing you as a monk from Celia. No sorry for being an asshole this time around from Richard!
No.
Just no.
August 13, 2009
So. I am an Anya Seton addict. She is the most brilliant historical fiction writer ever. According to me, she makes Phillipa Gregory look like a red-headed step-child. That's a big deal.
This novel is set in two times: England in 1968 and the same places in England at the time of the Reformation. Study of this period is kind of a hobby of mine, and Anya's research quenches my thirst for something more personal.
Our protagonists, Richard Marsdon and his new bride, Celia, are the re-incarnated souls of an ancestor or Richard's, who happened to be a Catholic monk, and a young girl tied to his patron's family. Celia, in the present and past, is not my favorite female character (unlike Katherine), she's shallow and single-minded. Characters from 1968 England also are re-incarnated souls of people from the past.
Terrible events lead up to Richard and Celia needing to revisit their past lives, their own hanging in the balance.
Seton portrays England at the time of the Reformation, with all its uncertainties and constantly changing loyalties very well. You get Edward, Elizabeth, and Mary. It's nice to read a novel from the Catholic perspective at this time-most seem to focus on Anne Boleyn, Elzabeth I, etc.
Sometimes, the novel can be a little dreary and Gothic. When Celia travels to Cumberland and lives with the Dacres, it is quite depressing.
This novel is too good to give you much more than that. But after several times of reading it, I understand and catch the nuances from 1968 to the Reformation. Seton remains consistent hundreds of years apart and you must read it several times to catch the brilliance, but it's totally worth it.
This novel is set in two times: England in 1968 and the same places in England at the time of the Reformation. Study of this period is kind of a hobby of mine, and Anya's research quenches my thirst for something more personal.
Our protagonists, Richard Marsdon and his new bride, Celia, are the re-incarnated souls of an ancestor or Richard's, who happened to be a Catholic monk, and a young girl tied to his patron's family. Celia, in the present and past, is not my favorite female character (unlike Katherine), she's shallow and single-minded. Characters from 1968 England also are re-incarnated souls of people from the past.
Terrible events lead up to Richard and Celia needing to revisit their past lives, their own hanging in the balance.
Seton portrays England at the time of the Reformation, with all its uncertainties and constantly changing loyalties very well. You get Edward, Elizabeth, and Mary. It's nice to read a novel from the Catholic perspective at this time-most seem to focus on Anne Boleyn, Elzabeth I, etc.
Sometimes, the novel can be a little dreary and Gothic. When Celia travels to Cumberland and lives with the Dacres, it is quite depressing.
This novel is too good to give you much more than that. But after several times of reading it, I understand and catch the nuances from 1968 to the Reformation. Seton remains consistent hundreds of years apart and you must read it several times to catch the brilliance, but it's totally worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2010
I've had Green Darkness in my to-be-read pile for a long time now. I don't know exactly what was making me so reluctant to begin it. For one thing, the story takes place in two time periods: the late 1960's in an historic English manor home and in 1550's Tudor England during the reigns of King Edward VI and Mary I. I love stories about Tudor England, but this was my first one to also include the element of reincarnation. While I personally don't believe in reincarnation, it does make for a fascinating facet to a story. I love how everything in the present is tied into the past.
While I didn't feel alot for the 1960's Robert and Celia, I was sucked into Seton's description and story of Stephen, the monk torn between his vows to serve God and the provocative Celia, and Celia's longing for the man she couldn't have. While the novel is short on romance, I could feel the tension between Stephen and Celia in a way that seemed tragic and kept me turning the pages of this novel. Although, we know what happens to Stephen and Celia, the horror of it when we finally reach the climax, leaves you with a haunted, uneasy feeling. The title "Green Darkness" sums up the mood of this novel.
I've never read a book quite like this one, which is always a good thing in my opinion. I love a good novel where I'm left thinking about it for days after I've read it. While Green Darkness is certainly not for everyone, I would highly recommend it if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.
