According to the dust jacket notes, this book was too sensational to be published during Alcott's lifetime. I think maybe the publishers were trying to spare her feelings, because it's not that sensational--in fact, it's kind of boring. A young girl who lives in a virtual prison with her grandfather is wooed by a fascinating stranger, and they run off together. He doesn't want to get married, but she insists on it. As it turns out, though, he is already married, and their marriage is a sham. She runs off, and then the "long fatal love chase" begins. I expected lots of wailing, breathlessness, etc., but it's not as melodramatic as I hoped, and I'm really not sure what's so sensational about it. There aren't any remotely sexy scenes, and the girl doesn't even get pregnant. Jane Austen books have more sensational scenes than this one. ( )

Finally got around to reading this (I've been carrying it for a while, but other books kept on demanding attention before it; books can be bossy things, can't they?).

And I'm glad I did. It's been a while since I read any Victorian literature, I'd forgotten how much fun it can be! An age when women were strong yet delicate, and men were upstanding heroes, or dastardly devils.

I found all the symbolism laying it on a bit thick at the beginning (Tempest looking like the picture of Mephistopheles; the name "Tempest"; how many times did he use that "Miranda" line, I wonder?; etc), but that's part of its charm, really.

And a remarkably convoluted plot (and the ending was just lathered on with a trowel), but all highly readable, and I kept on reading it with much enjoyment. A Victorian psycho-thriller, I guess. :)

I also found the feminist issues very interesting - that Rosamund had more power because she wasn't actually married to Tempest, although of course the loss of her reputation would have outweighed that, had she been culpable. (Eep. I read Victorian literature, and I start using the word "culpable"!) And Mrs Tempest's fight to keep her son. And the whole issue of <insert many rude words here> men who "love" obsessively. ( )

It kept my interest, I cared about the characters (although I didn't feel I knew them very well). It was a fun read, certainly more entertaining than Little Women, which is too wholesome for my tastes. (At least the first half; I never got around to the rest of it.)

A sweet, innocent, but impetuous young girl (18) falls in love with an older, dangerous man. He really loves her and is willing to cause the death of others to keep her; so it's a selfish love. When she realizes that he has deceived her, she runs away and is befriended by good, kind people, but....well, I don't want to spoil everything, because it looks as if everything will work out pretty well until the last page or so, but the title is not misleading. SPOILER: Tempest, trying to kill the man he sees as his adversary for Rosamond's love, unwittingly kills her instead. Realizing this, he then kills himself: A fatal love chase for both. Oh, and there is a character named Willoughby, who is English and not at all like Jane Austen's character of the same name.

I don't know why the book was not published until 1995; it was written in 1866 and turned down by Alcott's publisher. Maybe the fact that Philip Tempest already has a wife when he marries Rosamond or the platonic love between Rosamond and a priest or the unfavorable depiction of the other Catholics in the convent where she takes refuge or the positive depiction of an actress. In fact, almost all the women in the story are good and the men range from despicable and scary to perfect. Or, the fact that the author says that Philip is charming and does everything he can to please Rosamond but gives no examples. Finally, this is a good example of a Lilith/Eve story, with Philip Tempest as Lilith and Father Ignatius as Eve. ( )

a story of dark love and passionate obsession that was considered "too sensational" to be published in the author's lifetimer. It was written for magazine serialisation two years befoe little women. She earned money by writing several sensational stories.

Un avventuriero senza scrupoli, una fanciulla indomita e un amore ossessivo sono al centro di questa attrazione fatale a ruoli invertiti, violenta e sensuale, ambientata nelle grandi capitali europee di fine Ottocento. ( )