11-01-2010, 07:31 AM
SPOILER ALERT
Thank you! I've been misled by Rosemary Guiley in her book "Love lines". She writes:
I was confused by the word "heroine", which should have been reserved for the housekeeper, Ann.
Perhaps you'd like to know what else she says about Moura in the section of sketches of several writers:
Mmmm, I don't get the joke either. It's fairly common to have a seemingly innocent person turn out to be the villain and vice versa have a supposedly evil person turn out to be good. It really would have been a fabulous twist to have a villainous heroine. There's a challenge for an author!!
Thank you! I've been misled by Rosemary Guiley in her book "Love lines". She writes:
Quote:While Moura follows a classic Gothic theme, the ending has a double twist: the "sweet and innocent" young heroine turns out to be the monstrous villain of the tale.
I was confused by the word "heroine", which should have been reserved for the housekeeper, Ann.
Perhaps you'd like to know what else she says about Moura in the section of sketches of several writers:
Quote:She spent nine of her twelve years in Hollywood working in her spare time on Moura, her first book, which was published by Crown in 1959. Moura helped revive the popularity of the classic Gothic theme. Set in the early nineteenth century in France, it concerns an apparently wicked uncle, an evil housekeeper and a sweet young girl. Typical of Gothics, Moura has a surprise ending, only this one is a double whammy: the sixteen-year-old "heroine" is really the villain, the "wicked' uncle the good guy. The ending was intended as a little joke, an amusing play on the classic Gothic theme, according to Virginia. Although the book was enormously successful, no one seemed to get the joke. She still chuckles at the recollection of one publisher who rejected the manuscript because it was "so wild and preposterous, it's positively Gothic".
Mmmm, I don't get the joke either. It's fairly common to have a seemingly innocent person turn out to be the villain and vice versa have a supposedly evil person turn out to be good. It really would have been a fabulous twist to have a villainous heroine. There's a challenge for an author!!