Customer Reviews

Dragonwyck

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a beautifully written work of historical fiction, set in 1840s New York. It focuses on a young Connecticut woman, Miranda Wells, who sees a change in her station in life through a chance invitation by a wealthy distant cousin. Handsome, gallant, and a renaissance man in terms of his interests, Nicholas Van Ryn invites his young cousin to visit and stay at his lavish home in upstate Hudson, New York and act as a companion for his young daughter.

When she meets him for the first time, Miranda is smitten, as Nicholas is the embodiment of all her romantic yearnings. Moreover, her stay at his luxurious, palatial home on the Hudson River, a mansion with the fanciful name of Dragonwyck, is an answer to her prayers and a chance to escape the hard work and tedium that has been her lot on her family's Connecticut farm. Dragonwyck, however, has its share of secrets and a miasma of evil that lurks in its halls and grand rooms.

The only thorn in Miranda's side is her cousin's wife, Johanna, who does not care for having a younger, more attractive woman, bustling about the house and preening before her husband. Johanna finds ways to make her feelings understood by Miranda, but Miranda, reckless in her admiration for her cousin Nicholas and relatively naive, is somewhat obtuse. Moreover, there is a pre-existing undercurrent of tension between husband and wife in the Dragonwyck household of which Miranda is seemingly oblivious.

Miranda's presence exacerbates the tension in the household that, ultimately, ends in tragedy for all concerned. It is that tragedy that will, for Miranda, mark the beginning of a life journey that will provide some painful and unsettling lessons. It is a journey that will ensure a measure of painful self-discovery and remove the rose colored glasses through which she had viewed her world.

The book is well researched and redolent with information about the Dutch influence in New York and its aristocracy. It details many of the issues and traditions that were germane to the period and is richly descriptive of a way of life in New York, both downstate and upstate, that has since gone by the wayside. It intertwines a number of historical events and personages with the lives of those characters who are at the heart of this wonderful and vastly entertaining book. It is a book that will keep the reader turning the pages until the very last.

This book enjoys a special place in my grandmother's bookshelves, and both she and my mom always told me when I was little that I should read it someday. So a few years ago, on an extended vacation to my grandparent's house (which, I have to say, can be nearly as creepy at night as Dragonwyck) I picked up the book and curled up in a corner with it. I absolutely couldldn't put it down. Miranda is an engaging character who you instantly identify with because I think everyone feels sometimes the sense of oppression of their mundane lives. It definitely fits in nicely with the Gothic romance of the time, though doesn't *quite* stand up to Hawthorne's THe House of the Seven Gables. However, Seton's language is wonderfully detailed and captures the beauties and terrors of the moments to a point where you are nearly breathless. I highly recommend finding yourself a copy, no matter how dog-eared, and immerse yourself in Dragonwyck.

I searched for years for a copy of "Dragonwyck" and finally found an old copy in an East Hampton church sale. Why such a quest? Because I had seen the movie version with Gene Tierney and Vincent Price at least 10 times as a child. And the book is no disappointment--rather, it went beyond my wildest expectation! I've read it over quite a few times. The most appealing part for me is the early part of the novel, when Miranda is first in love with her handsome but remote cousin Nicholas, a married man whose daughter she is governess to. Seton captures the inexpressable longing of a crush that can never come to fruition. How every glance, every chance encounter takes on a significance to us alone. Then, the unthinkable happens, and Miranda gets her wish, marriage to Nicholas. But like most answered prayers, the reality bears no resemblance to the fantasy. In spite of riches and every kind of luxury, Miranda cannot find happiness in her marriage to Nicholas, a man incapable of spiritual and emotional intimacy. I highly recommend "Dragonwyck", for this wonderful plot and also its considerable research in the period, 1840s New York.

I am quite a big fan of classic gothic love stories. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite gothic romances, which is why I cannot believe it took me so long to give Anya Seton's Dragonwyck a whirl. This is a wonderful, yet underrated piece of fiction, "a classic in the tradition of Jane Eyre and Rebecca," as the back cover blurb says. Set in the year 1844, Dragonwyck tells the story of Miranda Wells, an eighteen-year-old daughter of a strict farmer. She has romantic notions of being swept by her feet by a tall, dark and handsome man. She also dreams of a better life. So when she is invited to work as a governess for her cousin, the dark and dashing New York aristocrat Nicholas Van Ryn at the Dragonwyck estate, she feels her dreams are coming true. Dragonwyck is an enormous estate that is often visited by the European nobility and American gentry. And Nicholas is as handsome as the men in the romance novels she reads and, in spite of his being married to the unpleasant glutton Johanna, Miranda cannot help but fall for her charming, yet mysterious cousin. But Dragonwyck is full of dark secrets and mysteries, taken from a curse that began some generations ago. And the rent wars that go on between the disgruntled farmers and their proud, arrogant master make things all the worse. A local doctor, Jeff Turner, is in charge of helping the farmers change the farm-rent laws, and in the process more conflict ensues between the people in Hudson Valley and the Dragonwyck estate. There are more twists throughout the novel.

