Loretta Proctor

The Crimson Bed sweeps readers deep into Victorian England. At the heart of this story is Fred Ashton Thorpe, a Pre-Raphaelite painter, and the woman he falls in love with and marries, Eleanor Farnham. Each has dark secrets they strive to keep hidden, but life has a way of forcing them out. And this is what happens with each turn of the page in this lush novel. Their love story is both highly romantic and devastatingly tragic.

There are several underlying themes running through the novel - the most important of which is the Crimson Bed Ellie inherits from her mother, which Fred does not like. The author does a splendid job of revealing each character’s dilemma, the angst, the betrayal, the pain and chaos it inflicts upon them. The Crimson Bed is a novel that stirs emotions, a beautiful tale with compelling characters that are so real, they leap off the pages. On a deeper level, the novel explores human vulnerability and frailty, love and loss, trust and betrayal. Definitely well written and beautifully written. I loved how she used a Pre-Raphaelite painting for her book cover. Very highly recommended.… (mehr)

The Long Shadow is destined to become a literary classic.

Characters who grab you and won't let go. Scenes ripped from history. Drama, and the violence of war. Interludes of beauty and joy in the midst of chaos and terror.

The two male characters are so lifelike and so compelling, I fell in love with both of them. Andrew and Costas, very different, yet in many ways identical, both bringing to life a magical fantasy of female daydreams.

The Long Shadow not only contains fascinating, unforgettable, mesmerizing characters, it has history: lots of it. It brought forth the horrors of World War I Greece, and also managed to capture those precious moments of fulfillment that occur even in the grimmest circumstances. The end, which I never could have predicted, was perfect and satisfying.

It reminded me of Hemingway's work in many ways.

This author is becoming one of my all time favorites.… (mehr)

"Wind and waves and the cruel sea. Some days the waves come crashing almost over the top of the light. You get used to the constant drumming of it all, drumming away at the sides like it was asking to come in. it's a living, breathing being is the sea and we have to treat it like one, take note of what it's trying to say, skirt round its moods and furies and storms. Then be peaceful with it when it's feeling content and happy and still as glass."

This stunning, satisfying, profoundly moving, unforgettable novel reminded me a bit of Du Maurier's "Rebecca..." The protagonist is a young woman we meet in childhood and follow throughout young adulthood. Her story is told in first person; like "Rebecca," there is another shadowy, otherworldly character---well, two, really: the sea and lighthouses. Both come to life along with Bridie O'Neill, and create a magical setting that creeps out of the pages and surrounds you, bringing hints of saltwater and sea spray, of broken ships and beams of light, of primordial struggles, the hypnotizing sound of the foghorn, the unforgiving remoteness, the love and endlessly mesmerizing fascination of the ocean.

After the sea grabs you, Middle Watch then throws two fierce, uncompromising, unforgiving and mesmerizing men into the mix---two men who will go to almost any lengths to win the heart of Bridie O'Neill. (One will truly go to any lengths.) This deepens the tale, bringing in the human elements of jealousy, possession, and violence.

There is a part near the end of Middle Watch I would call controversial. I had a hard time with it. It took reflection, time, and contemplation to put it in perspective, to remember the long history between the two characters involved. And it shows the courage of the author, who has chosen to not shy away from reality, who chose not to create a fairytale, stereotypical romance but a raw, real, ripping kind of truth---the only kind of truth the sea will accept.

"Wouldn't it just be simpler to give in and go along with Ryan, flow with the current like an unmoored boat? But I couldn't. Some spirit of self preservation made me feel a desperate need to flow against it, to swim upstream like a salmon and find my way back to my own true self."… (mehr)