Definitely a new favourite! This book combines an interesting storyline with very peculiar characters.

I really liked Florence as a main character: she is witty and smart (she makes up words! Instant like just there), has a wild imagination and a unique voice, loves books and her brother more than anything... and is totally unreliable as a narrator! Now, if that doesn't make for an interesting main character, I don't know what does. The other characters (apart from Florence's brother, Giles) sort of fade into the background, but for once I didn't really mind, because it just feels right that Florence would see them that way. After all, she really only cares about her brother, and this was a very interesting relationship to read about.

The plot started out looking very simple, but I was blown away by the twists and turns it took. I was totally surprised by the ending, and that does not happen often! I was also left with just the right amount of unanswered questions to keep me guessing, but still leave me satisfied enough with the story.

Overall, a very compelling read, that had me hooked from the beginning. ( )

Florence and Giles by John Harding is a unique take on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

Do you like intertexts? Books that re-tell a story you already know (or maybe don't...)? Then this book is for you!

Florence and Giles takes The Turn of the Screw and turns it into an angsty YA novel. It's a very interesting read! I don't think it stands up to the original, but it makes you question what happened so there are many redeeming qualities.

The angsty YA angle is what left me not enjoying it at much. The potential romance for Florence made the story a little odd for me. I was looking for a crazy, fantastical maybe supernatural take but it just felt more YA than anything else. It was still a really cool way to re-tell the story though! I'm really impressed that he retold this story and put something new into it. It can be a little slow and boring plot wise though. I just wanted to know what happened and nothing really happened until the last couple chapters of the book.

Overall, this is a cool take. Definitely a must read for those seeking some intertexts.

Three out of five stars. ( )

Il romanzo è scorrevole e intrigante ma ...
Alcune perplessità sono giustificate. ( )

"It is a curious story I have to tell, one not so easily absorbed and understood, so it is fortunate I have the words for the task."

Mystery, old mansion, ghosts, unreliable child narrator, books and obsession. If any of the things I listed interests you, then read this book.

It all starts with 12-year-old Florence and her little brother Giles (orphans, their only living relative an uncle they never saw), living in a big old mansion having for company less than a handful of servants and having nothing to do. Florence teaches herself to read as such a thing was never allowed by her uncle and she keeps it a secret. Inventing her own language, inspired by Shakespeare, Florence tells us what happened with the governesses who came to the house and all the strange and mysterious events that lead the story to an ambiguous ending that will leave you wanting an answer.
A slow start but an unputdownable second half makes this an excellent read.

"The Swan
It was April, I remember, though my spirit was December,
When a broken bird was lifted from the darkness of the lake,
In the sun white feathers gleaming, from her mouth black water streaming,
While within my voice was screaming until I thought my heart would break;
It was I who watched her dying, drifting, drifting, waiting in her wake
For God her soul to take." ( )

I liked it, but I'm not sure what to think about it yet; I'll have to re-read this thing a couple of times over the next year or so and come back and edit this.

This book is heavily recommended to fans of Edgar Allen Poe and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. There certainly are strong comparisons to both, which may lead to disappointment for many readers.

Our heroine, Florence, is an intelligent, resourceful child who is very protective of her younger half-brother, Giles. Like many of Poe's protagonists she is engaging and charismatic; after reading you will discover what other qualities she has in common with them. Just pay attention to the Poe works she is reading and you'll figure it out.

The similarities to TTOTS are not subtle. We have the same situation; an orphan brother and sister living on a remote and gothicly creepy estate, an absentee uncle/guardian, a living governess and a dead governess. The use of similar names for places and characters is like being hit on the head lightly but repeatedly with a rubber mallet; this book is very impressed by the cuteness of this device.

As far as atmosphere, this book is heavy with it. Even though there are servants who clean the place, Blithe House is large and mostly disused; giving a really creepy, Miss Havisham vibe.

Now, I want to discuss how this book differs from the source material. Hey, listen up, I'm about to talk about the plot, so if you haven't read the book yet and don't want it spoiled, stop reading now!








WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!




Okay, so you can't say that you weren't warned!




The first difference is that this book was not written by EAP. I think perhaps some readers expectations are a little too high in situations like this. You can't expect it to be Poe, but try to enjoy what Poe has inspired.

The difference between this book and TTOTS is that James led the reader to make his or her own conclusions about the events at Bly. Not so with F&G.

A lot remains unsaid, but here are the original takes from this rip-off of a classic. It is implied that the uncle is not actually an uncle to these children, but their father. Here is the story as I pieced it together:

Their father is probably married; which explains why no one is allowed to contact him directly and they interact through a solicitor. He is obviously a wealthy man, possibly powerful as well. Florence and Giles are his bastard children; their mothers were his mistresses. Florence's mother probably actually did die in childbirth. Giles's mother's fate is more uncertain. Florence had snooped out an old photo album with photos of her father and mother and herself. She also found photos of a woman with her face cut from the picture.

In the second half of the book it is suggested that Florence killed the first governess. When Miss Taylor, her replacement arrived, Florence was convinced that she was some form of the undead returned to avenge the first governess. She comes to believe that she will take out her revenge on Giles.

Florence commences an investigation and discovers evidence that Miss Taylor intends to kidnap Giles. This is where Florence's mad fantasy collides with reality.

I believe that Miss Taylor is actually Giles real mother. She dotes on him, watches over his sleep and she happens to have tickets for passage for two on a steamship set to sail out of New York in late November. Florence manages to show these tickets to a police detective as proof that the evil governess plans to kidnap her little brother.

Things work themselves out from there.

I remember once, pondering on TTOTS, what kind of a person Flora would have become as an adult. Regardless of what really took place at Bly, she would have been messed up by it; and it crossed my mind that she could have turned out to be a complete psycho. In this story she is a sociopath at a young age and there are no mysteries about it. ( )