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The Tenth Gift
In an expensive London restaurant Julia Lovat receives a gift that will change her life. It appears to be a book of exquisite 17th-century embroidery patterns but on closer examination Julia finds it also contains faint diary entries. In these, Cat Tregenna, an embroideress, tells how she and others were stolen out of a Cornish church in 1625 by Muslim pirates and taken on a brutal voyage to Morocco to be auctioned off as slaves.
Captivated by this dramatic discovery, Julia sets off to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the book and to uncover more of Cat’s story. There, in the company of a charismatic Moroccan guide, amid the sultry heat, the spice markets, and exotic ruins, Julia discovers buried secrets. And in Morocco – just as Cat did before her – she loses her heart.
Almost 400 years apart, the stories of the two women converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner that will make readers wonder – is history fated to repeat itself?
Captivated by this dramatic discovery, Julia sets off to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the book and to uncover more of Cat’s story. There, in the company of a charismatic Moroccan guide, amid the sultry heat, the spice markets, and exotic ruins, Julia discovers buried secrets. And in Morocco – just as Cat did before her – she loses her heart.
Almost 400 years apart, the stories of the two women converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner that will make readers wonder – is history fated to repeat itself?
385 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2008
About the author
Jane Johnson
69 books481 followersaka Jude Fisher, Gabriel King (with M. John Harrison)
Jane Johnson is from Cornwall and has worked in the book industry for 20 years, as a bookseller, publisher and writer.
She was responsible for publishing the works of J R R Tolkien during the 1980s and 1990s and worked on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending many months in New Zealand with cast and crew. Under the pseudonym of Jude Fisher she wrote three bestselling Visual Companions to the films. She has also written several books for children.
In 2005 she was in Morocco researching the story of a distant family member who was abducted from a Cornish church in 1625 by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa (which formed the basis for Crossed Bones / The Tenth Gift), when a near-fatal climbing incident caused her to rethink her future.
She returned home, gave up her office job in London, sold her flat and shipped the contents to Morocco. In October she married her own 'Berber pirate' and now they split their time between Cornwall and a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
She still works, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.
Jane Johnson is from Cornwall and has worked in the book industry for 20 years, as a bookseller, publisher and writer.
She was responsible for publishing the works of J R R Tolkien during the 1980s and 1990s and worked on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending many months in New Zealand with cast and crew. Under the pseudonym of Jude Fisher she wrote three bestselling Visual Companions to the films. She has also written several books for children.
In 2005 she was in Morocco researching the story of a distant family member who was abducted from a Cornish church in 1625 by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa (which formed the basis for Crossed Bones / The Tenth Gift), when a near-fatal climbing incident caused her to rethink her future.
She returned home, gave up her office job in London, sold her flat and shipped the contents to Morocco. In October she married her own 'Berber pirate' and now they split their time between Cornwall and a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
She still works, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 876 reviews
April 8, 2011
I feel somewhat guilty for according only 2 stars for a book like The Tenth Gift. Certainly I've read countless books like it in the past, and rated them higher.
Generally, I adore this type of fiction, where the author creates two women from different time periods and weaves an interconnecting tale of their lives and fates (often with subtle supernatural overtones). Writers like Susanna Kearsley and Kate Morton do it well, with their respective books The Winter Sea and The Forgotten Garden.
In addition, I'm a huge fan of the "east-meets-west" culture clash type of fiction, as witnessed by my extreme admiration for books like M.M. Kaye's Shadow of the Moon or Rebecca Ryman's Olivia & Jai.
And then there's my unexplainable place-crush for a locale I've never even been to: Cornwall. For this obsession, I totally blame Daphne duMaurier, and her mesmerizing books set in Cornwall like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. If a book even mentions Cornwall, you've partially sold me already.
So when a GR friend recommended that I check this book out, I was estatic to discover all three of these elements incapsulated within one novel. Which brings me back to my 2 star rating...
The Tenth Gift, while a perfectly adequate read, lacked any real depth or *soul* to me, and thus not any amount of literary carrot-on-a-stick was enough to make me enjoy this book in any appreciable way. To do so, I need to become invested in the characters and their story. I want to be moved by them, regardless of whether I love them, or love to hate them. Quite frankly, by the end of this book, I was indifferent to them and the completion of the story arc, because IMO the characters remained merely blank, stock figures moving from one event to another without making any kind of lasting impression on me, the reader. Both past and present narratives had their ups and downs, and there were some interesting moments during both POVs, but not enough to sustain or engage me. Honestly, I think that in the hands of another writer (like the ones I've mentioned) I would have enjoyed this book tremendously, but Johnson didn't speak my language in terms of crafting an engrossing story for me. However, there are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews to attest to her success among other readers, so obviously she struck chords elsewhere; just not for me :(
Generally, I adore this type of fiction, where the author creates two women from different time periods and weaves an interconnecting tale of their lives and fates (often with subtle supernatural overtones). Writers like Susanna Kearsley and Kate Morton do it well, with their respective books The Winter Sea and The Forgotten Garden.
In addition, I'm a huge fan of the "east-meets-west" culture clash type of fiction, as witnessed by my extreme admiration for books like M.M. Kaye's Shadow of the Moon or Rebecca Ryman's Olivia & Jai.
And then there's my unexplainable place-crush for a locale I've never even been to: Cornwall. For this obsession, I totally blame Daphne duMaurier, and her mesmerizing books set in Cornwall like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. If a book even mentions Cornwall, you've partially sold me already.
So when a GR friend recommended that I check this book out, I was estatic to discover all three of these elements incapsulated within one novel. Which brings me back to my 2 star rating...
The Tenth Gift, while a perfectly adequate read, lacked any real depth or *soul* to me, and thus not any amount of literary carrot-on-a-stick was enough to make me enjoy this book in any appreciable way. To do so, I need to become invested in the characters and their story. I want to be moved by them, regardless of whether I love them, or love to hate them. Quite frankly, by the end of this book, I was indifferent to them and the completion of the story arc, because IMO the characters remained merely blank, stock figures moving from one event to another without making any kind of lasting impression on me, the reader. Both past and present narratives had their ups and downs, and there were some interesting moments during both POVs, but not enough to sustain or engage me. Honestly, I think that in the hands of another writer (like the ones I've mentioned) I would have enjoyed this book tremendously, but Johnson didn't speak my language in terms of crafting an engrossing story for me. However, there are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews to attest to her success among other readers, so obviously she struck chords elsewhere; just not for me :(
June 26, 2008
This book was very exciting! The plot bounces between 1625 and modern day as the main character unravels the mystery surrounding an old book and wrangles her love life at the same time.
One thing supremely irritated me and ruined the book for me. This is not a spoiler just a pet peeve. So the main character goes to the library to do some research...does she ask a crusty old librarian with who has a lifelong appreciation of local lore??? NO---she goes on the internet and gets all sorts of information dumped out like poop from a pig! AND THEN... oh yes it gets worse....HER CELL PHONE RINGS!!!! IN THE LIBRARY!!!
WTF?! I will eventually email the author and tell her that she needs to give libraries their due. This book was possible because of other BOOKS that she recommends as further reading...did she list websites??? NO. I felt like the author had contempt for libraries and librarians! As if a library is some sort of information kwiki mart...so there! hmphff!
Other than that this is a great book. Johnson keeps a good pace and throws in lots of historical facts and twists and turns to keep the reader interested...
One thing supremely irritated me and ruined the book for me. This is not a spoiler just a pet peeve. So the main character goes to the library to do some research...does she ask a crusty old librarian with who has a lifelong appreciation of local lore??? NO---she goes on the internet and gets all sorts of information dumped out like poop from a pig! AND THEN... oh yes it gets worse....HER CELL PHONE RINGS!!!! IN THE LIBRARY!!!
WTF?! I will eventually email the author and tell her that she needs to give libraries their due. This book was possible because of other BOOKS that she recommends as further reading...did she list websites??? NO. I felt like the author had contempt for libraries and librarians! As if a library is some sort of information kwiki mart...so there! hmphff!
Other than that this is a great book. Johnson keeps a good pace and throws in lots of historical facts and twists and turns to keep the reader interested...
November 9, 2008
I am a real sucker for books that are about books, making The Tenth Gift my kind of story. However, within the first few pages of this book, I was predisposed to dislike it because the main character, Julia Lovat, has been involved in an affair with her best friend's husband for seven years. This caused me to start the book feeling decidedly unsympathetic toward Julia. In spite of this, I quickly became captivated by the storyline, which switches back and forth from modern day Julia to the life of early seventeenth century Catherine Ann Treganna. Due to the lack of empathy I felt for Julia, I enjoyed Catherine's story much more through the first of the book. Before long, I became just as interested in Julia's story, and I ended up caring about what happened to her as much as I did about Catherine. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and although I was anxious to find out what happened to both women, I was sorry to see the story end.
