Customer Reviews

A Company of Swans

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In 1912, Cambridge, Harriet Morton lives in an oppresive household with her dry, clutch-fist aunt and narrow-minded father. Like Anna (of A Countess Below Stairs by the same author), Harriet possesses the pure, luminescent quality that Ibbotson seems to favor in her leading females. Harriet's main joy in her life is her dancing lesson; she is offered a chance to become part of a troupe going to the Amazons. She meets at a neglected Yorkshire mansion an endearing, odd little boy named Henry that begs her to find The Boy; Henry is sure that The Boy is in the Amazons and that he will save the ruined household. Struck with this serendipitious sign, Harriet takes the chance to follow her dream to the far-away land. We meet the bumbling, insensitive suitor, and the tempermental, aging ballerina; we meet Harriet's roommate and friend, Marie-Claude, a beauty who wants to open an inn by the mountains. Sometimes, the secondary characters can "break-or-make" a story; in this case, they perform their roles to perfection.

Like all good books, the plot seems fairly simple until you explain it. I can't go into detail of who The Boy is (surely you must have guessed anyway!) but I will leave in mystery WHO he has become and WHY he is where he is. It wouldn't be fair to compare this book to A Countess Below Stairs, which is what I incline to do. This one is longer, and sometimes does drag on; the agonizing love of Anna and Rupert is not repeated because A Company of Swans is lighter, and more suited to convention (which you will recognize if you've been a long-time romance reader). There is a villain, but unlike the bloodthirstiness in "modern" historicals (is that an oxymoron?) she does not receive her comeuppance as one is used to. But the threads of the story weave together to form an effortless plot and a sweet, charming tale. Rather Dickens-ish in its range of "coincidences" that bring Harriet, the heroine, and Rom Verney, the hero, together, A Company of Swans is nonetheless beautifully written and an engaging read.

This book is not hard to find used or at a public library. Otherwise, I would hate to get anyone's hopes up. There is nothing worse than saying, "I just read a fabulous book and you will never be able to find it yourself." This novel is set in Europe and South America in the early 20th century before WWI, a time period I would like to see used more frequently. The heroine, Harriet, meets a little boy at an English estate who tells her she must somehow travel to South America and find his lost uncle to redeem his faltering estate. Harriet enters a touring ballet company of "Swan Lake" as a dancer in the corps by running away from the stifling home of her father-professor in Cambridge, England. The troupe travels to South America to perform and there she meets the hero, Rom, the lost uncle. There are some amazing coincidences in this book that you might not accept in a lesser work. There are also some big misunderstandings between Harriet and Rom. However, this novel is so well written by its Viennese author that those plot devices cause no annoyance whatsoever. The author's writing style is quite distinct from an American's or a UK writer's style which I found a refreshing change since those two writing groups tend to dominate the market. There are also many humorous moments and characters that will have you LOL as you read. The prima ballerina and the insect professor, to name two, are absolutely hilarious. I am now trying to find this author's other novels, all of which seem to be out of print and I can only hope that I beat you other auction aficionados to the punch! Thanks to EP and LLF for recommending this over on an online message board. You couldn't have been more right about this novel.

There were a few scenes that were wonderfully surprising and delighting. I found myself amazed and laughing out loud when I thought about those scenes later. However, I was disappointed to find the author used one of my pet peeves. The hero and heroine made erroneous assumptions about each other that would have been cleared up if only they had communicated in a normal manner. They loved each other and wanted to marry, but each one thought the other did not. Therefore, they separated. I hate this. I wanted to rate this 5 stars due to creativity and ideas I haven't seen elsewhere, but I'm giving it a 4, due to the reasons for the separation. I was also a bit sad at the end thinking about the evil done to Harriet by her father and aunt.

CAUTION SPOILERS: Following are brief references to two wonderful scenes. Page 203, after seeing Harriet dance, Alvarez decides to do something he previously was not going to do. Page 233, Harriet's unbelievable delight in describing herself as "ruined" after she sleeps with Rom.

Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: none. Sexual subject matter: Although there are no specific sex scenes, there are some discussions about or references to sex. Setting: 1912 England and Amazon River in Brazil. Copyright: 1985. Genre: historical romance.

