Gothicked (Gothic Novel Lovers) discussion

My mom and I read a book in the early seventies. It was similar to Jane Eyre, but not of the same period. I remember a governess falling in love with the master of the house. There was a crazy wife locked away, maybe in a separate building. The paperback cover was green and I seem to recall it having some sort of Asian connection. I was very young when I read it and my mom doesn't remember the title or the author and we've searched for years. I thought someone on this group might know.

The description you gave reminds me of Victoria Holt's book titled The House of a Thousand Lanterns. I think it was written in 1974.

I was gonna say the same book! I remember my copy being sort of a faded yellow cover of a woman running from a house with chinese type lanterns on its porch. Great book! I hope that one is it, for you, let us know! :)

Thanks for the suggestion. I know we read that one, but thought there was another book too. I know we loved that one. I was really young - too young to be reading this genre, so my memory is sketchy. :)

I think alot of those old gothics had that same Jane Eyre theme running through them!

Hope you are able to find the book you are looking for.

A pretty good place to look - at least if you want to check out by authors - is www.fantasticfiction.co.uk. They have copies of the covers so this might help you.

Thanks, Susan. I will check out that site. Seeing the cover should help.

Kerisa,
Could it be
China Shadow by Clarissa Ross?

This was published in 1974, and the plot sounds like what you're looking for. I tried reading it in March but ended up not finishing.

OMG, Hannah!! This cover looks right! And when I mentioned House of a Thousand Lanterns to mom, she didn't think so, since we both knew that we had read that. And she always thought the author's name started with a C. But we knew it wasn't Catherine Coulter. ;)

I was so excited by Jenni and Michelle's suggestion, that I bought a copy of House of a Thousand Lanterns on Amazon. I started reading it, and 2 things struck me
1. I didn't remember the language sounding like this
2. Did I really read this novel when I was a pre-teen? How did I understand it?

I plan to reread it because I know I liked the book. But now I am definitely going to buy this one and I'm going to send the picture of the cover to my mom so she can see what she thinks!

Thank you so much! I love Goodreads and good readers like you, Jenni, Michelle and Susan.

Have a great day!
Kerisa

You are very welcome Kerisa. I do hope China Shadow is the book you've been searching for all these years! Please let us know if it's the one, won't you?

Totally agree with you about "the goodreads effect". I've made some great internet friends and discovered (literally) 100's of books I would have never have known about.

Happy reading :D

http://www.amazon.com/China-Shadow-Cl...

I have ordered two copies of the book, one for me and one for my mom, from Amazon. Thanks, Michelle.

We both feel confident that this is the book. The cover looks right and the name seems to resonate.

But Hannah, you say you didn't finish the book when you tried to read it? That's too bad.

My mom wants me to find another one now. She says my grandmother read it, also in the 70s. She thinks it is called "The Rosary" and she says it is a gothic romance also. But when I do a google search I don't come up with anything that looks right.

Figured I would give this group a try, since you all helped me out so beautifully with my first query.

Any suggestions?
Kerisa

Kerisa,
Yeah, I didn't finish it, but I hope you and your mom's reading experience with it is much better!

Can you give us more details on the book you thought was The Rosary? Setting, characters, time period, what cover looked like? I'm looking for another challenge - haha!

Hannah,

I will ask my mom. All she told me is that my grandmother read it and it was her favorite book. It was in the 70s that she read it. It was also similar in style to Jane Eyre. I will get more details and post again.

Thanks,
Kerisa

The Rosary by Florence Barclay? Here are my bookfinder search results:

http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=...

and here is a download from gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3659

(That is, if this is the correct book!)

I just read the story outline and some reviews here on GR of
The Rosary by Florence Barclay. Sounds romantic, but not gothic (although the hero IS blind - like Mr. Rochester...hmmm)

Also sounds like something a grandmother would like, though (and something I would as well) :D

Susan wrote: "The Rosary by Florence Barclay? Here are my bookfinder search results:

http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=......"

May be the one Susan. Let's see what Kerisa thinks.

Thanks, Susan and Hannah. I didn't get to see my mom last night, so I will send her the links and see what she thinks.

This group is awesome!

Kerisa

PS
Our copies of China Shadow arrive today. We will read them as we travel to a wedding this weekend! :)

Kerisa, was China Shadow the title you were hoping for?

No, unfortunately it wasn't. I read the first part and wasn't sure. Then I got really busy. Mom read the whole thing. It wasn't the one, but the green cover looked right, the title and even the author's name. So, I guess we are still looking.

Thanks for checking back. Sorry I haven't been back on since the wedding. We got some health news that has kept us occupied since then basically.

Kerisa