Julia Lovat is devastated when the man she has had a seven year affair with, Michael, suddenly breaks off their relationship. As a parting gift, he gives her an early seventeenth century book that contains embroidery patterns. Julia runs a crafts store in London, and she does embroidery on commission. As Julia studies the book, she discovers that the pattern book was also used as a journal by a nineteen year old girl from Cornwall in 1625. She becomes caught up in the story of Catherine Ann Treganna and reads about her life as a servant to a family of means. Catherine is well treated and doesn't have difficult duties, but she dreams of a more adventurous life as a master embroiderer. Julia reads of the despair that Catherine felt when she was told by her employer that she must marry her own cousin, Robert Bolitho. Catherine believed Robert to be a very good man, but boring. As Julia continues to read the book, the tale becomes so fantastic that she isn't certain whether it could be true. She reads of the horror of Catherine's capture by pirates from a church in Cornwall. Catherine and about sixty others are taken by Moroccan corsairs and she describes the horrific journey she endured with its atrocious conditions. During the journey, Catherine's skills with a needle cause her to be separated from the other catives. A battle with a Spanish ship leaves the corsair captain with serious wounds that Catherine must stitch. Catherine finishes the journey in comfortable conditions in the captain's cabin. Just as they arrive in Morocco, Catherine angers the corsair and he sends her back to the horrible treatment and conditions that are accorded the other captives. Catherine is soon sold in Morocco, moved to comfortable quarters in a beautiful house, and given the duty of teaching a group of women embroidery skills. Catherine becomes somewhat comfortable in her new life, but she doesn't know the identity of her master. Julia continues reading Catherine's tale until it ends abruptly.
Julia is fascinated by Catherine's story, and she decides to find out if it is true. Julia travels to Morocco, where it is soon apparent that Michael has followed her and is deparate to retrieve the pattern book he gifted to her. He even searches Julia's room while she is out. Julia becomes frightened, and she seeks shelter from her tour guide, Idriss el-Kharkouri. She shares Catherine's story with Idriss, and he helps her try to verify the information. Michael's messages to Julia attempt to lure her to him by tempting her with letters that he has that were written by Catherine's cousin, Robert Bolitho. A deal with Michael's wife gives Catherine access to the letters, so she is able to find out a little more of what happened to Catherine after the abrupt ending of her journal. Robert's letters show his determination to ransom Catherine and take her back to Cornwall as his wife. They chronicle his own journey to Morocco and the horrors that he endures. Julia reads in Robert's letters about the difficult choices that Catherine made, and she realizes that she must make decisions about her own future.
Once I got over disliking Julia for her adultery with her best friend's husband, I found this to be a very engrossing and enjoyable book to read. Reading some about the Moroccan culture in the stories of both Julia and Catherine was very interesting. The decisions that both women made regarding their futures were not common to most books. I would have liked a little bit more closure to both of the stories. It would have been nice to have more information about the rest of Catherine's life, and to know what Julia's future held. Overall, I found this to be a very good book, and I am very glad that I did not put it aside when I became frustrated with Julia at the first of the story.
Julia Lovat is devastated when the man she has had a seven year affair with, Michael, suddenly breaks off their relationship. As a parting gift, he gives her an early seventeenth century book that contains embroidery patterns. Julia runs a crafts store in London, and she does embroidery on commission. As Julia studies the book, she discovers that the pattern book was also used as a journal by a nineteen year old girl from Cornwall in 1625. She becomes caught up in the story of Catherine Ann Treganna and reads about her life as a servant to a family of means. Catherine is well treated and doesn't have difficult duties, but she dreams of a more adventurous life as a master embroiderer. Julia reads of the despair that Catherine felt when she was told by her employer that she must marry her own cousin, Robert Bolitho. Catherine believed Robert to be a very good man, but boring. As Julia continues to read the book, the tale becomes so fantastic that she isn't certain whether it could be true. She reads of the horror of Catherine's capture by pirates from a church in Cornwall. Catherine and about sixty others are taken by Moroccan corsairs and she describes the horrific journey she endured with its atrocious conditions. During the journey, Catherine's skills with a needle cause her to be separated from the other catives. A battle with a Spanish ship leaves the corsair captain with serious wounds that Catherine must stitch. Catherine finishes the journey in comfortable conditions in the captain's cabin. Just as they arrive in Morocco, Catherine angers the corsair and he sends her back to the horrible treatment and conditions that are accorded the other captives. Catherine is soon sold in Morocco, moved to comfortable quarters in a beautiful house, and given the duty of teaching a group of women embroidery skills. Catherine becomes somewhat comfortable in her new life, but she doesn't know the identity of her master. Julia continues reading Catherine's tale until it ends abruptly.
Julia is fascinated by Catherine's story, and she decides to find out if it is true. Julia travels to Morocco, where it is soon apparent that Michael has followed her and is deparate to retrieve the pattern book he gifted to her. He even searches Julia's room while she is out. Julia becomes frightened, and she seeks shelter from her tour guide, Idriss el-Kharkouri. She shares Catherine's story with Idriss, and he helps her try to verify the information. Michael's messages to Julia attempt to lure her to him by tempting her with letters that he has that were written by Catherine's cousin, Robert Bolitho. A deal with Michael's wife gives Catherine access to the letters, so she is able to find out a little more of what happened to Catherine after the abrupt ending of her journal. Robert's letters show his determination to ransom Catherine and take her back to Cornwall as his wife. They chronicle his own journey to Morocco and the horrors that he endures. Julia reads in Robert's letters about the difficult choices that Catherine made, and she realizes that she must make decisions about her own future.
Once I got over disliking Julia for her adultery with her best friend's husband, I found this to be a very engrossing and enjoyable book to read. Reading some about the Moroccan culture in the stories of both Julia and Catherine was very interesting. The decisions that both women made regarding their futures were not common to most books. I would have liked a little bit more closure to both of the stories. It would have been nice to have more information about the rest of Catherine's life, and to know what Julia's future held. Overall, I found this to be a very good book, and I am very glad that I did not put it aside when I became frustrated with Julia at the first of the story.
November 15, 2023
I liked the first line of this one:
"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves just as fiercely as if they had never happened before, like larks that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years."
This is the first book Jane Johnson wrote under her own name, and the theme, setting, and some of the mechanics are repeated in various spots through her subsequent books - which is fine because all three of those things are interesting and entertaining.
It's a very well written book. There may be more polished writing in some of her later work but I found lots to like here.
We focus on a young woman in England: Putney (London) and Cornwall to be more exact. We open with the main character meeting her lover in Putney, and as I started this book I was actually on a train heading towards Putney Bridge tube station (an old haunt of mine) to meet the author and her husband (Jane Johnson is my editor at Voyager), which was a strange coincidence.
You might say "he's not going to give his editor a bad review", and that's true. But I wouldn't give a living author (at least one who wasn't a multi millionaire) a negative review either - I would just not review their book.
The main character, exiting a failed affair, flees to Cornwall and later to Morocco. She takes possession of a book (a berber saying names books as the tenth of god's gifts to humanity), and the book provides a connection to a woman from Cornwall in the early 1600s who was taken by Moroccan pirates and sold as a slave on the African continent.
We follow both the modern day story of piecing together the old story of slavery, and the old story itself as if through the eyes of two of the parties involved. There are a bunch of complications on both sides.
It's a nice way to have historical fiction and at the same time a modern world element which involves both the reconstruction of the old story and personal complications. It also gives a kind of proxy to react to / question the older story in your stead.
Both tales are exciting and well presented.
And there's romance, though it didn't feel like romance with a captial R.
The historically accurate potrayal of English folk being grabbed by slavers and sold in Africa is very interesting too, and something that I'd not known about before reading Johnson's books.
It's a shortish, fast moving book that pulled me through and I really enjoyed reading.
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"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves just as fiercely as if they had never happened before, like larks that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years."
This is the first book Jane Johnson wrote under her own name, and the theme, setting, and some of the mechanics are repeated in various spots through her subsequent books - which is fine because all three of those things are interesting and entertaining.
It's a very well written book. There may be more polished writing in some of her later work but I found lots to like here.
We focus on a young woman in England: Putney (London) and Cornwall to be more exact. We open with the main character meeting her lover in Putney, and as I started this book I was actually on a train heading towards Putney Bridge tube station (an old haunt of mine) to meet the author and her husband (Jane Johnson is my editor at Voyager), which was a strange coincidence.
You might say "he's not going to give his editor a bad review", and that's true. But I wouldn't give a living author (at least one who wasn't a multi millionaire) a negative review either - I would just not review their book.
The main character, exiting a failed affair, flees to Cornwall and later to Morocco. She takes possession of a book (a berber saying names books as the tenth of god's gifts to humanity), and the book provides a connection to a woman from Cornwall in the early 1600s who was taken by Moroccan pirates and sold as a slave on the African continent.
We follow both the modern day story of piecing together the old story of slavery, and the old story itself as if through the eyes of two of the parties involved. There are a bunch of complications on both sides.
It's a nice way to have historical fiction and at the same time a modern world element which involves both the reconstruction of the old story and personal complications. It also gives a kind of proxy to react to / question the older story in your stead.
Both tales are exciting and well presented.
And there's romance, though it didn't feel like romance with a captial R.
The historically accurate potrayal of English folk being grabbed by slavers and sold in Africa is very interesting too, and something that I'd not known about before reading Johnson's books.
It's a shortish, fast moving book that pulled me through and I really enjoyed reading.
