Customer Reviews

Savannah

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I only recently "discovered" Eugenia Price, during a visit to
St. Simons Island, Georgia. I purchased her novel "The Lighthouse" as a souvenir, and became captivated. I have read the entire Savannah Quartet this year, and I highly recommend it. Her ability to weave history with fiction is remarkable. I found myself becoming very involved in the lives of Mark Browning, the McKays and all the other characters (some who lived and some who were "created") in this marvelous series. When I cry for the death of someone, they have become my friend. And so it is with the characters in the four marvelous books, beginning with "Savannah". Their lives, their faith and the history that participated in are captivating.

I just completed reading Savannah, for the second time. I read it many years ago and loved it then. Recently I was reading Stranger in Savannah and felt I had to go buy Savannah so I could see Mark as a young man again. I find Ms. Price's historical novels educational and entertaining. Savannah, as the Saint Simon's Trilogys, make the reader anxious for the next book about the Mackay and Browning families. The book is well written,historically accurate, and a great read. As with every Price book I've read,I wanted another to read,right away!

While "Savannah" is an excellent book, Eugenia Prices' writing history of Coastal Georgia started long before now. Might I reccomend her St. Simons Trilogy..."Lighthouse", "New Moon Rising" and "Beloved Invader" If you enjoyed "Savannah", you'll become totally engrossed in this trilogy. I heartedly reccomend anything by Eugenia Price.

I read this book as soon as it became available, now I'm reading it again.Absolutely marvelous, if you like a good serious novel set in south. Everyone should read all Eugenia's books.

"The only home he has ever wanted is a place he has never been - the place of his mother's birth...and of his father's remembered dreams."

With both his parents and the beloved aunt who raised him dead, Mark Browning decides to leave Philadelphia and start a new life in his mother's hometown of Savannah, Georgia. Mark meets Robert Mackay on the voyage and an instant friendship is born, and Robert and his wife Eliza take Mark into their home where he's treated as one of the family. Despite the great wealth he has inherited from his father's shipping business, Mark wants to make his own path in the world and accepts a position in Robert's mercantile business.

Everything seems to go well, except for the mystery swirling around his mother - why is it that no one in Savannah society recalls his mother? Just how does the creepy Osmund Kott fit into this mystery? What is the hold Kott has over elderly plantation owner Jonathan Cameron?

As happy as Mark is with the Mackay family, there is also grief for him as well as he finds himself torn between his secret love for Robert's wife Eliza as well as his physical attraction to Cameron's beautiful granddaughter Caroline. Will Mark ever see the forest through the trees and realize who is the right woman for him?

I blew through this 600 page chunkster in a couple of days but I have to warn you - this is not going to be the book for everyone. This story is about people and family in their daily lives, and the conflicts that come with it - and religion plays a huge role in most of their lives. No, it isn't preachy but it is prevalent at times and readers who don't care for that should probably stay away, as well as those who need constant non-stop page-turning action. This is the first of four books Price wrote on the Browning family, and I believe takes them through the Civil War and its aftermath. The Browning family is fictional, but according to the author's notes at the end many of the characters in her book (including the Mackays) did exist, as did many of the homes and other locales mentioned in the book.

A must for anyone visiting Savannah! Oglethorpe's city of squares still maintains its charm, and Eugenia Price is remembered fondly by Savannahians. She weaves a tale that resembles a soap opera. Historical figures interact with fictional characters, and the reader does not want to separate fact from fiction.

I found this to be a somewhat interesting book, but I kept thinking she was writing it to be a mini-series, not a novel. It feels as if it is an outline for a more interesting story, not the actual story. It did not suspend disbelief and I found myself thinking,"that was a good set-up for the sequel" instead of "I hope there will be a sequel."

I have read 3 of the Florida Trilogy books, and fell in love with the characters and novel. I also have read Beloved Invader (St Simons trilogy) and cannot say enough in praise for this novel. Ms.Prices' novels should be up there with the very best. I was never an advid reader until I began her Florida Trilogy collection given to me by my sister. Now I am unable to put them down after I start reading. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get or find the continuation of the St.Simon trilogy. Her novels should not be so hard to find. I understand the publisher, for some reason, keeps putting off production.

I began this book prior to a trip to Savannah, using the guidebook "Sojourn in Savannah," which has an excellent fold-out map, to familiarize myself with the places mentioned. Although I didn't finish "Savannah" until after my trip, I found it provided a good historical background on the city. It wasn't among the most compelling works of historical fiction I've read, but the characters were interesting and the book provided a valuable perspective on Savannah at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

Visitors interested in the city's beautiful buildings should consider taking Jonathan Stalcup's "Architectural Tour of Savannah." The easy 90-minute walking tour included many of the places mentioned in the book and was doubly interesting because of the connections.

This book is a wonderful romance but it is also tells a lot about Savannah's history. It is a wonderful book. I have read it and reread it until the cover came off and I'm still reading it.