This is one dark novel! The gothic elements aren't overdone here like I've read in some novels. Instead, the gothic elements blend quite well with a well-researched backdrop of the manor system and the New York gentry and a plot that is beautifully constructed and developed. This one is darker than Jane Eyre. I compare it to Jane Eyre because there are some similarities between these two novels (and it is also similar to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell), but this one is an excellent love story in its own right. I enjoyed the characters. Even though it was obvious to me that Nicholas was the antagonist in this novel, I nevertheless fell in love with him. Anti-heroes have always intrigued me more than the sweet, good-doer types (in this case being Jeff Turner) and this character intrigued me from beginning to end. He is an enigma, very complex and unpredictable, for despite his reservations, condescending treatment to his workers, poor treatment of his young daughter, and other dark qualities, his love for Miranda is evident from the very first pages. Miranda romanticizes both Nicholas and the grandeur of Dragonwyck, and her realization of how things are really like with the farmers and the society people she wants to be accepted more than anything is staggering. Like all gothic novels, there are ghosts and an eccentric character, but these elements only enhance the overall sinister feel of this novel. I truly enjoyed reading Dragonwyck. First published in 1944, this is a true classic and it should be placed among the very best of romantic literature. Anya Seton was a great author. I also enjoyed Katherine and Green Darkness and I look forward to reading her back list.

The premise of Dragonwick seems very much like that of Jane Eyre--a young woman goes tot he house of a very wealthy man to teac his child and ends up falling in love with him. However, this book adds a completely new dimension to this story outline. The main character is absolutely nothing like the demure, humble Jane, and everyone else is sinister in a way that Charlotte Bronte's characters never could have been.

The book begins in 1844 and ends in 1849, covering the land rent problems the landlords face, the Astor Place Massacre, and the far-away wars in Texas. The Mid-Atlantic is peopled solely with those of old Dutch ancestry, and cattle still live in downtown Manhattan, which is more farmland than city real estate in the mid-19th century.

Miranda Welles is the daughter of a poor farmer from Connecticuit. One day the family recieves a letter from a wealthy New York cousin of theirs, the Van Ryns. Nicholas Van Ryn, looking for a governess for his six-year-old daughter, asks the Welles family if they might be able to spare one of their daughters for the task. And so Miranda goes to New York, a place much finer than she had ever expected it to be. Van Ryn is of old Dutch stock that came to America two hundred years before, and are landlords and adherents to the old way of living, a way that is quickly disintegrating.

Upon arriving at the family estate, Dragonwyck, Miranda meets the Lady of the House, the corpulent Johanna. It is clear that Nicholas is no longer in love with his wife, and his attentions turn toward Miranda, who is his cousin by marriage. The book has an omniscient narrator, with intervals in which various minor characters interject their thoughts and feelings (the French Count's are the funniest and most astute). Vvery quickly, Miranda notices something discomfitting about the house, despite its beauty. All the members of the blood line of the Van Ryn family can hear the ghostly cries of one of their ancestors, and Miranda can feel that ancestor's presence in several areas of the house.

Upon Johanna Van Ryn's death, under suspicious circumstances, Nicholas immediately proposes to Miranda, though they must wait a year to allow for mourning. Nicholas comes back to her exactly as promised, and they marry. But there is something not quite right with their marriage; Nicholas has a tendency to turn away from distressing situations--or he faces them and does something foolish. It is clear that Nicholas's moments of tenderness towards his new wife become few and far between.

Added into the mix is a country doctor, Jefferson Turner. A local man who supports those who are trying to overthrow the manorial system, Jeff has an intense dislike, yet an admiration for Van Ryn. He also develops feelings towards Miranda, who increase as the book progresses.

Oone thing that I liked about the book was the number of contemporary authors who had cameos. We meet, briefly, Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. By the way, it is from the latter that Nicholas acquires a foul habit that will affect him significantly later on in the book. In sum, I thought this was a wonderful book, though not on the same level as Katherine and Green Ddrakness. Nevertheless, its not difficult to see why Seton's books are being reprinted; they're truly wonderful novels in the gothic style.

