Twilight

By Katherine Mosby

Book Overview

In Twilight, award-winning novelist and poet Katherine Mosby weaves the unforgettable story of a woman's sexual and political awakening, in Paris, on the verge of World War II. Mosby, whose prose Time called "rich and accomplished," evokes in Twilight a complex moment in history seen through the prism of a poignant love story.

By breaking off her engagement to an emotionally remote fianc , Lavinia Gibbs avoids a stifling marriage -- but outrages her socially prominent family, who fear she has consigned herself to spinsterhood. Instead she sails for Europe to begin the process of rebuilding her life. Ever practical, Lavinia makes a new home in Paris, where she determines she needs more than beautiful architecture and entr e with the expats to make a full life. Lavinia wisely adds into the mix a pug and employment, but it is not until she meets the charming, enigmatic, and long-married Gaston Lesseur that she begins an extraordinary journey of self-discovery and sacrifice that will change her irrevocably.

With luminous prose, Mosby examines the emotional landscape of adultery while creating a powerful yet poignant depiction of a woman's unlikely blossoming. Unlike Flaubert's Madame Bovary, for whom adultery provided escape from an unfulfilling marriage, Lavinia Gibbs longs for the domestic and the luxury of the quotidian in an increasingly precarious world. Mosby creates in Twilight a story that will resonate with readers long after they have finished this book.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066212715
• ISBN13: 9780066212715
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Another wonder novel by Katherine Mosby

TWILIGHT by Katherine Mosby August 13, 2005 Rating: *** ½ After having read THE SEASON OF LILIAN DAWES, I was given the opportunity to read the "sequel", TWILIGHT. I couldn't resist, because I had loved SEASON so much. In TWILIGHT, Lavinia Gibbs' story is told, from her early years in America until she is forced to leave the country, after embarrassing her family because of a failed engagement. It is the turn of the century and Lavinia is born into an upper class family of wealth and prominence. Unfortunately, Lavinia tries to be as conventional as is expected of her, but she fails. When she breaks off an engagement that was difficult to attain to begin with, her parents are very upset and to save face, they send her off to Paris with a monthly severance to allow her a comfortable living. She is now in her 30's and she slowly adapts to her new world in Paris. She makes friends among the English speaking set, and eventually finds a job assisting a married French man who is trying to sell off an apartment that belongs to his wife. She finds she is attracted to Gaston, but keeps this to herself, as he is unavailable. But eventually, she finds herself in an affair to remember, and Gaston becomes the great love of her life. The attraction for me with TWILIGHT is not the actual story, but the way Mosby writes. There are some authors that can write anything, and I will gladly read it. TWILIGHT's story is slow to come about, and just like THE SEASON OF LILIAN DAWES, TWILIGHT's charm is the detail to the writing and to the actions and thoughts of the characters, mainly Lavinia. Even the affair with Gaston doesn't happen until half way through the book. With that said, I didn't like TWILIGHT as much as I enjoyed the previous novel, but both were worth reading. These two books are related, but the order in which they are read is not important. What is important is that both books seem to contain women that are highly unconventional, living in the early 1900's, women that do not care what society says, and have a need to live as freely as they feel will make them happy. The ending to TWILIGHT was somewhat ambiguous, and it almost seems as if the author set that up intentionally, to lead us to yet a third book. I personally would love to read yet another book containing the characters that populate both these novels. Mosby is a talented writer and I hope to continue to see her books published.

Twilight

An amazing novel that I fell in love with--Words could not do justice to this lovely book!!! I don't know if I can enjoy any other book after this one!!! Spectacular!!!!!!

Trapped in an emotional landscape of a tumultuous relationship.

A sad voice cries out, as we read Katherine Mosby's palette of poetic words contained in her most recent novel, Twilight, wherein she narrates a tale of an adulterous affair between an American from an affluent family and a Frenchman during pre-World War II. Lavinia Gibbs forgoes a marriage to an emotionally remote fiancé and flees to Paris in 1937, against the will of her family, who are convinced she will remain a spinster. It is in Paris where she meets Gaston Lesseur, who initially becomes her employer and subsequently her lover. Mosby's previous works include a collection of poetry, The Book of Uncommon Prayer, and in reading this novel I could sense the poet at work, as she elegantly blends words into sensitive images and feelings portraying someone trapped in an emotional landscape of a tumultuous relationship. The tender and somewhat cruel exposé of the relationship is effectively captured in the love letters that are exchanged between the couple, as well as some of the poetry that elegantly mixes with the prose. This is best exemplified when Lavinia sums up her feelings, where she poetically exclaims: "He loved me well for a brief while: And taught my body how to smile: No Matter that it couldn't last: Or Left me wounded all alone." Mosby's characters are vivid and compelling with a richness of voice. Moreover, readers will invariably be caught up with Lavinia's profound feelings, as she reminisces on her fortieth birthday questioning herself as to what brought her to this, in an occupied city, in a foreign country, without family or fortune, and with a married man who sometimes seemed to love no one but himself. A life that she considered to be duplicitous, as no one knew about their relationship that could confirm their love. No doubt, this novel is the work of a powerful talent that will surely be heard from again. Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com

Twilight -- Highly Recommended Read

"Twillight" by Katherine Mosby is a beautiful story -- set in Paris right before WWII, it tells the story of a strong-headed American woma and her affair with a married man -- and VOILA! Magnificent. Moving. For all those who love a love story written so well and with such believable, and yes, fallible characters, for anyone who has ever remembered the line '... we'll always have Paris' -- an engaging read -- "Twilight."

Beautiful Twilight

This new book by talented author Katherine Mosby is poetic. It was refreshing to read fiction with words that jump off the page, demanding the reader get a dictionary if the meaning is not known. The story is told with such descriptive prose; the characters so well developed, that it all seems real. Lavinia could have been your great aunt who lived in Paris, caught between two World Wars. She breaks her engagement giving up her chance for a marriage because it would be loveless. When she does find love, she learns that it hurts as much as it brings joy. Written with such intricate elegance, this book is quite simply, enchanting. The two things that sometimes didn't work for me is that I had to pick up that dictionary a little too often and her sentences got so long that I forgot what her original point was! One was nearly eight lines long! She dealt with sexuality in a straightforward manner and there was no bad language. However, I'll post the warning that if you have a problem reading about adulterous affairs, you may not wish to read this book. I loved the book myself. You can bet I'll be looking up her past titles to read more of her work.