I've now been pleased with two of Ms. Seton's books, I loved "Katherine" and "Green Darkness" for different reasons, and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author!
While I didn't feel alot for the 1960's Robert and Celia, I was sucked into Seton's description and story of Stephen, the monk torn between his vows to serve God and the provocative Celia, and Celia's longing for the man she couldn't have. While the novel is short on romance, I could feel the tension between Stephen and Celia in a way that seemed tragic and kept me turning the pages of this novel. Although, we know what happens to Stephen and Celia, the horror of it when we finally reach the climax, leaves you with a haunted, uneasy feeling. The title "Green Darkness" sums up the mood of this novel.
I've never read a book quite like this one, which is always a good thing in my opinion. I love a good novel where I'm left thinking about it for days after I've read it. While Green Darkness is certainly not for everyone, I would highly recommend it if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.
I've now been pleased with two of Ms. Seton's books, I loved "Katherine" and "Green Darkness" for different reasons, and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author!
February 7, 2013
I first read this in 1973 when I was 14. I plucked it off the shelves of my parents' bookstore and quickly became absorbed and a little obsessed with it. I read it over and over.
I ran across a copy in a used bookstore this week and sat down on a couch to spend an afternoon re-reading it. Apparently 40 years later just before my 54th birthday (in March), this book doesn't have quite the same appeal to me as it did when I was in my very early teens. That's a pity.
The atmosphere and mood are still there and I am still fascinated by the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism that went on among Henry VIII and his successors (as an Atheist, I am very grateful to the founders of our own country that they specifically set this up as a secular nation with NO official religion)but I have lost that loving feeling for this book. Now Celia and Richard seem to annoy me and the hokey reincarnation theme which bugged me then is just unbearably idiotic now.
There is also the issue of romance. There was a time when I was a lot younger when I devoured romantic suspense. I was a huge Velda Johnston, Phyllis Whitney, Phillippa Carr,etc fan and even read a bunch of the original Harlequin romances in the late 1960's/early 1970's but now I like more mystery and as little romance as we can get.
However, for those who DO like historical romance and are interested in England during this historical period and don't mind the reincarnation bit, this might just be for you and you could do a lot worse.
I ran across a copy in a used bookstore this week and sat down on a couch to spend an afternoon re-reading it. Apparently 40 years later just before my 54th birthday (in March), this book doesn't have quite the same appeal to me as it did when I was in my very early teens. That's a pity.
The atmosphere and mood are still there and I am still fascinated by the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism that went on among Henry VIII and his successors (as an Atheist, I am very grateful to the founders of our own country that they specifically set this up as a secular nation with NO official religion)but I have lost that loving feeling for this book. Now Celia and Richard seem to annoy me and the hokey reincarnation theme which bugged me then is just unbearably idiotic now.
There is also the issue of romance. There was a time when I was a lot younger when I devoured romantic suspense. I was a huge Velda Johnston, Phyllis Whitney, Phillippa Carr,etc fan and even read a bunch of the original Harlequin romances in the late 1960's/early 1970's but now I like more mystery and as little romance as we can get.
However, for those who DO like historical romance and are interested in England during this historical period and don't mind the reincarnation bit, this might just be for you and you could do a lot worse.
March 3, 2016
3 and 1/2 stars for this one. Meticulously researched, beautifully written and cleverly constructed, but the experience of reading it wasn't totally enjoyable because it's permeated with an almost suffocating atmosphere of sadness and impending doom. You know right from the start that unspeakable things are going to happen to the characters, and the deepening tension in watching as those events inch inexorably closer forced me to actually stop and take breaks now and again because it was all getting too much for me. Phew!
Even the resolution of the story and the neat 'everyone gets what they deserve' ending doesn't really lessen the sense of melancholy. Frankly, this book has left me needing a hug.
But having looked at some reviews of Seton's other books (and reassured myself that this is probably the darkest one) I'd be interested to check them out.
