Customer Reviews

The White Jade Fox

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a gothic mystery that takes place in Maryland before the Civil War. It's clean (no profanity or steamy scenes) and well written, featuring some beautiful, lyrical passages. The book includes a little romance, a lot of supernatural elements from Chinese folklore, a brooding spooky atmosphere, an admirable main character, and one of this author's most realistic evil villains. The setting and social customs are described in convincing detail. Well-rounded characters and tempestuous, complex interpersonal relationships are the strong suit of this tale.

I give the book four stars instead of five because the author keeps pulling her punches. For instance, there is a scene where two men start brawling in front of the heroine, but the author contrives to have her get smacked in the head. She misses the whole thing and has to be told about it after it's all over.

This is a minor complaint, though. If you're a fan of Andre Norton, or if you're looking for a pleasant, clean romantic adventure story, you will probably enjoy this one. To see a list of other mysteries by this author, click on my name.

(SPOILERS - PLOT SUMMARY)
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Saranna is not yet 18 years old when she becomes an orphan, and she is sent to live with distant relatives she has never met. She finds herself under the authority of a selfish, heartless young woman named Honora, who banishes Saranna to the family's remote estate in the country. The estate is worth a great deal of money, and Honora is scheming to take it away from her young stepdaughter, who recently inherited it. Since she is also an orphan, Saranna feels empathy for the little girl even though she is hostile and peculiar. The mansion is an eerie place, with its large collection of strange artifacts from China and its reputation for being haunted by weird supernatural beings. Behind the house is a towering hedge surrounding a forbidden garden where dozens of foxes run wild. The little girl is keeping a secret about the garden and about the treasures she inherited from her grandfather. Meanwhile, Honora plots to rid herself of both girls so that she can rule everything without interference. Will Saranna be able to defend herself and solve the mystery of what is hidden in the garden?

this story revolves around three main characters:the orphaned saranna(honest,
sensible,hardworking),the(sly,greedy)ice queen honora,and the child,damaris(very
intelligent,a believer in chinese folklore and love/worships her dead grandfather).
all alone after the death of her mother,saranna is sent to live with honora and is then shuttled off to be a sort of nanny/tutor to damaris at the family estate called,tiesin. saranna(and we,the reader) come to discover that tiesin is a very
mysterious place-a hidden garden,ghostly foxes(running free on the property),and
a house filled with beautiful,priceless chinese antiques-all of which,really
belong to the child damaris but,the gist of the story is the ice queen honora,
wanting all the wealth she can lay her hands on-including tiesin and all the
contents of the mansion! who will stop her???
i found this story to be very detailed from the inner thoughts of the characters,
to the descriptions of the clothing that they wore,to the rooms of the house.
there is nothing that is scary in the book just a bit unearthly,sort of mystical.
a great and different read.
f.y.i-the title of the book refers to a necklace that was given to saranna by a mystery person.