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Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
April 29, 2012
OK, first, this doesn't mix genres so much as it is part of a sub-genre: the centuries-apart parallel stories. I quite enjoy this sub-genre; it's why I picked this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't that good. The parallelism between the two stories was pretty tenuous, consisting mainly of the fact of ending up in love in Morocco. It's not like Julia got caught up in modern human trafficking, or had any real love-triangle-breaking choice to make, or even turned out to be a descendant of anyone in particular.
More unfortunately, though, it was boring. Cat didn't get abducted until a good third of the way through, Julia didn't head off to Morocco until some time after that, and only the last third of the book really dealt much with what actually happened in Morocco for both women — and even at that point, a good chunk of that time was actually spent with Cat's cousin Rob and his attempt to rescue her, rather than seeing what happened to her and maybe seeing more of the development of her relationship with Qasem. Except that when you get statements like "she'd been there seven months, and generally, it was pretty pleasant," I can only assume that telling us about those seven months would have been pretty dull.
So then we have the relationships. Julia and Idriss I have no problem with. Predictable, sure, but that's OK. You can see the chemistry between them, and we're told that when she goes back to Cornwall, they spend enough time on the phone that they know each other better in a few weeks than Julia and her adulterous lover of seven years ever knew each other. So that's great.
The adulterous lover in question and his wife, Julia's former best friend, are a weird pair. Anna knows about the relationship, and has for a long time, and seems to have forgiven Julia, and that's OK. That happens. But she doesn't really seem to have forgiven Michael, and doesn't even seem to like him, so despite her being pregnant and declaring with a shrug that she still loves him, I'm just not sure I can really accept their staying together. I foresee him leaving sometime after the baby's born, as he evidently doesn't even like kids and their relationship is pretty terrible at this point anyway. I really don't think it'll last.
I suppose an unhappy marriage there could be another instance of parallelism, mirroring Rob's marriage with Matty after Cat rejects him, but it seems a bit of a stretch. And as for Rob and Matty, well, I kind of feel that Johnson really screwed them over, and for no good reason. Frankly, if one of those two had a reason to be angry and suicidal, it would probably be Matty. Yes, Rob went to heroic lengths to try and save the woman he loved, and yes, he spent some pretty brutal time as a slave as a result, only to eventually be rescued from that and still be rejected by his beloved. I'm not saying he should have left happy. But Cat didn't screw him over. She never gave him any encouragement, even when their marriage seemed a foregone conclusion, and she didn't ask him to come and save her. He's presented as quite a decent fellow, and I just would have thought that even if he were angry in the beginning, he could eventually get past it. I'm not saying he ever would have been as in love with Matty as he was with Cat, but I think he could have learned to love her and their children instead of apparently being an asshole to her until he killed himself and became a vengeful ghost (more on that in a bit). As for Matty, we're not told what she was doing during her seven months of captivity, but realistically, I think we can guess. Cat was extraordinarily lucky in what happened to her; there is no reason to think Matty would have been anywhere near as fortunate. Frankly, it's astonishing that Qasem was even able to track her down to send her home with Rob. In any case, if she could get past what happened to her (and I'm just assuming that she did, fairly or otherwise), Rob should have been able to pull his damn socks up too.
So then there's Cat and Qasem. I get why he falls for her. But I have a really hard time wrapping my head around her falling for him. True, he treats her exceptionally well, and his actions at the end, with Rob and Matty and Cat herself, are fairly noble. Furthermore, I totally get what Julia says to Rob's ghost about how Cat's situation in Morocco gave her the opportunity to pursue her craft in ways that she never could have back in Cornwall. But is Cat really so self-centred that she can just forget that this is the same man who stole sixty people from their church, subjected most of them to horrendous conditions on the ship that killed several of them, and then sold those people into horrific slavery that most likely killed most of the remaining ones? Just because she always got pretty sweet treatment from him doesn't change the rest. And what about the next season? Nothing is said about his changing his ways and not doing all of the above again every season until he's too old to captain a ship. I understand that slavery in general wasn't a deal-breaker at the time, but when it's your own people, and you've witnessed firsthand the kind of treatment that slave trading actually entails? Can you still look past it? I can't imagine ever forgiving all that — certainly not without some kind of assurance that he at least wouldn't do it anymore — and the fact that Cat obviously can makes me respect her less. I think I'm supposed to see her as a strong, empowered woman, but I don't. I see her as a weak, self-centred woman who can ignore atrocities for the sake of a pair of pretty eyes and her own comfort. And that, more than anything else, ruined this story for me.
And two final notes: (1) If you're going to make a comment about the fact that Julia and Cat both apparently write their "a"s in this more typographical style (as opposed to the "o" with a tail that most people produce when writing by hand), perhaps the font you choose to represent Cat's diaries should feature a letter "a" that corresponds with that statement. Just a thought.
And (2), a ghost, really? I had no objections to the supernatural stuff in the 1625 part of the story, but do we really have to end with a ghost so angry he drove a totally unrelated man to suicide?
More unfortunately, though, it was boring. Cat didn't get abducted until a good third of the way through, Julia didn't head off to Morocco until some time after that, and only the last third of the book really dealt much with what actually happened in Morocco for both women — and even at that point, a good chunk of that time was actually spent with Cat's cousin Rob and his attempt to rescue her, rather than seeing what happened to her and maybe seeing more of the development of her relationship with Qasem. Except that when you get statements like "she'd been there seven months, and generally, it was pretty pleasant," I can only assume that telling us about those seven months would have been pretty dull.
So then we have the relationships. Julia and Idriss I have no problem with. Predictable, sure, but that's OK. You can see the chemistry between them, and we're told that when she goes back to Cornwall, they spend enough time on the phone that they know each other better in a few weeks than Julia and her adulterous lover of seven years ever knew each other. So that's great.
The adulterous lover in question and his wife, Julia's former best friend, are a weird pair. Anna knows about the relationship, and has for a long time, and seems to have forgiven Julia, and that's OK. That happens. But she doesn't really seem to have forgiven Michael, and doesn't even seem to like him, so despite her being pregnant and declaring with a shrug that she still loves him, I'm just not sure I can really accept their staying together. I foresee him leaving sometime after the baby's born, as he evidently doesn't even like kids and their relationship is pretty terrible at this point anyway. I really don't think it'll last.
I suppose an unhappy marriage there could be another instance of parallelism, mirroring Rob's marriage with Matty after Cat rejects him, but it seems a bit of a stretch. And as for Rob and Matty, well, I kind of feel that Johnson really screwed them over, and for no good reason. Frankly, if one of those two had a reason to be angry and suicidal, it would probably be Matty. Yes, Rob went to heroic lengths to try and save the woman he loved, and yes, he spent some pretty brutal time as a slave as a result, only to eventually be rescued from that and still be rejected by his beloved. I'm not saying he should have left happy. But Cat didn't screw him over. She never gave him any encouragement, even when their marriage seemed a foregone conclusion, and she didn't ask him to come and save her. He's presented as quite a decent fellow, and I just would have thought that even if he were angry in the beginning, he could eventually get past it. I'm not saying he ever would have been as in love with Matty as he was with Cat, but I think he could have learned to love her and their children instead of apparently being an asshole to her until he killed himself and became a vengeful ghost (more on that in a bit). As for Matty, we're not told what she was doing during her seven months of captivity, but realistically, I think we can guess. Cat was extraordinarily lucky in what happened to her; there is no reason to think Matty would have been anywhere near as fortunate. Frankly, it's astonishing that Qasem was even able to track her down to send her home with Rob. In any case, if she could get past what happened to her (and I'm just assuming that she did, fairly or otherwise), Rob should have been able to pull his damn socks up too.
So then there's Cat and Qasem. I get why he falls for her. But I have a really hard time wrapping my head around her falling for him. True, he treats her exceptionally well, and his actions at the end, with Rob and Matty and Cat herself, are fairly noble. Furthermore, I totally get what Julia says to Rob's ghost about how Cat's situation in Morocco gave her the opportunity to pursue her craft in ways that she never could have back in Cornwall. But is Cat really so self-centred that she can just forget that this is the same man who stole sixty people from their church, subjected most of them to horrendous conditions on the ship that killed several of them, and then sold those people into horrific slavery that most likely killed most of the remaining ones? Just because she always got pretty sweet treatment from him doesn't change the rest. And what about the next season? Nothing is said about his changing his ways and not doing all of the above again every season until he's too old to captain a ship. I understand that slavery in general wasn't a deal-breaker at the time, but when it's your own people, and you've witnessed firsthand the kind of treatment that slave trading actually entails? Can you still look past it? I can't imagine ever forgiving all that — certainly not without some kind of assurance that he at least wouldn't do it anymore — and the fact that Cat obviously can makes me respect her less. I think I'm supposed to see her as a strong, empowered woman, but I don't. I see her as a weak, self-centred woman who can ignore atrocities for the sake of a pair of pretty eyes and her own comfort. And that, more than anything else, ruined this story for me.
And two final notes: (1) If you're going to make a comment about the fact that Julia and Cat both apparently write their "a"s in this more typographical style (as opposed to the "o" with a tail that most people produce when writing by hand), perhaps the font you choose to represent Cat's diaries should feature a letter "a" that corresponds with that statement. Just a thought.
