Now Face to Face [Mass Market Paperback]

Karleen Koen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996

Widow Barbara Montgeoffry, Countess Devane, finds heartbreak, love, and intrigue in early eighteenth-century Virginia and London as she struggles to build a new life for herself following the devastation of her husband's death. Reprint."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ten years after Koen introduced heroine Barbara Devane in her bestselling debut novel, Through a Glass Darkly, she brings back the strong-willed young woman to face further challenges among the baroque world of the European and colonial American nobility of the early 18th century. The settling of America and the courtly intrigues of the Jacobite rebellion in England serve as both backdrop and parallel for Lady Devane's path toward her own independence as an aristocrat and as a woman. Having been widowed at age 20, she has embarked for colonial Virginia, determined to develop a plantation there. Spunky and headstrong, she bristles when she is patronizingly described by one of her many admirers as a "fragile black butterfly"; anything but fragile, she takes lovers across political divides and frees her slaves against all advice. These flamboyant gestures often seem shallow, however, and Lady Devane's dismay at the treatment of the slaves in the New World characteristically seems more picturesque than humane. Koen doesn't hesitate to make her heroine less perfect than conventional characters of this genre; Lady Devane comments in a rare moment of self-reflection that her pity for her favorite servant never led her to seriously consider his feelings. A pervasive tone of gentility grounds the novel in its period, and Koen's smooth prose and nicely integrated background details make this a superior historical romance. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This sequel to Through a Glass Darkly (LJ 11/1/86) follows Barbara Devane, a 20-year-old widow, as she picks up the pieces of her life. Devastated by her husband's betrayal and death and facing financial ruin from his participation in the South Sea Bubble scandal, Barbara travels to a Virginia plantation, now her grandmother's property. There she matures and finds the inner strength to return to England and face her problems. Back in London, however, she finds herself involved in Jacobite plots and the treachery of powerful men, which threaten her family, friends, and a new love. Period details, especially of politics, are abundant yet the 18th century never really comes to life. Many of the characters remain two-dimensional, while the action evolves slowly until the end, when several story lines are hurriedly tied up. Readers who enjoyed Koen's first novel will undoubtedly welcome this continuation, but others might find it heavy going. For large collections.
Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 703 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575661772
• ISBN-13: 978-1575661773
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,352,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My childhood was filled with glorious books, Little Women, Lad A Dog, Black Beauty, Little House on the Prairie, Caddie Woodlawn. They were as real to me as the life around me, a lower middle class one in a small oil refinery town in Texas. My grandfather, an invalid, was a huge fan of the writers Frank Slaughter, Frank Yerby, and Zane Grey. By the time I learned to read, I was sneaking his square, cheap (a dime, I think) paperbacks off and reading them. Pirates. Passion. History. It has never occurred to me to write anything but historicals, a kind of time travel into other minds, other lands, other eras, other cultures, other worlds. That's what I wish for my readers, that my books take them far away into another place and time and that they enjoy themselves there and maybe even learn an interesting fact or two.

My blog: http://www.karleenkoen.wordpress.com
My website: http://www.karleenkoen.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read--mesmerizing, June 28, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now Face to Face (Mass Market Paperback)

I just read Now Face to Face yesterday, in one sitting--I couldn't put it down. After loving Karleen Koen's first book Through a Glass Darkly, I expected to like this book--I am happy to say that I loved it and can't stop thinking about it. It's almost unfair to characterize this book as historical romance--it is so much more than that-- I like the author's statement that the book is about a woman's search to find who she is, and not define herself by who she loves. I cried, tears rolling down my face--at the losses suffered by the heroine--and at the beauty and depth of the story, the langauge and the writing.The book does indeed contain romance, in addition, although I was unconvinced by the romance that the heroine finally embarked upon--I wanted to see more of the relationship between Barbara and Tony,Duke of Tamworth, explored and defined. I have many favorite books, that I periodically reread such as Jane Austen's novels and Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte--both Through a Glass Darkly and Now Face to Face join that list. Magnificent. I fervently wish that Ms. Koen will write a third in this series--I want to know what happens next to Barbara and Tony and Therese and Hyacinthe (yes, as in the best of books, I know and love these characters).

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sub-par, August 23, 2006

By 

K. Huff (Radnor, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now Face to Face (Hardcover)

I agree with another reviewer, who says that this book just isn't Through a Glass Darkly. There were many great things about this book, but there were some major things that really frustrated me.

For one thing, there were huge gaps in the story line. Something dramatic would happen, and then there would be a gap afterwards and we would never learn what the conclusion of the incident was. For example, Hyacinthe goes missing, and we learn hardly anything of what happens of him between the time he is captured and the time he returns home.

I felt that the characters in this book were not as well drawn as they were in Through a Glass Darkly. Although a woman in the sequel, Barbara's character is flat. Sure, she has this adventure in Virginia, only to return home in the middle of a mini-civil war, but she seems completely unaffected by what's happening around her. I found her story to be very unbelieveable. There's no romance; the adventures in love that Barbara had as a younger women are written off by the author as youthful indiscretions and completely out of character for Barbara. Please!

I wanted to hear more about the Duke of Tamworth and his grandmother, the Duchess; but I was sadly disappointed. Tony seems selfish, mean-spirited and almost a different person in this book.

The historical background of this book (ie, the fight between the House of Orange and James Stuart the Pretender for control of the English throne) was dumbed-down almost to the point of absurdity. Although this book was well-written, the major flaws show through. Koen has set the stage in this book for a sequel but I don't think that it will get written. There's just not enough material for it.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Maturity realized..., January 31, 2000

By 

L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now Face to Face (Mass Market Paperback)

Looking at the other reviews of the sequel to "Through a Glass Darkly", "Now Face to Face", my feeling is that many readers missed the point. Even though both books were marketed to the Historical Romance market, they really are closer in spirit to true Historicals such as Mary Renault, Patrick O'Brian or "The Thornbirds". The writing, especially, puts them into this class but also the themes both books deal with make them more fulfilling than "poor but plucky girl wins love in a corset".

"Now Face to Face" is missing some parts of what made "Through a Glass Darkly" successful. The first is sorely missed-the character of Roger Montgeoffrey who was as beguiling on paper as he was supposed to be in life. The second, graphic and gratuitous sex scenes I did not miss at all, although the milieu for them (the French Court) was wonderfully written. Some of the new characters simply aren't fleshed out enough; Col. Perry is described as "a saint" yet we never clearly find out why he's become Barbara's protector at the risk of losing his daughter's love. The scenes with Viscount Duncannon, Barbara's love interest, are simply not convincing; her overwhelming attraction to him is not explained in a believable manner.

Yet overall, "Now Face to Face" is a worthy successor to "Through a Glass Darkly" in dealing with themes of honor, devotion, and duty. As long as a bodice ripper is not expected, you will not be disappointed!