17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Jane Austen's "Horrid Novels", January 19, 2006
This review is from: Clermont (Paperback)
I am with the publisher, Valancourt Books, and wanted to give a description of the book since Amazon has not posted one.
This is from the back cover:
"Clermont is the story of Madeline, a porcelain doll of a Gothic heroine, who lives in seclusion from society with her father, Clermont, whose past is shrouded in mystery. One stormy night, their solitude is interrupted by a benighted traveller, a Countess who turns out to be a friend from Clermont's past.
Madeline goes to live with the Countess to receive her education, but her new idyllic life soon turns into a shocking nightmare. Ruffians attack the gentle Countess, and Madeline is assaulted in a gloomy crypt. And to make matters worse, a sinister stranger appears, threatening to reveal the bloody truth of Clermont's past unless Madeline marries him. Can she avoid the snares of her wily pursuers, solve the mystery of her father's past, and win the love of her dear De Sevignie?
This edition of Clermont includes the unabridged text of the novel, based on the first edition of 1798, as well as a new introduction and other supplementary materials.
About the Editor
Natalie Schroeder is Associate Professor of English at the University of Mississippi. She teaches courses in Victorian Literature, Dickens, and women's literature."
Clermont is one of the seven "horrid novels" enjoyed by Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Horrid Tale, January 30, 2007
This review is from: Clermont (Paperback)
This novel would have been forgotten had Jane Austen not included it in her list of "horrid novels" in Northanger Abbey. Even then, it might be forgotten if not for Valancourt Press having republished it. Valancourt Press intends to publish all of the horrid novels Jane Austen refers to, and a great deal of other Gothic novels. This particular edition is a testament to the fine work they do with an excellent introduction discussing the author's biography and the relation of the book to the more famous Gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho by Mrs. Radcliffe, an appendix linking the book to Northanger Abbey, and meticulous research into all the borrowed lines of poetry in the novel.
But is the novel worth reading two hundred years later? If you want to discover the famous British Gothic novel of this period, read The Mysteries of Udolpho, and if that leaves you still curious, this would be an excellent second book to read. The plots are similar--heroine separated from lover, and cast into many frightening experiences until she can be reunited to him. It is also a family story, for Gothic plots are always family stories, and I admit that the family lines in this book get so convoluted it is hard to remember how each character is related to another, yet these complex family trees add to the plot and suspense as they do in most Gothic novels.
The Gothic scenes are somewhat slow in coming, but they do come, and there are some wonderful moments of terror--of tension and suspense--as well as of horror--bodies and blood. The speeches are dated, the dialogue stilted to the modern reader's ears, but the story is still readable and fast-paced, and not one that drowns the reader in descriptive detail.
An example of the thrills of the book can be found in the following passage:
"Not when she trembled beneath the poignard of a supposed assassin--when she shuddered at the idea of having seen a being of the other world--when she groaned from a conviction of her father's being a murderer---did Madeline receive such a shock, did she experience such horrors as she now felt..."
What more can a fan of Gothic literature want?
Regina Maria Roche is largely forgotten today but Natalie Schroeder's excellent introduction to the novel makes me believe Roche's other novels, especially Children of the Abbey, are well worth reading. I hope Valancourt Press will make some of Roche's other novels available and keep up its fine work of preserving our literary heritage.
- Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of Iron Pioneers and The Queen City, available on Amazon
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Clermont, June 16, 2008
This review is from: Clermont (Paperback)
A good gothic plot. Typical herione who faints at least 20 times thru-out the story. I felt all in all it was a good read if you can bear the histronics which are quite consistent all through the novel.
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