And (2), a ghost, really? I had no objections to the supernatural stuff in the 1625 part of the story, but do we really have to end with a ghost so angry he drove a totally unrelated man to suicide?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2015
Julia is the heroine of the modern storyline. The book starts with her married jerk of a lover breaking up with her (in public, so she can’t cause a scene!). She has been having an affair with her "best friend"’s husband for seven years. Clearly a former best friend, considering Julia has been too embarrassed to talk to her for the past seven years. Julia claims she feels bad about the affair but (1) she’s all weepy for herself that Michael broke up with her; (2) she was never, ever going to end it herself; (3) she seems more concerned about getting caught, or the relationship ending than she does about her "best friend"’s feelings; (4) she pretty much says that the affair is her friend’s own fault for being such an ice queen.
Michael, besides being an adulterer, is an all-around schmuck. He clearly cares about no one but himself and is insulting and belittling. And when he realizes that he accidentally gave Julia a valuable book, he stalks her across England and all the way to Morocco and breaks into both her apartment and hotel room. And really doesn’t seem to see anything wrong with this. It's unclear why anyone would be romantically interested, much less two seemingly intelligent women.
The wife, Anna, is terrible in her own way. She apparently has known for a long time that Julia has been running around with her husband. She airily forgives her. Wait, you don't care that your supposed friend has been screwing your husband? And an even bigger what the hell: “In fact, when I persuaded him to marry me, I felt weirdly guilty, as if I’d taken him away from you. Left alone, you’d probably have made each other a lot happier than Michael and I have made one another.” WHAT. NO. SO MUCH NO. One, Michael can’t make anyone happy because that would mean giving a damn about another human being, which he is clearly incapable of. Also, ANNA DID NOT TAKE MICHAEL AWAY FROM JULIA HE WAS A GROWN MAN AND HE COULD CHOOSE WHO TO MARRY IT WAS NOT LIKE HE WAS TRICKED INTO IT. I also vaguely recall that Michael and Anna were engaged before Julia met him, but I cannot even be bothered to double check that. Anna seems to have very little respect for her husband, but when asked why she stays with him, chalks it up to the fact that she can’t help loving him. Which, fine, make your own life miserable. But Anna reveals that she has somehow tricked Michael into impregnating her. Michael, who it has been made very clear absolutely loathes children and is paranoid about birth control (he checks condoms for holes). So Anna is thrilled to bring a child into a loveless, screwed-up marriage with a stalker/burglar/thief who reviles fatherhood and will doubtless continue to have affairs. Why? Why would you do that to an innocent child? It is one thing to ruin your own life – it is your choice, as miserable as it is. But it is not fair to subject a child to that. I will concede that terrible husbands could make good fathers. But it is clear that Michael will NOT make a good father. He will make a terrible father and will resent the child, both for the fact he never wanted children, and because it will further trap him into a marriage he doesn’t want. This is not good in any way.
Anyway, the plot of the story revolves around Julia getting this old book with diary entries contained within it. For some reason, Julia only reads the journal at a plot-convenient pace. Despite the fact she goes on train rides and plane rides and could easily have finished it quickly. But no, she reads it at the same pace as the narrative. Why? Plot contrivance.
The historical storyline, as told via the journal, centers on Catherine (“Cat”), a girl living in 1625 Cornwall with a talent for embroidery. Her honorable but oblivious cousin, Robert, is desperately in love with her, even though she makes it very clear she cares for him but does not love him back. He nonetheless gets engaged to her (I do not even know how this works – Cat’s patroness/mistress, the local noblelady, supports the match and therefore the engagement happens, even though I’m not sure Cat ever actually said yes). Robert is technically a good guy. And he seems brave and kind and stand-up and all that. And yet he is forcing his cousin to marry him, because he doesn’t care what she actually wants. No, he is so sure that what she really needs is to settle down and get married and then she can do her little embroidery projects and be content. Even though she has told him she feels trapped in their tiny town and wants more than this provincial life. And I get it, this was probably a fairly typical historical thought process on his end. But this blindness and selfishness does explain his later downfall. He’s a nice guy but not a good guy.
Anyway, Cat and dozens of her countrymen get kidnapped by Barbary pirates. They are now slave cargo, which means that they are in crowded, filthy conditions with several people (including children) dying. Also, an old man who is considered too useless for slavery is dispassionately tossed overboard. Cat is lucky in her slavery, as the pirate captain falls in love with her. He buys her and sets her up in his household a master embroiderer. So her dreams come true - she escapes her tiny village and gets to embroider to her heart's content. However, it is presumed all the other women (and probably many of the children and men) are going to be (brutally) raped for the rest of their lives by their owners. And yet the pirate captain is the romantic hero of the historical section. I...I just can't.
Let us remind ourselves that everything the pirate captain owns comes from the profit of human misery. His entire justification is that the Spanish tortured/raped/killed his family members because of their religion, so it’s fair to torture/rape/kidnap/kill Christians. Because that is an argument that makes sense (if you were a murderer trying to justify your actions). And it would be one thing if he comes to realize that his actions are wrong. But he doesn't. There’s no guarantee that he won’t continue to be a pirate captain/slave dealer in the future. Just because he’s nice to Catherine doesn’t make him a worthy love interest. Why is it alright for a romantic interest to be a “bad guy” if it is something “sexy/romantic” like pirate captain but not if he's an actual serial killer/kidnapper? I mean, Ted Bundy was handsome, but that does NOT make him an appropriate romantic hero. BECAUSE HE IS A KILLER AND KIDNAPPER (and also rapist, which I guess to the pirate captain's credit he is not, although he knowingly sold women and children to rapists, sooooooo I don’t think that gives him much of a moral leg to stand on).
Back to the modern timeline, Julia goes to Morocco and eventually falls in love with a Moroccan man named Idriss. He is mostly unobjectionable, but occasionally supremely paternalistic and controlling. For example, he takes some of Julia's property and refuses to return it, instead putting it in his pocket. He also takes the journal while Julia's sleeping without her permission. And then Julia wants to read some relevant letters and he tells her no, you have to read everything in the proper order, and keeps the letters until she finishes the journal.
No one comes out of this book looking good.
Michael, besides being an adulterer, is an all-around schmuck. He clearly cares about no one but himself and is insulting and belittling. And when he realizes that he accidentally gave Julia a valuable book, he stalks her across England and all the way to Morocco and breaks into both her apartment and hotel room. And really doesn’t seem to see anything wrong with this. It's unclear why anyone would be romantically interested, much less two seemingly intelligent women.
The wife, Anna, is terrible in her own way. She apparently has known for a long time that Julia has been running around with her husband. She airily forgives her. Wait, you don't care that your supposed friend has been screwing your husband? And an even bigger what the hell: “In fact, when I persuaded him to marry me, I felt weirdly guilty, as if I’d taken him away from you. Left alone, you’d probably have made each other a lot happier than Michael and I have made one another.” WHAT. NO. SO MUCH NO. One, Michael can’t make anyone happy because that would mean giving a damn about another human being, which he is clearly incapable of. Also, ANNA DID NOT TAKE MICHAEL AWAY FROM JULIA HE WAS A GROWN MAN AND HE COULD CHOOSE WHO TO MARRY IT WAS NOT LIKE HE WAS TRICKED INTO IT. I also vaguely recall that Michael and Anna were engaged before Julia met him, but I cannot even be bothered to double check that. Anna seems to have very little respect for her husband, but when asked why she stays with him, chalks it up to the fact that she can’t help loving him. Which, fine, make your own life miserable. But Anna reveals that she has somehow tricked Michael into impregnating her. Michael, who it has been made very clear absolutely loathes children and is paranoid about birth control (he checks condoms for holes). So Anna is thrilled to bring a child into a loveless, screwed-up marriage with a stalker/burglar/thief who reviles fatherhood and will doubtless continue to have affairs. Why? Why would you do that to an innocent child? It is one thing to ruin your own life – it is your choice, as miserable as it is. But it is not fair to subject a child to that. I will concede that terrible husbands could make good fathers. But it is clear that Michael will NOT make a good father. He will make a terrible father and will resent the child, both for the fact he never wanted children, and because it will further trap him into a marriage he doesn’t want. This is not good in any way.
Anyway, the plot of the story revolves around Julia getting this old book with diary entries contained within it. For some reason, Julia only reads the journal at a plot-convenient pace. Despite the fact she goes on train rides and plane rides and could easily have finished it quickly. But no, she reads it at the same pace as the narrative. Why? Plot contrivance.
The historical storyline, as told via the journal, centers on Catherine (“Cat”), a girl living in 1625 Cornwall with a talent for embroidery. Her honorable but oblivious cousin, Robert, is desperately in love with her, even though she makes it very clear she cares for him but does not love him back. He nonetheless gets engaged to her (I do not even know how this works – Cat’s patroness/mistress, the local noblelady, supports the match and therefore the engagement happens, even though I’m not sure Cat ever actually said yes). Robert is technically a good guy. And he seems brave and kind and stand-up and all that. And yet he is forcing his cousin to marry him, because he doesn’t care what she actually wants. No, he is so sure that what she really needs is to settle down and get married and then she can do her little embroidery projects and be content. Even though she has told him she feels trapped in their tiny town and wants more than this provincial life. And I get it, this was probably a fairly typical historical thought process on his end. But this blindness and selfishness does explain his later downfall. He’s a nice guy but not a good guy.