With its haunted mansions and American "aristocrats," I tend to remember this as a far-fetched story, yet it always succeeds in drawing me into its world, on its own terms. This past reading I saw more depth and even believability to the story than I have ever seen before. Even the haunted mansion, with the ghost's New Orleans connection, has an American (as opposed to faux-British) reality.

Nicholas, the cold, controlling husband, is not so far-fetched for a 19th century man raised in absolute privilege. The spiritual isolation inherent in that believeably fuels his madness. Miranda's sufferings with him are not too far from any abusive marriage with a great disparity of power between the man and woman.

Seton's gift in this story is in making us identify completely with Miranda's experience. Her distaste for farm life and desire for a better world are sympathetically portrayed (and in the end perhaps punished too harshly by fate).

I disagree with Phillipa Gregory that Miranda "treads a well worn path" or that she is derivative of Jane Eyre. What Seton does so well is take the fantasy of the standard romance novel, of the type Miranda is reading when the story opens, and turn it on its head, making it both real and dark. In those stories, marrying the wealthy, high born hero is the beginning of "happy ever after." For Miranda, that event is literally the end of the dream and the beginning of the nightmare. Because of who Nicholas is and what he did to make the "dream" real, the reality can only be painful. And if he had been different kind of man, it would never have happened.

Miranda is almost the opposite of Jane Eyre in personality and desire. Jane never wants to belong to the aristocracy; it is Miranda's fantasy. As an orphan governess, Jane is inherently an outsider to the world of wealth and elegance; as a relation, Miranda can, within limits, have whatever status her relatives choose to let her have. They can treat her as family or a glorified servant. In that sense, Johanna's treatment of her is a form of petty cruelty. Jane prefers the simple to the grand; Miranda of course does not.

Yet the two women's stories share a similarity, in that for neither of them is it the love story, the hero, who ultimately provides the happy ending. It is their own spiritual growth. This is what raises Dragonwyck above the simple Gothic novel. In those, it is escaping from the bad man to the good one that signals happy ever after. In Dragonwyck, it is Miranda's realization of her own weakness, her acceptance of responsibility, and the integrity she gains, that provide the happy ending.

So read Dragonwyck and enjoy the tour of 19th century America's own aristocrats, Gothic figures (Poe), and struggles with the meaning of democracy. Plus two love stories: a chilling story of the "subjugation of the soul" and the kinder gentler story of two people who initially turn their noses up at one another.

Anyone who has ever loved a drug addict or alcoholic will find a great deal of resonance in Anya Seton's powerful romantic novel "Dragonwyck." Miranda Wells, a young girl from a Connecticut farm family, finds herself in the world of old New York aristocracy, which is at first glamorous but becomes increasingly sinister and ugly as the veneer is stripped away. The confusion and torment of living with a man who loves his opium more than he loves her brings her to make some hard decisions, which in the end will save her sanity and her life. This is a very well-written novel about lost innocence and virtue regained through suffering. I loved this novel and highly recommend it!

Dragonwyck is a great historical, gothic romance novel, especially appealling to those of us who live in the historic Hudson valley region of New York state. I first read Dragonwyck when I was in junior high school. I picked it up in a yard sale for 10 cents. It was compelling. There was a naive girl from Greenwich, Ct., a wealthy, mysterious older cousin, drug addiction, ghosts and famous historical persons such as Edgar Allen Poe and the Vanderbilts. The Hudson River itself becomes a character with the steamboat races and travel to glamorous turn-of-the-century New York City. The pace of the novel is steady and quickens as the plots unfold. I'd love to revisit it. Having re-read Washington Irving's stories and having visited his home along the historic Hudson River, I now would like to relive the suspense and intrigue that are played out behind the walls of Dragonwyck.

This book has something for everybody: there's romance, adventure, mystery, and history. I thought that, when I picked this book up from, of all places, the book table in the recycling building of our town dump, that I had found a unique book. My copy is from 1944 (there is a paragraph inside the front page stating "This book has not been condensed, its bulk is less because government regulations prohibit use of heavier paper."). I had no idea that it had been reprinted so recently or else I would not of tattered my copy by reading it more than once.

I look forward to reading more of her works.

This novel was one that had me trembling at the first page! I adore books about houses and mansions with some terrible secret. This novel did not dissapoint! In the style of Rebecca and Jane Eyre, this noel captured me from the start.

I didn't like Green Darkness much, but I loved Katheryn. For some reason, this book captured my attention more, since it was more about haunting the mind of a young girl who travels to a mysterious house and becomes enchanted by it.