Content Warning: Some dodgy racial and QUILTBAG stereotypes and a spurt of infuriating rape-apology/victim-blaming (the book was written in the 1960's, so this was not entirely unexpected).
Even the resolution of the story and the neat 'everyone gets what they deserve' ending doesn't really lessen the sense of melancholy. Frankly, this book has left me needing a hug.
But having looked at some reviews of Seton's other books (and reassured myself that this is probably the darkest one) I'd be interested to check them out.
Content Warning: Some dodgy racial and QUILTBAG stereotypes and a spurt of infuriating rape-apology/victim-blaming (the book was written in the 1960's, so this was not entirely unexpected).
October 2, 2023
Okay I’m hoping by writing a review that this will come up on people’s radar and read it.
This gives of verity vibes for anyone who loved that book, she’s dark, mysterious, kind of supernatural but in a past life’s kind of way, and there’s a forbidden love trope that had me hooked the whole time.
Now thinking about it, for anyone who read the silent patient, it starts off as you know something bad happened but don’t know what? And then at the end when you find out you’re like oh. My. God.
Please everyone do me a favour and read this and let me know if you love it as much as me
This gives of verity vibes for anyone who loved that book, she’s dark, mysterious, kind of supernatural but in a past life’s kind of way, and there’s a forbidden love trope that had me hooked the whole time.
Now thinking about it, for anyone who read the silent patient, it starts off as you know something bad happened but don’t know what? And then at the end when you find out you’re like oh. My. God.
Please everyone do me a favour and read this and let me know if you love it as much as me
November 1, 2012
I love this book! What a beautiful story. It is a time traveling story that begins in 1968 then goes to Tudar times. I love Tudar times. It is a tale of past lives and how they come back to haunt you. I highly reccomend it.
June 16, 2018
I started and stopped reading this book before. Hated how it began. Hated all the reincarnation stuff, then I came back to it and Anya Seton wove her spell
First of all, this book takes place during the time during the short reign of Henry VIII’s son Edward, his death and the shorter reign of Jane Grey, and Mary Tudor, Gothic in tone and so well written. I will say however - the best part of the book is once you get past the very start of the book which focuses on a group of people in the late 1960s, it’s during THAT and the authors rather eastern view of reincarnation that annoyed me. Once I got past that I enjoyed a great story with very memorable well fleshed out characters and places.
First of all, this book takes place during the time during the short reign of Henry VIII’s son Edward, his death and the shorter reign of Jane Grey, and Mary Tudor, Gothic in tone and so well written. I will say however - the best part of the book is once you get past the very start of the book which focuses on a group of people in the late 1960s, it’s during THAT and the authors rather eastern view of reincarnation that annoyed me. Once I got past that I enjoyed a great story with very memorable well fleshed out characters and places.
April 17, 2019
Kitabı keşfedişim tamamıyla derste hocamın bahsetmesiyle oldu. Bir süre TBR’de takıldı kendisi ardından kütüphanede buldum.
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Kitap en genel hatlarıyla tarif etmem gerekirse bir keşiş ve hizmetçinin yasak aşkını konu alıyor ancak sos olarak reeankarnasyon gibi karışık şeyler var elimizde.
Celie güçlü bir aileden çıkma piç olduğu için en başında belli bir konumu olan devamında statüsü değişen bir kız.
Stephen ise dinine sıkı sıkı bağlı bir Katolik, dolayısıyla keşişler evlenmez kuralına da kadınlardan tiksinecek düzeyde bağlı. Celie ile, kızın eğitimi için bir araya gelmeye başladıklarında zamanla ilişkileri eğitmen-öğrenciden farklı bir şeye evriliyor.
Britanya’da Anglikanlığın yükselişe geçip diğer mezheplerin azınlık konuma geçtiği, hatta kilise kralın desteğini aldığı için kralla ters düşmemek adına insanların mezheplerini gizlediği bir dönemin içindeler.