Anyway, Cat and dozens of her countrymen get kidnapped by Barbary pirates. They are now slave cargo, which means that they are in crowded, filthy conditions with several people (including children) dying. Also, an old man who is considered too useless for slavery is dispassionately tossed overboard. Cat is lucky in her slavery, as the pirate captain falls in love with her. He buys her and sets her up in his household a master embroiderer. So her dreams come true - she escapes her tiny village and gets to embroider to her heart's content. However, it is presumed all the other women (and probably many of the children and men) are going to be (brutally) raped for the rest of their lives by their owners. And yet the pirate captain is the romantic hero of the historical section. I...I just can't.
Let us remind ourselves that everything the pirate captain owns comes from the profit of human misery. His entire justification is that the Spanish tortured/raped/killed his family members because of their religion, so it’s fair to torture/rape/kidnap/kill Christians. Because that is an argument that makes sense (if you were a murderer trying to justify your actions). And it would be one thing if he comes to realize that his actions are wrong. But he doesn't. There’s no guarantee that he won’t continue to be a pirate captain/slave dealer in the future. Just because he’s nice to Catherine doesn’t make him a worthy love interest. Why is it alright for a romantic interest to be a “bad guy” if it is something “sexy/romantic” like pirate captain but not if he's an actual serial killer/kidnapper? I mean, Ted Bundy was handsome, but that does NOT make him an appropriate romantic hero. BECAUSE HE IS A KILLER AND KIDNAPPER (and also rapist, which I guess to the pirate captain's credit he is not, although he knowingly sold women and children to rapists, sooooooo I don’t think that gives him much of a moral leg to stand on).
Back to the modern timeline, Julia goes to Morocco and eventually falls in love with a Moroccan man named Idriss. He is mostly unobjectionable, but occasionally supremely paternalistic and controlling. For example, he takes some of Julia's property and refuses to return it, instead putting it in his pocket. He also takes the journal while Julia's sleeping without her permission. And then Julia wants to read some relevant letters and he tells her no, you have to read everything in the proper order, and keeps the letters until she finishes the journal.
No one comes out of this book looking good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2008
Remove the main character, Julia Lovat, and her silly tawdry love affair with her best friend's husband, and perhaps The Tenth Gift could have had a more liberating story. But as it stands, the only time the book was free to soar was through the touching journal entries of one young British, Catherine Treganna, Julia's long deceased ancestor (circa 1625), that chronicle her kidnapping by Barbary pirates and the subsequent life that follows in a Islamic world (Morrocco), far from her British roots. It's not so much the jumping back and forth on the time continuum that proves to be the problem - it's about not having a likeable main character! It's as if Julia's life and problems keep interfering with the real story line - and it's annoying. If you can overlook the self absorbed, morally vacant, pitifully weak main character then I'm sure you won't mind the book. If you're looking for that mix of romance and historical fiction, stick with Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander".
January 29, 2023
4,5 sterren- Nederlandse paperback
Quote: Aardige normale, gelukkige mensen met een goede baan, geld zat en een solide huwelijk, een geordend, comfortabel leven waarin de partijen zich naar elkaar voegden. In tegenstelling tot mijn leven. Ik keek naar al die, door goud licht overgoten mensen en vroeg me af wat ze van mij zouden denken, zoals ik hier zat in mijn beste lingerie, nieuwe kousen en schoenen met hoge hakken, wachtend op de komst van de echtgenoot van mijn vriendin.-
Quote: " Rob, bedoel je te zeggen dat er in deze wateren Turkse piraten zijn? Haar ogen fonkelden." Wat...... uitheems. Ik zou er dolgraag een. Willen zien".
"Terwijl je als Catherine in deze wereld niet in de echt zult treden", zei de zigeunerin, en toen strompelde ze weg op jaar pijnlijke voeten.-
Quote: want in de kantlijn bleken opeens niet alleen. Aat het dagboek van een borduurster te zijn, maar een ongelofelijke historische puzzel.-
Wat maakte dit boek zo goed dat ik moeite had om het neer te leggen? Ik wilde door lezen maar andere verantwoordelijkheden maakt dat ik het toch zo nu en dan neer moest leggen. Het is gebaseerd op werkelijke documenten en brieven, en een legende binnen familie. De schrijfster is getrouwd met een Marokkaan dus zo is de basis van het boek werkelijkheid waar een prachtig verhaal omheen geweven is.
Catherine moest waarschijnlijk de wol waarmee zij oefende zelf verven: wede voor blauw, meerkamp voor rood en brem of uienschillen voor geel. Twee borduur artiesten, 400 jaar uit elkaar levend, verbonden door een geschonken 17e eeuws boekje. Prachtig verweven. Een aanrader voor mij.
Quote: Aardige normale, gelukkige mensen met een goede baan, geld zat en een solide huwelijk, een geordend, comfortabel leven waarin de partijen zich naar elkaar voegden. In tegenstelling tot mijn leven. Ik keek naar al die, door goud licht overgoten mensen en vroeg me af wat ze van mij zouden denken, zoals ik hier zat in mijn beste lingerie, nieuwe kousen en schoenen met hoge hakken, wachtend op de komst van de echtgenoot van mijn vriendin.-
Quote: " Rob, bedoel je te zeggen dat er in deze wateren Turkse piraten zijn? Haar ogen fonkelden." Wat...... uitheems. Ik zou er dolgraag een. Willen zien".
"Terwijl je als Catherine in deze wereld niet in de echt zult treden", zei de zigeunerin, en toen strompelde ze weg op jaar pijnlijke voeten.-
Quote: want in de kantlijn bleken opeens niet alleen. Aat het dagboek van een borduurster te zijn, maar een ongelofelijke historische puzzel.-
Wat maakte dit boek zo goed dat ik moeite had om het neer te leggen? Ik wilde door lezen maar andere verantwoordelijkheden maakt dat ik het toch zo nu en dan neer moest leggen. Het is gebaseerd op werkelijke documenten en brieven, en een legende binnen familie. De schrijfster is getrouwd met een Marokkaan dus zo is de basis van het boek werkelijkheid waar een prachtig verhaal omheen geweven is.
Catherine moest waarschijnlijk de wol waarmee zij oefende zelf verven: wede voor blauw, meerkamp voor rood en brem of uienschillen voor geel. Twee borduur artiesten, 400 jaar uit elkaar levend, verbonden door een geschonken 17e eeuws boekje. Prachtig verweven. Een aanrader voor mij.
March 2, 2012
I bought this book on the strength of the fact that it was loosely based on the true story of a pirate raid on Cornwall in the 1620s. Given that Barbary pirates also attacked Baltimore in Ireland around this time (I'm Irish) and that I've been to the Westman Islands off Iceland which were also raided back then, I zoned in on this book like a hawk. I'm delighted to say that I wasn't disappointed. This is an absolutely terrific read.
Other reviewers have done a great job in detailing the plot, so I won't go into it in depth. It's enough to say that this time-slip novel expertly engages on both fronts. We have the modern day tale of Julia, and her doomed love affair with the duplicitous Michael, and her discovery of the Catherine (Cat) Treganna's notes in the old embroidery text that Michael mistakenly gives Julia - and also the historical story of the fiery, tempestuous Cat, who dreams of escaping life in boring 1620s Penzance. Cat's dreams come true - but not in the manner she'd expected. Carried off into slavery by Barbary pirates (from modern day Morocco), her nightmare journey takes her on a voyage of self-discovery. A similar thing of course happens to Julia, who journeys (as Jane Johnson did!) to Morocco in search of more information, and finds far more than that.
This book is beautifully written, evoking not just the prudishness of 17th century Puritan England, but the terror of a pirate attack, the richness and squalor of North Africa, both yesteryear and today, and the differences between the two cultures of east and west. It's very romantic too, and I found myself thinking of Birdsong as I read it. I enjoyed every page of this novel. It's a tremendous book, and gives The Sea-Hawk by Sabatini a real run for its money. Five solid stars out of five.
Other reviewers have done a great job in detailing the plot, so I won't go into it in depth. It's enough to say that this time-slip novel expertly engages on both fronts. We have the modern day tale of Julia, and her doomed love affair with the duplicitous Michael, and her discovery of the Catherine (Cat) Treganna's notes in the old embroidery text that Michael mistakenly gives Julia - and also the historical story of the fiery, tempestuous Cat, who dreams of escaping life in boring 1620s Penzance. Cat's dreams come true - but not in the manner she'd expected. Carried off into slavery by Barbary pirates (from modern day Morocco), her nightmare journey takes her on a voyage of self-discovery. A similar thing of course happens to Julia, who journeys (as Jane Johnson did!) to Morocco in search of more information, and finds far more than that.
This book is beautifully written, evoking not just the prudishness of 17th century Puritan England, but the terror of a pirate attack, the richness and squalor of North Africa, both yesteryear and today, and the differences between the two cultures of east and west. It's very romantic too, and I found myself thinking of Birdsong as I read it. I enjoyed every page of this novel. It's a tremendous book, and gives The Sea-Hawk by Sabatini a real run for its money. Five solid stars out of five.
