The Mysteries of Glass

By Sue Gee

It's the winter of 1860 when Richard Allen, a young curate, travels to a small hamlet outside Hereford to take up his first position. It's in this quiet place of wind and trees, birds and water that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0755303105
• ISBN13: 9780755303106
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Review
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.9" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

A quietly joyful read.

This marvelous book grows on you slowly and doesn't let go until long after you've finished it. The story of a country rector in the 1860s, struggling with his new assignment, his evolving faith, and his unexpected romantic awakening, it is beautifully written and completely engrossing. At times sad, poignant and even suspenseful, one is left at the end with the sense that one has spent time in a beautiful time and place and the hope that the main characters found a peaceful happily-ever-after.

Beautiful, lyrical story of restrained love and old-fashioned values

Sue Gee has created here a love story with true depth of feeling, displaying the sometimes darker side of country life in Victorian England. A melody of prose surrounds her central character, a young curate sent to assist an ailing vicar at a Herefordshire parish in the winter of 1860. The young Richard Allen, still mourning his father's recent death, displays a genuine love for his God, his family whom he has left behind, the rural community he is to serve, and the countryside around his new basic and rustic home. However, all of his simple and profound ideals are challenged when he falls helplessly in love with a young married woman of important social standing. There is a wonderful purity and innocence to this love, and yet the young curate clearly also has a geniune talent for his vocation serving God... a very difficult predicament to be in and you can only feel sympathy for this young idealistic man. The story is beautifully told; a compelling read. You cannot rush this book - you simply have to go with it at its own pace and I slowed my, usually quick, reading pace to appreciate this novel at its best. So much more than just another historical romance, I can recommended this novel highly.