10-07-2010, 02:28 AM
(10-06-2010, 02:58 AM)Penfeather Wrote:Well said. The references to art and history etc. make the reading experience richer and on a deeper level.(10-06-2010, 02:38 AM)Artemis Wrote: "On the Night of the Seventh Moon" by Victoria Holt is my particular favourite , pure escapism and enjoyment. Also I enjoyed the connection to old folk and fairy tales.
That is something which sets Holt and Mary Stewart apart, I think -- their erudition. You can surmise that both these women were well educated and familiar with the canon of western literature. The references to mythology, classics, poetry, art, and of course history (with these themes sometimes even interwoven into the fabric of the story) make their prose richer and more resonant than the average. And folklore too. I also enjoyed Seventh Moon very much. Holt conjured up a 19th-century Bavaria the way mad King Ludwig might have envisioned it, like a romantic fairy tale.