March 10, 2008
If the sub-title of Crossed Bones - 'the all-true adventures and most unlikely romance of a pirate’s slave girl - puts you off a little, don’t worry; there’s not a ripped bodice or heaving bosom anywhere. Well, apart from on the cover, but we'll gloss over that...
It’s the story of a seventeenth-century Cornish girl, Cat, who is a talented needlewoman dreaming dreams of a more exotic future than the one that seems likely – marriage to her cousin, drudgery, babies – when a pirate ship raids her village and carries her and several of her neighbours and relatives off to be slaves in Morocco.
To read the rest of this review (and more!), please visit Trashionista
It’s the story of a seventeenth-century Cornish girl, Cat, who is a talented needlewoman dreaming dreams of a more exotic future than the one that seems likely – marriage to her cousin, drudgery, babies – when a pirate ship raids her village and carries her and several of her neighbours and relatives off to be slaves in Morocco.
To read the rest of this review (and more!), please visit Trashionista
March 9, 2020
I read this because one of my favorite authors (Anne Fortier) said this is one of her top 5 favorite books of all time. So, I had to read it!
It's not at all what I expected and I did enjoy the story. This is not a bodice-ripper, but is a well researched story based on actual events and some real people. The primary subject and setting is 1625 Cornwall and Morocco. Different for sure.
There were times the story dragged and it honestly was slow to start, but after I hit the 10% mark, I was pretty captivated.
It's not at all what I expected and I did enjoy the story. This is not a bodice-ripper, but is a well researched story based on actual events and some real people. The primary subject and setting is 1625 Cornwall and Morocco. Different for sure.
There were times the story dragged and it honestly was slow to start, but after I hit the 10% mark, I was pretty captivated.
July 23, 2014
In ‘The Tenth Gift’ Jane Johnson spins a story around an extraordinary piece of history:
In 1625 corsairs from North Africa sailed into Mount’s Bay, they entered a church and they took sixty men, women and children, to be sold as slaves.
That church might have been St Mary’s in Penzance, standing at the centre of Mounts Bay, just behind the harbour, clearly visible from the sea. My church, my mother’s church, my grandmother’s church ….
That drew me to the book, but it made me wary too. Because I knew that I’d know if she got it wrong. But I’m pleased to say that she didn’t get the things I knew wrong at all, she taught me some local history that I didn’t know, and that gave me so much confidence when she wrote about things that I didn’t, couldn’t know.
Catherine Anne Tregenna, nicknamed Cat, was in service at Kenegie Manor, she was betrothed to her cousin Rob, but she wanted more than that. She was young, she was bright, she was spirited, and she hoped that her talent for embroidery would give her a chance to see more of life, more of the world. She had been given the chance to make an altar cloth for the Countess of Salisbury, and she hoped that might help her to win more commissions, and maybe even gain entry to Broderers Guild.
But her life changed when she and her mother went to church ….
Cat’s story was uncovered by Julia, in a second storyline set in the present day. When her lover left her he gave her antique leather-bound book. ‘ Needle-Woman’s Glorie’ had been Cat’s book, and when she was torn from her home she began to keep a record of what she experienced, writing in between the embroidery patterns.
Julia followed Cat to Morocco – telling herself that she was researching the story she had uncovered, but also running away from the mess she had made of her life.
The two storylines worked well together, and the links and the mirroring of Cat’s and Julia’s lives didn’t feel contrived at all. But I liked Cat far more than I liked Julia – it’s hard to care about a heroine who has been having an affair with her best friend’s husband – and her story was not nearly as strong as Cat’s. I would have liked the book more, I think, if the present day story had been pulled back to become a framing story, or even if it had not been there at all.
There was for than enough in Cat’s story – her life in Cornwall, her experiences when she was kidnapped, what happened in Cornwall after the raid – to make a fabulous book all by itself. There was a little dramatic licence taken, a little stretching of credibility, but not too much. Certainly no more than I could forgive when I found so much that was good.
The writing was wonderfully readable, the plotting was very well done, and I loved the links to real history and to the authors own story. I appreciated that she was even-handed, that she understood that the corsairs had reasons for doing what they were doing, that there was right and wrong on both sides, that there could be much common ground between people from different backgrounds and different cultures.
The evocation of time and place – of Cornwall and of Morocco – was so very vivid that it pulled me right into the story. And I couldn’t doubt for one moment that the author was writing of what she knew and what she loved.
In 1625 corsairs from North Africa sailed into Mount’s Bay, they entered a church and they took sixty men, women and children, to be sold as slaves.
That church might have been St Mary’s in Penzance, standing at the centre of Mounts Bay, just behind the harbour, clearly visible from the sea. My church, my mother’s church, my grandmother’s church ….
That drew me to the book, but it made me wary too. Because I knew that I’d know if she got it wrong. But I’m pleased to say that she didn’t get the things I knew wrong at all, she taught me some local history that I didn’t know, and that gave me so much confidence when she wrote about things that I didn’t, couldn’t know.
Catherine Anne Tregenna, nicknamed Cat, was in service at Kenegie Manor, she was betrothed to her cousin Rob, but she wanted more than that. She was young, she was bright, she was spirited, and she hoped that her talent for embroidery would give her a chance to see more of life, more of the world. She had been given the chance to make an altar cloth for the Countess of Salisbury, and she hoped that might help her to win more commissions, and maybe even gain entry to Broderers Guild.
But her life changed when she and her mother went to church ….
Cat’s story was uncovered by Julia, in a second storyline set in the present day. When her lover left her he gave her antique leather-bound book. ‘ Needle-Woman’s Glorie’ had been Cat’s book, and when she was torn from her home she began to keep a record of what she experienced, writing in between the embroidery patterns.
Julia followed Cat to Morocco – telling herself that she was researching the story she had uncovered, but also running away from the mess she had made of her life.
The two storylines worked well together, and the links and the mirroring of Cat’s and Julia’s lives didn’t feel contrived at all. But I liked Cat far more than I liked Julia – it’s hard to care about a heroine who has been having an affair with her best friend’s husband – and her story was not nearly as strong as Cat’s. I would have liked the book more, I think, if the present day story had been pulled back to become a framing story, or even if it had not been there at all.
There was for than enough in Cat’s story – her life in Cornwall, her experiences when she was kidnapped, what happened in Cornwall after the raid – to make a fabulous book all by itself. There was a little dramatic licence taken, a little stretching of credibility, but not too much. Certainly no more than I could forgive when I found so much that was good.
The writing was wonderfully readable, the plotting was very well done, and I loved the links to real history and to the authors own story. I appreciated that she was even-handed, that she understood that the corsairs had reasons for doing what they were doing, that there was right and wrong on both sides, that there could be much common ground between people from different backgrounds and different cultures.
The evocation of time and place – of Cornwall and of Morocco – was so very vivid that it pulled me right into the story. And I couldn’t doubt for one moment that the author was writing of what she knew and what she loved.
July 7, 2009
I loved this book. It featured one of my favorite literary ploys: moving backward and forward in time to tell the story. (Reminded me greatly of The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks in that sense) In the beginning I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the main character due to her moral flaws, but the author really draws you in and makes you care for her despite those flaws. Johnson makes you think about your own flaws and how sympathetically you want to be viewed despite them.
I have never read or heard anything about piracy in Cornwall, so I was intrigued right off the bat. I could barely put the book down for wanting to know what was going to happen to Cat in the 17th century sections. Johnson fully draws Cat out, making her a strong, stubborn woman who did not fit into her carefully proscribed social circle in Cornwall. Cat was able to use her gifts and talents to create a life of purpose and strength without compromising her character.
In present day, Julia explors Cat's story with enthusiasm, and is drawn in, much as the reader is. She too discovers a new life; she changes and opens her horizons. Julia becomes increasingly likable throughout the book.
I really enjoyed this book. So glad I stumbled across it at the bookstore!
I have never read or heard anything about piracy in Cornwall, so I was intrigued right off the bat. I could barely put the book down for wanting to know what was going to happen to Cat in the 17th century sections. Johnson fully draws Cat out, making her a strong, stubborn woman who did not fit into her carefully proscribed social circle in Cornwall. Cat was able to use her gifts and talents to create a life of purpose and strength without compromising her character.
In present day, Julia explors Cat's story with enthusiasm, and is drawn in, much as the reader is. She too discovers a new life; she changes and opens her horizons. Julia becomes increasingly likable throughout the book.
I really enjoyed this book. So glad I stumbled across it at the bookstore!
June 4, 2019
I wish I could have enjoyed this book to the extent that many others did. The description was the highlight and the most entertaining part of the book.
October 23, 2015
I will begin by stating that this is not my usual type of book; it was lent to me by a friend and then a member of my book club mentioned it, so I decided to read it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy it because I was so bothered by the unbelievable events and characters.
There are two stories. In the present, Julia Lovat is given an early 17th century book of needlework by her lover as a gift to end their seven-year affair. She soon discovers that a lady’s maid used the book as a diary. This young woman, Catherine Ann Tregenna (Cat), wants more than anything to become a master embroiderer and to escape the confines of Cornwall. Her latter wish is granted when she is one of the 60 people taken captive by Barbary pirates and brought to Morocco to be sold into slavery. Julia, fascinated by Cat’s diary, makes her way to North Africa to find out what happened to her.
