Before the Darkness Falls [Paperback]

Eugenia Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1990

Eugenia Price, one of the world's most beloved story tellers, weaves a glorious, moving tale of the Old South--of destinies bound by the rumblings of war--and passion freed by the power of love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Continuing her saga of the three antebellum Georgia families featured in Savannah and To See Your Face Again, Price again mixes history and romance fiction in her facile, highly sentimental style. Natalie and Burke Latimer experience the first tragedies of their married life on the north Georgia frontier; Natalie's brother Jonathan drops out of Yale to marry halfbreed Cherokee "Indian Mary"; W. H. Stiles goes to Washington as a congressman and later, accompanied by Eliza Anne and the children, to Vienna as charge d'affaires; back in Savannah, the Brownings cope with Natalie's absence and their son's challenge to elite society; and doughty Eliza Mackay's beloved Captain Jack succumbs to tuberculosis. Meanwhile, the South is moving slowly toward secession, although Robert E. Lee, a close friend of the Mackay family, here expounds on the evils of slavery and the necessity of preserving the Union. While all of thecharacters (including children) indulge in the Southern propensity for flowery conversation, the best chapters are those in which politics and the slavery issue are discussed in lively fashion. Like the proverbial spoonful of sugar, Price's solid historical research is unobtrusively laced into the narrative to give readers a good understanding of the state of the nation in the years leading up to the Civil War, where Price will undoubtedly take us in the next volume of the Savannah Quartet.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This third volume of Price's Savannah Quartet takes place in turbulent antebellum Georgia. The story revolves around the continuing hardships and joys of the McKay, Browning, and Stiles familiesreal people from Georgia's past. And they seem very real, with richly defined characters: Natalie Browning Burke, the young Savannah society belle who chooses life and love on the rough Georgia frontier; W.H. Stiles, agonizing between the political career he craves and the wife and family he adores; and Eliza McKay, wise matriarch of all three families on whom everyone depends. Though a bit too slow and melodramatic at times, the characters and the fine, historically accurate descriptions of Georgia will keep the reader involved until the end. Leslie A. Bleil, Western Michigan Univ. Lib., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Jove (June 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515105384
• ISBN-13: 978-0515105384
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attention getting - couldn't put it down., October 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Darkness Falls (Paperback)

After having read Savannah, I had to continue the quartet. By the time I finished reading To See Your Face Again I almost felt I knew the characters personally. I had to go to my local library to find Before the Darkness Falls and I am so glad I did. In my opionion, this is the best of the quartet. When I finished it, I had to find out more about the families. I have even gotten information about the characters on the internet to learn more about their lives. This book leaves one needing more - it's just that spellbinding.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars nice change of scene, February 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Darkness Falls (Paperback)

Continues the story of bratty Natalie on her one-track way to find the love of her life. Ms Price takes the characters now to North Georgia, an interesting twist, and introduces some very well-done characters who are fascinating in their imperfections. One bone to pick - whichever company did the jacket cover for this paperback did a real disservice to this book by giving it such a bodice-ripper design. These books are heavily researched historical fiction and that cover is cheesy and misleading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book, October 20, 2009

By 

Dixie Peach (Georgia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Before the Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

I loved this book. Of course, I've never found a book by Eugenia Price that I didn't like. But the Savannah Quartet ia great. Being a native Georgian, I loved the history that weaves through the book.