Oracle Glass: A Novel of 17th-Century Paris

by Judith Merkle Riley

Book Overview

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller!An outstanding historical novel of 17th-century France ... based on a real-life scandal known as the Affaire des Poisons, this tale is riveting from start to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670850543
• ISBN13: 9780670850549
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful!

An absolutely wonderful book! You're transported to another time and place and you just don't want to leave. This is one of those books where you might just stay up all night reading it!

Yet another wonderful book from Judith Merkle Riley

Judith Merkle Riley is one of the best writerrs of historical fiction working today. As an historian, I am always impressed by Riley's ability to recreate the feeling of a period. The Oracle Glass does a wonderful job of re-creating the world of seventeenth-century Paris where magic and science were uneasy bedfellows. The story focuses on Genevieve, a young girl who pretends to be an aged crone (very aged---she admits to being well over a 100!). Genevieve works for the famed witch, Catherine Montvoisin but she is also a follower of the new philosophy (science). Underneath the persona of an aged wise woman and fortune teller, Genevieve remains a young girl. And like all young girls, she is in love---first with a conceited fop and then, finally (!) with a man who is her intellectual equal and who loves her more than he loves himself. This is the kind of book which you will love to read late at night (preferably a cold winter's night). There is a touch of the supernatural in the story---but it is Riley's mastry of the romance novel which really makes this book great reading for late at night!

Can't help but fall in love with this book!

This is the best book I have read in a long time. Maybe, the best one EVER! I never knew that combining so many genres and characters could result in a stunning achievement! This is the kind of book that makes you want to wish that it never ended. So, when it did, I just started from the beginning. I never got bored!I was apprehensive about reading "The Oracle Glass" because I have not read anything by this writer before. I got hooked after reading the book jacket because the time of Louis XIV is my favorite period in French history. I have read many books about the real-life characters in this novel, but never were they more hilariously, and accurately!, portrayed than in "The Oracle Glass"!The main character, Genivieve Pasquier, is refreshing. She is not just very intelligent and well-educated, but clever, witty, and has a dramatic flair. The author takes a chance on making her beauty unconventional. Genivieve has one foot shorter than the other, she is all twisted, and has uncommon, non-classical, features. After the famous sorceress, La Voisin, takes Genivieve under her wing, she does not change her appearance but changes the way people look at Genivieve. I thought that this part was very well thought out. It proves that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and a person is deemed beautiful when they let their inner radiance shine. The fact that she is able to dupe everyone to believe that she is the Marquise de Morville, a 150-year old woman who maintains her youth, is a great lesson in human nature. I also appreciate the fact that she is an independent woman, trying to make a living in a man's world, and succeeding admirably. All central characters are interesting and well drawn out, without being one-dimensional: Marie-Angelique, Genivieve's sister, is light-headed and supercilious, but she is also kind and devoted to Genivieve. Andre Lamotte is utterly charming and carefree, but he is capable of deep emotions. D'Urbec is very complex, with many facets to his personality, capable of fierce emotions from different ends of the spectrum. LaReynie and Desgrez are at times upright and serious and, at the same time, wily and dubious. Although Genivieve's mother, uncle, and brother are evil and insane, there is a lot of pain in them because of their lowly position in life. Finally, La Voisin is the most mysterious and complicated character of all. She has many motives and agendas. You never know what she's thinking or what she is planning to do. She does a lot of wicked things, but she does them because she does not have another alternative. Women at that time could only look to wealthy patronage or prostitution to get ahead.This book is full of little details that are hilarious. One such thing is the parrot, Larito. For most of the book, his only utterances are "Hell and damnation" and "Fire and brimstone". Of course, he utters them at the most peculiar moments setting the stage

Entertaining!

This book kept me entertained the entire way through. The complexities of the lead character were wonderful, her plights admirable and heartbreaking. I loved this book, as well as the Serpent's Garden (same author). History with a dose of surreal magic and fantasy!

Not your typical novel!

Riley's books are wonderful to read! The Oracle Glass was very fun and intelligent. I like how she portrays the heroine. Genvieve is an independent woman involved in titillating situations. The book held me captive from beginning to end!