Tudor hakimiyetindeki ülkenin başında Kral VI. Edward var.
Şartlar Stephen’ın aşkla bağlı olduğu göreviyle araya girmeye çalışırken üstüne bunlar biniyor çünkü aristokrat aileler ne kadar dindar olursa olsun kralla ters düşmek istemiyor.
Diğer yandan kitabın reenkarnasyon kısmı var ki kitabı alırken bu kısmından haberdar olmadığım için başlarda adapte olmakta zorlanma nedenim oldu.
Celie ve Stephen’ın reenkarne olduğu, (kitap için) günümüzde geçen kısmındaysa bu sefer evlidirler ancak evliliklerinde büyük sorunlar var. Bunun çözümü olarak da geçmişte çektikleri acılar olarak gösteriliyor. Acı çeken ruhları, bilinçli olarak hatırlamıyor olsa da geçmişin yükünü taşıdığından yeni şanşlarında da huzur bulamıyor çiftimiz.
İki farklı zaman var demişsem bile sürekli git gel yapan bir akış yok. Sadece başında ve sonunda reenkarne hallerini kalan kısımda geçmişi okuyoruz.
Ağır ama ağdalı olmayan bir dili vardı. Böyle bir oturuşta bitirilecek bir kitap değildi. Sindire sindire ilerlemek zorunda bırakıyor sizi ama anlattığı dönem açısından oldukça tatmin ediciydi. Hem kültürel hem sosyal bazda okurken oldukça tatmin oldum.
Kitabın sonundan tam istediğim sonucu alamamış olsam da iyiydi.
Kitabı elbette tavsiye ederim tek problem çevirisi olsa da şöyle köklü, kaliteli bir yayınevinden çıkmamış, mevcutta baskısı da var mı emin değilim. Gene de bulursanız, okuyun derim.
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Kitap en genel hatlarıyla tarif etmem gerekirse bir keşiş ve hizmetçinin yasak aşkını konu alıyor ancak sos olarak reeankarnasyon gibi karışık şeyler var elimizde.
Celie güçlü bir aileden çıkma piç olduğu için en başında belli bir konumu olan devamında statüsü değişen bir kız.
Stephen ise dinine sıkı sıkı bağlı bir Katolik, dolayısıyla keşişler evlenmez kuralına da kadınlardan tiksinecek düzeyde bağlı. Celie ile, kızın eğitimi için bir araya gelmeye başladıklarında zamanla ilişkileri eğitmen-öğrenciden farklı bir şeye evriliyor.
Britanya’da Anglikanlığın yükselişe geçip diğer mezheplerin azınlık konuma geçtiği, hatta kilise kralın desteğini aldığı için kralla ters düşmemek adına insanların mezheplerini gizlediği bir dönemin içindeler.
Tudor hakimiyetindeki ülkenin başında Kral VI. Edward var.
Şartlar Stephen’ın aşkla bağlı olduğu göreviyle araya girmeye çalışırken üstüne bunlar biniyor çünkü aristokrat aileler ne kadar dindar olursa olsun kralla ters düşmek istemiyor.
Diğer yandan kitabın reenkarnasyon kısmı var ki kitabı alırken bu kısmından haberdar olmadığım için başlarda adapte olmakta zorlanma nedenim oldu.
Celie ve Stephen’ın reenkarne olduğu, (kitap için) günümüzde geçen kısmındaysa bu sefer evlidirler ancak evliliklerinde büyük sorunlar var. Bunun çözümü olarak da geçmişte çektikleri acılar olarak gösteriliyor. Acı çeken ruhları, bilinçli olarak hatırlamıyor olsa da geçmişin yükünü taşıdığından yeni şanşlarında da huzur bulamıyor çiftimiz.
İki farklı zaman var demişsem bile sürekli git gel yapan bir akış yok. Sadece başında ve sonunda reenkarne hallerini kalan kısımda geçmişi okuyoruz.