One of the aspects of the book that really bothered me is that both Julia is so stupid. She becomes obsessed with Cat’s diary and while reading it comes across the name Annie Badcock (89), yet when she hears it again, she doesn’t remember it: “Annie Badcock. The name was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d come across it” (131). In the diary she also sees the surname Bolitho (24), yet she doesn’t remember that an aunt, the mother of her cousin and best friend, is a Bolitho. She has to be told: “’Well, Alison’s mother’s a Bolitho, isn’t she? You should know – she’s your cousin’” (322). And this is after Julia has several conversations with Alison about the diary and its contents! And she’s so inept in her conversations, at one time telling a Muslim man that his ancestors were “’such barbarous people’” (346). And the author never thought of a connection between the derivation of the adjective “barbarous” and the Barbary Coast of North Africa?
The other problem is that the number of parallels between Julia and Cat’s stories suggests excessive contrivance. They both look best in red dresses, and even their handwriting is similar. Both are experts in embroidery. Both have relationships which are unsatisfying. Each encounters a fortune teller who accurately predicts her future.
The number of coincidences is also excessive. Julia, who comes from Cornwall, has an affair with a man whose wife comes from Cornwall. Crucial letters which reveal the end of Cat’s story are found in Alison’s Cornwall home and a sample of Cat’s work is owned by the wife of Julia’s lover. And in Morocco Julia meets someone who also seems to have a piece of Cat’s embroidery from almost 400 years ago. The coincidences just go on and on.
This book would be classified as a historical romance so obviously there will be romantic relationships, but it would be better if these romances were credible. Is it likely that a woman would fall in love with someone who orchestrated the capture of 60 people including her family members, who tortured and killed captives, and who sold them into slavery? Julia also seems to move from a bad relationship to an unlikely one.
The one interesting aspect of the novel is its discussion of embroidery, a handicraft practiced by women around the world for centuries. The author seems to have done considerable research into embroidery in Medieval Islamic culture.
This is a work of fluff. It has the romantic element in an exotic location and a historical context which will appeal to readers of escapist fiction. It did not appeal to me.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
There are two stories. In the present, Julia Lovat is given an early 17th century book of needlework by her lover as a gift to end their seven-year affair. She soon discovers that a lady’s maid used the book as a diary. This young woman, Catherine Ann Tregenna (Cat), wants more than anything to become a master embroiderer and to escape the confines of Cornwall. Her latter wish is granted when she is one of the 60 people taken captive by Barbary pirates and brought to Morocco to be sold into slavery. Julia, fascinated by Cat’s diary, makes her way to North Africa to find out what happened to her.
One of the aspects of the book that really bothered me is that both Julia is so stupid. She becomes obsessed with Cat’s diary and while reading it comes across the name Annie Badcock (89), yet when she hears it again, she doesn’t remember it: “Annie Badcock. The name was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d come across it” (131). In the diary she also sees the surname Bolitho (24), yet she doesn’t remember that an aunt, the mother of her cousin and best friend, is a Bolitho. She has to be told: “’Well, Alison’s mother’s a Bolitho, isn’t she? You should know – she’s your cousin’” (322). And this is after Julia has several conversations with Alison about the diary and its contents! And she’s so inept in her conversations, at one time telling a Muslim man that his ancestors were “’such barbarous people’” (346). And the author never thought of a connection between the derivation of the adjective “barbarous” and the Barbary Coast of North Africa?
The other problem is that the number of parallels between Julia and Cat’s stories suggests excessive contrivance. They both look best in red dresses, and even their handwriting is similar. Both are experts in embroidery. Both have relationships which are unsatisfying. Each encounters a fortune teller who accurately predicts her future.
The number of coincidences is also excessive. Julia, who comes from Cornwall, has an affair with a man whose wife comes from Cornwall. Crucial letters which reveal the end of Cat’s story are found in Alison’s Cornwall home and a sample of Cat’s work is owned by the wife of Julia’s lover. And in Morocco Julia meets someone who also seems to have a piece of Cat’s embroidery from almost 400 years ago. The coincidences just go on and on.
This book would be classified as a historical romance so obviously there will be romantic relationships, but it would be better if these romances were credible. Is it likely that a woman would fall in love with someone who orchestrated the capture of 60 people including her family members, who tortured and killed captives, and who sold them into slavery? Julia also seems to move from a bad relationship to an unlikely one.
The one interesting aspect of the novel is its discussion of embroidery, a handicraft practiced by women around the world for centuries. The author seems to have done considerable research into embroidery in Medieval Islamic culture.
This is a work of fluff. It has the romantic element in an exotic location and a historical context which will appeal to readers of escapist fiction. It did not appeal to me.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
July 25, 2009
The Tenth Gift is a wonderful and absorbing story about two complex women: Catherine Anne Tregenna (Cat) in 17th Century Cornwall, and Julia Lovat in 21st Century London. Like Cat, Julia has a talent for embroidery and at the dissolution of her long adulterous relationship with her friend’s husband Michael, she is given a book of embroidery patterns. Michael had meant to give her another similar book but mistakenly gives her the more valuable and unique palimpsest, as written overtop of the embroidery patterns and in the margins is Cat’s account of her capture by Turkish pirates. As Julia reads Cat’s story she comes to realize their lives have a strange parallel. Who is Catherine Anne Tregenna and why does Julia feel such a close bond to her?
Both Cat and Julia are women of impetuosity, temper and singular naivety, given to taking bold and somewhat blind risks. They are both talented with embroidery, believe in love and are seeking to find meaning in their existence, yet they also have faults of emotional weakness and vanity. I did not like Julia at all at first and was convinced my opinion would not change. She was bitchy, emotional, weak and needy and never thought about what she was saying, insulting others whether deliberate or not. Although I have to admit she became a more likable character when the story took her to Morocco…without giving too much away…she let Morocco cleanse her of mistakes in the past.
The Tenth Gift is an excellent work of fiction and though there are romantic tensions and intimacy there is no “romance”. There is a unique, realistic and fresh feeling to the story. I don’t think I have read another novel similar to this one. Johnson also includes quotes, poems, and letters that enhance the storyline. Each chapter is a cliff hanger and I felt equally invested in the fates of both characters, although there was no pattern to the switching from historical time to modern day. Tension ratchets up more and more every time the story flipped back and forth. So much so that I became frustrated that I could not continue to read one or the other of the storylines, but frustrated in a good way as it really made The Tenth Gift an exciting read. I enjoyed and appreciated both storylines as each was so absorbing.
There were a few other aspects of The Tenth Gift that interested me. The book expands upon the ideas of mosaic, pattern, and tapestry in culture, as well as rebirth and the influence of supernatural forces. Johnson describes the process of Cat and the captured people of Penzance being sold into slavery, how they looked at the time and how they were sized up, poked at, and forced to remove all their clothing. The pictures she created were quite brutal but mostly glossed over. I learned about places and times that I had never before read or known about: the history and culture of Cornwall and Morocco and the religious, political and economic tensions of the time.
I thought the book could have benefited from including pictures or stencils of the stylized designs and embroidery described within. Toward the end of the story we learn that “The Tenth Gift” is a song/poem about how God divided beauty into ten, where the tenth item is a book. I love it when authors go to the effort to include maps, chapter prefaces or quotes, and suggestions for further reading material. I highly recommend this story to everyone.
My Rating: 4.5
http://myobsessionwithbooks.blogspot....
Both Cat and Julia are women of impetuosity, temper and singular naivety, given to taking bold and somewhat blind risks. They are both talented with embroidery, believe in love and are seeking to find meaning in their existence, yet they also have faults of emotional weakness and vanity. I did not like Julia at all at first and was convinced my opinion would not change. She was bitchy, emotional, weak and needy and never thought about what she was saying, insulting others whether deliberate or not. Although I have to admit she became a more likable character when the story took her to Morocco…without giving too much away…she let Morocco cleanse her of mistakes in the past.
The Tenth Gift is an excellent work of fiction and though there are romantic tensions and intimacy there is no “romance”. There is a unique, realistic and fresh feeling to the story. I don’t think I have read another novel similar to this one. Johnson also includes quotes, poems, and letters that enhance the storyline. Each chapter is a cliff hanger and I felt equally invested in the fates of both characters, although there was no pattern to the switching from historical time to modern day. Tension ratchets up more and more every time the story flipped back and forth. So much so that I became frustrated that I could not continue to read one or the other of the storylines, but frustrated in a good way as it really made The Tenth Gift an exciting read. I enjoyed and appreciated both storylines as each was so absorbing.
There were a few other aspects of The Tenth Gift that interested me. The book expands upon the ideas of mosaic, pattern, and tapestry in culture, as well as rebirth and the influence of supernatural forces. Johnson describes the process of Cat and the captured people of Penzance being sold into slavery, how they looked at the time and how they were sized up, poked at, and forced to remove all their clothing. The pictures she created were quite brutal but mostly glossed over. I learned about places and times that I had never before read or known about: the history and culture of Cornwall and Morocco and the religious, political and economic tensions of the time.
