The House of Velvet and Glass

By Katherine Howe

Book Overview

Katherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball. Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston's Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sybil flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium. But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Jones, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium's scrying glass. From the opium dens of Boston's Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist in a breathtaking novel that will thrill readers.Bonus features in the eBook: Katherine Howe's essay on scrying; Boston Daily Globe article on the Titanic from April 15, 1912; and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author, Katherine Howe.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401342000
• ISBN13: 9781401342005
• Release Date: January 2013
• Publisher: Hyperion - Acquired Assets
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Unique Story, Well Written

When reading historically accurate fiction, it can be challenging to read a storyline that is truly unique; this one is that story. Ms. Howe does an exceptional job at drawing you in, deftly managing the two storylines, faithfully following the future elements and tying them back to the present and the past, but I wish she had spent more time tying the Titanic elements to the story. It was one of the draws for me, but I feel that part fell short. Even so, I loved the creativity and how believable were the characters and the story itself. Like many novels of this genre, the ending feels like the author just wrote a few paragraphs so they could say, 'The End' and be done. I'm not sure there would be many other ways to close out this one, but I didn't feel satisfied with the way the book closed and how the characters (who I had become attached to, as is the way of excellent writing) just stopped. Even so, I would still recommend the book to those who like this genre. It is unique and well written, so therefore worthy of the time to see it through.