Ağır ama ağdalı olmayan bir dili vardı. Böyle bir oturuşta bitirilecek bir kitap değildi. Sindire sindire ilerlemek zorunda bırakıyor sizi ama anlattığı dönem açısından oldukça tatmin ediciydi. Hem kültürel hem sosyal bazda okurken oldukça tatmin oldum.
Kitabın sonundan tam istediğim sonucu alamamış olsam da iyiydi.
Kitabı elbette tavsiye ederim tek problem çevirisi olsa da şöyle köklü, kaliteli bir yayınevinden çıkmamış, mevcutta baskısı da var mı emin değilim. Gene de bulursanız, okuyun derim.
April 4, 2013
The Green Darkness by Anya Seton is one of my favourite novels. I originally found my first copy of it in a laundry mat, I randomly picked it up for something to do while I was waiting and then I fell in love. I sadly stole that book from the laundry mat so I could finish reading it. In a twist of fate I have gotten and lost that book on three different occasions!
The book is set in two different time periods with a Tudor setting and a more modern setting (well kind of more modern) of 1968. It is a beautiful and tragic tale of reincarnation, love, jealousy, envy and selfishness. Have you ever felt Deja Vu or looked at someone and felt you knew them? That theory is the basis for this book.
Celia meets Richard on a luxurious cruise and it's love at first sight for the both of them. They have a whirlwind romance and quickly get married. Celia moves into Richards country estates in England and that's where things begin to change for them. It culminates in a weekend party where all the players in an ancient drama get together again causing Celia to return to the past to fight the evil that afflicts her love/life in the course of a couple of life times.
To me the really interesting part is that the author is known for her historical writing and this book follows that genre as well. Obviously we don't know if the reincarnation is real but the base story from the Tudor Era actually is. There is evidence about a priest written in a family's chronicle book as well a woman who was walled alive in another manor house from the same time era. Most likely these two events have nothing to do with each other but I love how she blended the two of them together to make an amazing and beautiful story.
So if you are looking for something new to read and you love historical or paranormal romance then I would most definitely suggest this novel! The language is lovely and you genuinely feel as if you get to know Celia and Richard throughout the novel and feel bad for them as things just never seem to go the way they would have liked.
Hopefully you enjoy this book as much as I did!
The book is set in two different time periods with a Tudor setting and a more modern setting (well kind of more modern) of 1968. It is a beautiful and tragic tale of reincarnation, love, jealousy, envy and selfishness. Have you ever felt Deja Vu or looked at someone and felt you knew them? That theory is the basis for this book.
Celia meets Richard on a luxurious cruise and it's love at first sight for the both of them. They have a whirlwind romance and quickly get married. Celia moves into Richards country estates in England and that's where things begin to change for them. It culminates in a weekend party where all the players in an ancient drama get together again causing Celia to return to the past to fight the evil that afflicts her love/life in the course of a couple of life times.
To me the really interesting part is that the author is known for her historical writing and this book follows that genre as well. Obviously we don't know if the reincarnation is real but the base story from the Tudor Era actually is. There is evidence about a priest written in a family's chronicle book as well a woman who was walled alive in another manor house from the same time era. Most likely these two events have nothing to do with each other but I love how she blended the two of them together to make an amazing and beautiful story.
So if you are looking for something new to read and you love historical or paranormal romance then I would most definitely suggest this novel! The language is lovely and you genuinely feel as if you get to know Celia and Richard throughout the novel and feel bad for them as things just never seem to go the way they would have liked.
Hopefully you enjoy this book as much as I did!
April 4, 2023
Anya Seton is one of my favorite authors. I read her book “Katherine” when I was in my teens and have reread it as an adult. This novel about reincarnation set in 1968 and 1555 to 1558 was a terrific read. I was immersed in the 16th century during a chaotic time in English history for the days I was reading it. I found it erie to have two important events happen on Mt birthday August 8. I am happy to still have a few of author’s books to read.
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