Eva Ibbotson's early romantic books have been out of print for a number of years, so i was delighted to see this new printing of her adult novels. Perhaps due to her popular children's fiction, i have seen this book and her other romance novels listed under adolescent literature, but there are definitely adult themes. Ms. Ibbotson's novels make frequent references to mythology, classic literature, and musical arts, which set them apart from the ordinary romance genre. I have learned a lot about opera, ballet, and the classics just from reading her books.
I first read this novel almost 20 years ago. It is a warm, feel good story which i can escape into over and over again. Highly recommended

This book is one of my favorites. I picked it up not knowing the author at all and became lost in a touching romance. I now try to find her books wherever I can. This is usually in libraries, because most of her adult books at out of print.

A sweet love story, made unusual by the extensive ballet references and unusual setting -- from England to Brazil, before World War I.

Harriet was born into a stiffly academic home in England, a "cold, dark house filled with the smell of boiled fish and the sniffs of depressed housemaids." Her mother died when she was 2, but her spinster aunt made certain that she was raised quite properly, and sent to the best schools for young ladies. When her school suggested that she attend university, however, her father was outraged. A properly raised young woman should never set foot in a university. She should have teas, arrange flowers, and marry a proper young man from the right family. A proper young man had already been chosen for her, and Harriet dreaded the day that she would be forced into this loveless marriage.

Banned from continuing her schooling, Harriet was still permitted to attend her precious ballet classes, which meant more to her than her father could have imagined. One day the director of a traveling ballet company saw Harriet dance and invited her to join his troupe to perform Swan Lake in Manaus, Brazil. But her father was horrified when she suggested it, and immediately banned her from her beloved dancing entirely. In quiet, fierce defiance, Harriet cleverly planned her escape, and clandestinely joined the dance troupe.

In Brazil, the elite rubber plantation owners on the Amazon River were entranced by the ballet in their ornate new theater, but none more than Romain Verney, a wealthy and handsome Englishman, who had a reputation for seducing attractive young performers. Harriet was resistant, but eventually fell in love with him. She didn't know that her father had sent someone to track her down....

(Spoiler ahead) Not a youth book. Harriet's sensual thrill in becoming a "fallen woman" might not be appropriate for young people.

I love this book. It is both well written and entertaining. In addition, it makes use of a little used (if at all) setting - the Amazon during the time when rubber plantations created boom towns on the river. The novel's heroine, Harriet, is a dancer with no outlet other than weekly classes. To escape the expectations of her pompous, professorial father and a Nurse Ratchett of an aunt, she runs away to join a Russian dance company. The company is engaged to perform at a theatre located in a boom town on the Amazon. Here she encounters the hero. I liked Harriet. The information about the dance rings true, the setting is unusual, and you have to like a hero who sends his shirts to be laundered in London. I reread this book about every 2 or 3 years, along with several other Ibbotson novels, including The Countess Below Stairs, The Magic Flutes (which seems to have been reissued under both this title as well as The Reluctant Heiress), Song of Summer, and Morning Gift. They are all excellent reads.

To use a cliche I picked this book up and couldn't put it down. The characters, the plot and the setting all grabbed my imagination and pulled me into another world. The suspense of the impending romance was another key ingredient that led to my enjoyment. There was a real danger of this book tipping into mere melodrama and yet it never did. For me it was a great read.

Rummaging through a book sale I stumbled across this book. Never could I have foreseen the grip this wonderful story would hold me in until I turned the final page. It's the type of story that one hates to finish because now there is nothing even remotely interesting to read. Poor Harriet, a young woman with no hope in her desolate future except to become the wife of a droll man who is obsessed with bugs. A family so disinterested in her that she might as well not exist. And then her whole life changes in an instant and suddenly a world not even her imagination could produce is opened up to her, as well as the charms of Rom Verney. As I read this story I was caught in the twists and turns of each delectable moment, hoping that all would turn out right when Harriet's existance is hung in the balance of love and learning to let love go. A must read for the person who craves gentle and sincere romance. I can't wait to find other books by this talented author!

I have not read anything else by this author. Also, I have not read this book in it's entirety. My 14 year old was reading this book and left it lying around. I'm glad I picked it up and took a look through it. I can only testify as to the portion that I read but it was not for 'young readers'. Page 153, the top paragraph: "He went over to her then and taking out his handkerchief, very gently wiped away her tears. And then his fingers moved slowly down, brushing her throat, until they found their object: the buttons of her negligee." Lines like this lead young people astray. My daughter had recently asked me to define innuendo for her and this is it. Also, this is not the only line I found in the book along these lines. This might be a great book for adults who have been desensitized to this type of reading but not for the `young readers' the book is supposedly aimed at.