A Long Fatal Love Chase [Large Print] [Paperback]

Louisa May Alcott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

Romantic SuspenseLarge Print EditionAlcotts tale of obsession and sexual politics deepens our appreciation of her championing of womens rights and for her extraordinary storytelling skills. Booklist* A New York Times Bestseller* A Publishers Weekly Bestseller* A Literary Guild SelectionReaching out over more than a hundred years, this Victorian heroine tells a story so sensational it could not be published during Louisa May Alcotts lifetime. It is the story of the sheltered Rosamond Vivian brought up a recluse on a remote island and what happens to her when she meets the charming, devastatingly handsome Phillip Tempest, a man who is almost twice her age, and for whom she becomes an obsession.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rosamond Vivian, brought up on a remote island by an indifferent grandfather, swears she'd sell her soul to Satan for a year of freedom. When Philip Tempest enters her life, she is ripe for the plucking, but is soon caught up in a web of intrigue, cruelty and deceit stretching back far into the past. Remarkable for its portrayal of a sensual, spirited Victorian heroine, Louisa May Alcott's work, too shocking to be published during her lifetime, tells a compulsive tale of love, desire and deceit. Its publication more than a century after being written marks a new page in literary history. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

This romantic cliffhanger about a woman pursued by her ex-lover, a relentless stalker, seems sprung from today's headlines. Yet Alcott (1832-1888) wrote it more than a century and a quarter ago, in 1866 (two years before the appearance of Little Women), only to see it rejected it as "too sensational" by the magazine that had requested it. The novel has remained unpublished until now. Its heroine, the lonely, trusting 18-year-old Rosamond Vivian, who lives with her flinty, unloving grandfather on an English island, falls for the cynical, suave Phillip Tempest, who's nearly twice her age. He whisks her off to his Mediterranean villa near Nice, promising to marry her, but when she discovers that he is secretly married (and strongly suspects that he has murdered the son he never acknowledged), Rosamond flees to Paris, assuming a new identity. Phillip obsessively stalks her for two years, from France, where she seeks refuge in a convent and falls in love with a protective priest, to Germany, where Phillip has her committed to a lunatic asylum; eventually she flees to England. Alcott's portrayals of the pathological Phillip and of the conflicted Rosamond?who initially clings to her ex-lover, hoping to reform him until she realizes he is a murderous brute?show strong psychological insights. This absorbing novel revises our image of a complex and, it is now clear, prescient writer. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild selection; first serial to Ladies Home Journal; film rights to Citadel Entertainment
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786206233
• ISBN-13: 978-0786206230
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,841,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louisa May Alcott was both an abolitionist and a feminist. She is best known for Little Women (1868), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood years with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Alcott, unlike Jo, never married: "... because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man." She was an advocate of women's suffrage and was the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Darker Side of Lousia May Alcott!!!, March 19, 2005

By 

Meredith "Austenesque Reviews" (Wilmington , NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Long Fatal Love Chase (Paperback)

If you read the novel, Little Women and you think you know Lousia May Alcott, think again! This book is not about a family of girls making homespun quilts!

This is a suspense/thriller. With many tragic moments and unsettling events.

A restless girl at the age of 18 desires to lead a romantic and adventureous life. The only problem is she is trapped with her grandfather in home with no visitors or diversions! Until one day a mysterious man comes to call.

Our heroine finally escapes her grandfather's clutches and leaves with this mysterious man that she know very little about. She soon discovers she does not want this much adventure so she tries to escape. Will this man let her go? Does he love her? What does he want from her?

It is so exciting and it was surprising that Louisa May Alcott could write such a book! If you enjoy a good gothic novel, that you can get wrapped up in, give this book a try.

I highly recommend this book, you won't be able to have peace of mind until you finish it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars what a wonderful book!, October 15, 2001

By 

Marisa (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Long Fatal Love Chase (Paperback)

I found this novel of love and deceit an appealing tale. I recommend this book to young readers who are interested in love and deception. The quality of this writing is dramatic and striked me with interest and curiosity. The fact that young Rosamond was trying to escape from a man who she thought she knew and loved was very thrilling to me. I found myself just dying to know what is going to happen to her in the next chapter. I just couldn't put the book down. Though some parts of the text confused me in some ways, because it was written such a long time ago, I was very interested and eventually understood what was going on. Also, the way Tempest was portrayed, as a mysterious and mystifying man was brilliant. And the way Rosamond falls deeply in love with him and how much she wanted to love a man was well explained. Though the ending wasn't the happily ever after cliché, I found that Alcott wrote the book well just like the rest of her novels she has written. I find Alcott to be an amazing writer with a wonderful imagination and style.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, August 7, 2006

By 

P. Fitch (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Long Fatal Love Chase (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book immensely - detailed yet easy to follow the plot. Once you get reading it's hard to put down. I didn't expect it to be very exciting since it was written so long ago in a time when stalking was rarely heard about. To my amazement it was very exciting and without any off color subject matter or anything explicit!! Alcott's writing in this book is superb.