Houses of Stone [Mass Market Paperback]

Barbara Michaels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2009

It is a find of inestimable value for Karen Holloway. The battered manuscript she holds in her hand—written in the nineteenth century and bearing the mysterious attribution "Ismene"—could prove a boon to the eager young English professor's career. But Karen's search for the author's true identity is carrying her into the gray shadows of the past, to places fraught with danger and terror. For the deeper she delves into Ismene's strange tale of gothic horror, the more she is haunted by the suspicion that the long-dead author was writing the truth . . . and that even now she is guiding Karen's investigation, leading her to terrible secrets hidden behind the cold walls of houses of stone.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The bestselling romantic suspense author ( Vanish with the Rose ) falters here with a novel that lacks both romantic intrigue and suspenseful plotting. The story begins well, with vivid descriptive writing and convincing dialogue briskly setting up the premise. Karen Holloway, an ambitious assistant professor at an unnamed women's college in the Northeast, learns of a previously unpublished novel by a 19th-century author known only as Ismene. Since she herself made Ismene famous in the academic world by publishing a volume of her verse, Karen knows her reputation will skyrocket if she can buy the manuscript from the bookseller who found it and issue it with her commentary. She and her colleague Peggy Finneyfrock (a well-drawn character) travel to a dilapidated estate in Virginia's Tidewater region in search of clues to Ismene's identity. But other academics are also in hot pursuit, and Karen finds herself haunted by nightmares brought on by the claustrophobic themes in Ismene's work ("houses of stone" is a phrase from one of the pseudonymous author's poems). Michaels's attempt to bring feminist critical ideas into the mainstream results in conversations that sound like lectures, and her plot's initial momentum bogs down in extraneous details, overly intricate narrative twists and the sporadic appearances of Karen's prospective lovers, who seem decidedly secondary to the main story.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Michaels sets her heroine, Professor Karen Holloway, to the task of discovering the provenance of a remnant from an old manuscript. Holloway is convinced that it is a thinly disguised autobiographical novel by an obscure feminist poet whose verses have already helped Holloway carve a niche in the cutthroat business of academia. The professor's archenemies, two fellow literature experts, are equally convinced of the work's value and attempt desperate measures to gain access to the manuscript. Michaels has composed a mystery that is brimming with suspense yet revolves around authorial research rather than money and multiple murders. One of her best. Denise Perry Donavin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper; Reprint edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061582999
• ISBN-13: 978-0061582998
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very clever, cosy, and great fun, February 11, 2001

By 

"serracus" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Houses of Stone (Paperback)

What a delight! This is a Gothic romance on at least three levels. It's like being invited to an intimate tea party with Ms Mertz (Ms Michaels' real name) together with a select group of literary types who love Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters and enjoy Ms Michaels' work, at which tea party she shares her trade secrets, explains her love for the genre and plays a clever parlour game with her guests.

At the most basic level, in the book the heroine is an English literature academic who discovers an unpublished manuscript of a Gothic romance written round about the beginning of the 18th century. Chunks of painfully but authentically purple prose are conjured up by Ms Michaels for our delectation, in the approved Gothic romance style, complete with a decrepit ancestral mansion, heroine in psychological distress and physical danger, a Deadly Family Secret, and two male protagonists either of whom could be the hero or the villain. More than a story, there is a real mystery as to who the writer is and how her novel related to real events.

Meanwhile, the heroine, while demonstrating the art of researching a gothic novel and expounding on the genre (e.g. as representing women's oppression and powerlessness in a male dominated world), is herself trapped in one. She is in physical danger, she has just escaped a suffocating marriage and is still ensure of precisely how she wishes to operate in a male dominated world, and she has to work out which of two men is the hero and which is the villain. There's even a Family Secret lurking. This is the level which usually constitutes a Barbara M, and this is handled with above average dexterity - snappy scenes, real characters and good pace. Cleverly, the characters are put through a classic Gothic plot even as they analyse Gothic and other plots; and Ms Michaels milks this shamelessly and delightfully. For instance: "Whatever his motives, he was trying hard, and humility wasn't easy for a man of his arrogance. Or was pride a more accurate word? Karen smothered a smile. Bill's pride and her prejudice against him - another classic plot!" The reader can't help but smile.

Finally, this book is a game with the reader, in which Ms Michaels cames clean with her agenda and issues a challenge. I quote: "She had almost finished two-thirds of it now, and her familiarity with the conventions of the Gothic novel had inspired several hunches - educated guesses rather - as to how the book would end. In one sense she hoped she was right, for that would prove how clever she was; in another sense she hoped [the author] would prove cleverer than she, scorning the old Gothic traditions in favour of a more original solution." She has brilliantly articulated the reader's dilemma of wanting to best the author, and yet hoping the author is cleverer. A protagonist says : "[The author] has set up the plot, and unless she cheats by introducing a new character or a vital clue at the last minute, an intelligent reader ought to be able to predict what will happen." Too true. Ms Michaels' plot resolutions usually seem obvious on hindsight, but they are seldom obvious when you are in the middle of them. For the record, I lost this game. I guessed the wrong hero because I was prejudiced by one man's resemblance to a prominent hero of Elizabeth Peters' (another Ms Mertz pseudonym) and assumed she would not go against her own grain. I should know better than to underestimate Ms Mertz and think that she would be bound by her own conventions. Congratulations, Ms Mertz, and thanks for the fun, and the peep into your world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Her Best, February 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Houses of Stone (Paperback)

I've reread this book at least half a dozen times, and the ending still gives me chills. It's writing like this that keeps me a faithful fan of Barbara Michaels', despite the occasional loser novel she comes up with.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appeals to the heart and the head!, January 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Houses of Stone (Paperback)

I love this book. I enjoyed every minute with the lead character and thought her friends were the perfect foils to bring out her character quirks. The plot is fantastic--gothic horror, modern romance, feminist ideas, dueling lovers, best girlfriends--it's all here! I was in suspense to the very end, and I liked the ending. I've read this book twice so far and have recommended it to friends. Also, each chapter is headed by a pithy saying that you'll want to quote to certain men in your life. I wish Barbara Michaels would write a sequel (hint hint).