Blue Camellia [Mass Market Paperback]

Frances Parkinson Keyes (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett Publications, Inc. (1963)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0014NQ3A8
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,633,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Popular New Orleans author of the 1940s and 50s, September 20, 2005

By 

Pamela (Dubuque, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Camellia (Hardcover)

Frances Parkinson Keyes was a popular author of the 1940s and 50s. She was married to a man who served in the U.S. Senate and became governor of New Hampshire. She did much of her writing in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a Victorian mansion previously owned by a confederate general. Beauregard House is now a museum.

Keye wrote meticulously researched historical novels, many of them with a Catholic slant. Her 1957 novel, _Blue Camellia_, tells the story of the development of south Louisiana from swampland to productive rice farms.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All time favorite, March 18, 2004

By 

Julie Johnson (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BLUE CAMELLIA (Paperback)

I read this book years ago and loved it! It's one of my all-time favorite novels. It's a story about a woman who is loved by two brothers and how the choices they each make drastically affects the others. I can still see the last scenes of the story in my mind. I definitely recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Louisianaa in 1887, June 3, 2008

By 

Suzi Hough "The Fashion Piranha!" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blue Camellia (Hardcover)

What a great book! I will definitely be investigating this author further! It is clear that Keyes meticulously researched Louisiana's history as she wrote this story, and it is detailed without boring, the characters sensual without resorting to graphic depictions. The novel is gentle, and as inviting as that famed Southern hospitality.

In many ways, the story and the writing style reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House series. It has the same rolling, naturally unfolding qualities that make Wilder's work so acclaimed - but Blue Camellia certainly isn't written for children!

It would be a shame for Keye's novels to be forgotten - clearly, she is an artist who took great pride and care in her craft!