I thought the book could have benefited from including pictures or stencils of the stylized designs and embroidery described within. Toward the end of the story we learn that “The Tenth Gift” is a song/poem about how God divided beauty into ten, where the tenth item is a book. I love it when authors go to the effort to include maps, chapter prefaces or quotes, and suggestions for further reading material. I highly recommend this story to everyone.
My Rating: 4.5
http://myobsessionwithbooks.blogspot....
March 9, 2016
Não gosto de livros que despacham todas as pontas soltas no final com demasiada rapidez, após muitos capítulos a empatar. “O Décimo Dom” é um desses casos. Como romance histórico prometia – a história de piratas árabes a assaltar a costa inglesa no século XVII para angariar “escravos infiéis” que depois vendiam em Marrocos. Mas não convenceu…
Quando o amante casado de Julia Lovat decide “dar-lhe com os pés”, oferece-lhe um livro antigo sobre a arte de bordar. Mas, nas suas páginas, encontra mais do que padrões e pontos; escrito numa letra pequenina, temos o diário de Catherine Ann Tregenna, que descreve o seu rapto da costa de Cornualha até ao mercado de escravos de Marrocos. Fascinada pela história, Julia parte para África à procura de mais informação sobre a inglesa raptada. No entanto, o seu antigo amante começa a persegui-la, exigindo o livro de volta… Será que ele tem outro valor escondido?
Pois, tanto suspense, tanto suspense, para tudo acabar de forma tão chata. O mistério não é empolgante, as personagens são mornas… Aproveitam-se as descrições sobre o tráfico de escravos e a cultura árabe. Estamos habituados a ler sobre os brancos dominantes e foi curioso ver a situação ao contrário. Ou seja, ser “infiel” ou “inferior”, é tudo uma questão de perspetiva.
Quando o amante casado de Julia Lovat decide “dar-lhe com os pés”, oferece-lhe um livro antigo sobre a arte de bordar. Mas, nas suas páginas, encontra mais do que padrões e pontos; escrito numa letra pequenina, temos o diário de Catherine Ann Tregenna, que descreve o seu rapto da costa de Cornualha até ao mercado de escravos de Marrocos. Fascinada pela história, Julia parte para África à procura de mais informação sobre a inglesa raptada. No entanto, o seu antigo amante começa a persegui-la, exigindo o livro de volta… Será que ele tem outro valor escondido?
Pois, tanto suspense, tanto suspense, para tudo acabar de forma tão chata. O mistério não é empolgante, as personagens são mornas… Aproveitam-se as descrições sobre o tráfico de escravos e a cultura árabe. Estamos habituados a ler sobre os brancos dominantes e foi curioso ver a situação ao contrário. Ou seja, ser “infiel” ou “inferior”, é tudo uma questão de perspetiva.
July 11, 2008
I almost quit reading the book after getting 1/3 of the way through it because I wasn't that interested in picking the book back up after putting it down. I thought the characters were all pretty unlikable, the storyline seemed forced, and the conclusion predictable.
September 3, 2019
Cornwall, Morocco, corsairs from the Barbary Coast! I really didn’t want the book to end. I haven’t read anything quite like this for a long time and it makes me want to go back and read Jamaica Inn or Frenchman's Creek again.
February 24, 2018
This was a very well-written book with a compelling storyline. I’m a sucker for novels that mix past and present, through hints of the supernatural. I found it hard to put the book down! I’ll definitely be looking for more by this author, and passing this one on.
September 15, 2014
"Uma rapariga com chamas na cabeça e bondade no coração: é um sinal certo de um destino obscuro."
Uma história de duas mulher separadas pelo tempo, que apesar dos séculos de diferença abraçam os mesmos desejos e lutam contra as mesmas dificuldades. Jane Johnson constrói um conto de mistério, que nos leva numa viagem repleta de História e aventura.
Tudo começa num restaurante de Londres, com um encontro como tantos outros, entre uma mulher e um homem. Um livro é oferecido. Um livro desperta um coração triste e magoado. Um livro dá uma razão para encarar a vida com novos olhos.
"Senti uma súbita onde de desespero extremo. Não passava dum minúsculo e inútil grão de vida num universo imenso."
Julia é uma mulher solitária que descobre o diário de uma rapariga que sofreu horrores para fazer vingar a sua vontade, no amor, no trabalho e na vida. Este encontro inesperado levanta o espírito e move a curiosidade, levando o leitor com a Júlia numa viagem, no espaço e no tempo, na procura da esperança.
Em parte, este livro é um romance histórico que retrata os ataques de piratas, que na maioria, visava embarcações, para roubar cargas e tripulações, sendo os cativos vendidos como escravos. Numa descrição fria e assustadora, Jane Johnson mostra-nos situações intensas, desde o rapto de pessoas inocentes, à viagem em condições dolorosas até à chegada ao destino.
A história flui tranquilamente entre os séculos, falando-nos de amor e da ambição de fazer prevalecer quem realmente somos.
"Que história tão romântica. Talvez não passe dum conto de fadas, afinal de contas."
Uma história de duas mulher separadas pelo tempo, que apesar dos séculos de diferença abraçam os mesmos desejos e lutam contra as mesmas dificuldades. Jane Johnson constrói um conto de mistério, que nos leva numa viagem repleta de História e aventura.
Tudo começa num restaurante de Londres, com um encontro como tantos outros, entre uma mulher e um homem. Um livro é oferecido. Um livro desperta um coração triste e magoado. Um livro dá uma razão para encarar a vida com novos olhos.
"Senti uma súbita onde de desespero extremo. Não passava dum minúsculo e inútil grão de vida num universo imenso."
Julia é uma mulher solitária que descobre o diário de uma rapariga que sofreu horrores para fazer vingar a sua vontade, no amor, no trabalho e na vida. Este encontro inesperado levanta o espírito e move a curiosidade, levando o leitor com a Júlia numa viagem, no espaço e no tempo, na procura da esperança.
Em parte, este livro é um romance histórico que retrata os ataques de piratas, que na maioria, visava embarcações, para roubar cargas e tripulações, sendo os cativos vendidos como escravos. Numa descrição fria e assustadora, Jane Johnson mostra-nos situações intensas, desde o rapto de pessoas inocentes, à viagem em condições dolorosas até à chegada ao destino.
A história flui tranquilamente entre os séculos, falando-nos de amor e da ambição de fazer prevalecer quem realmente somos.
"Que história tão romântica. Talvez não passe dum conto de fadas, afinal de contas."
August 19, 2012
A história inicia-se quando Julia recebe como presente de despedida do seu amante, que é casado com uma amiga, um livro de 1625, sobre a arte de bordar, e que surpreendentemente, nas margens do livro, encontram-se algumas anotações.Estas anotações, são, nada mais, nada menos, que o diário de Catherine Ann Tregenna, a antiga dona do livrinho.
Tal como Julia, depressa nos encontramos (nós, leitores) em 1625 a seguir o relato de Cat, e como tenta "lutar" para se tornar numa mestre bordadeira e posteriormente, sobre ter sido raptada pelos Piratas de Salé.
A história é alternada, entre a de Julia e Catherine, e apesar de andarmos entre o passado e presente, não a achei confusa. Tem bastantes pormenores históricos, com várias reviravoltas, que nos fazem ficar agarrados ao livro.
Gostei bastante das descrições da história de Catherine, desde a sua vida como criada, o seu rapto pelos piratas e a sua sua vida em Marrocos. Achei os capítulos de Cat muito mais interessantes do que os de Julia, talvez porque os de Julia se focassem mais na forma como tenta recuperar da separação do amante e depois querer descobrir mais informações sobre a vida de Cat.
Não digo que os capítulos de Julia são totalmente maus, não, nada disso, julgo que servem de um bom completo à história de Cat.
Um livro que me entreteve bastante, com uma escrita simples, com detalhes históricos e em que a história se desenrola com facilidade.
Tal como Julia, depressa nos encontramos (nós, leitores) em 1625 a seguir o relato de Cat, e como tenta "lutar" para se tornar numa mestre bordadeira e posteriormente, sobre ter sido raptada pelos Piratas de Salé.
A história é alternada, entre a de Julia e Catherine, e apesar de andarmos entre o passado e presente, não a achei confusa. Tem bastantes pormenores históricos, com várias reviravoltas, que nos fazem ficar agarrados ao livro.
Gostei bastante das descrições da história de Catherine, desde a sua vida como criada, o seu rapto pelos piratas e a sua sua vida em Marrocos. Achei os capítulos de Cat muito mais interessantes do que os de Julia, talvez porque os de Julia se focassem mais na forma como tenta recuperar da separação do amante e depois querer descobrir mais informações sobre a vida de Cat.
Não digo que os capítulos de Julia são totalmente maus, não, nada disso, julgo que servem de um bom completo à história de Cat.
Um livro que me entreteve bastante, com uma escrita simples, com detalhes históricos e em que a história se desenrola com facilidade.
December 4, 2010
Nicely done, though maybe more like a 3.7. I credit her with a decent historical fiction, even though I've had to rate it as a fantasy, too, because of its supernatural elements.
She may have tried too hard. Too much explaining. Parts read like a flora and fauna catalog. Other parts like history lectures. A stranger asks the protagonist what's she's reading and she answers with thirteen lines of background. How contrived. Do all modern thirty-somethings act/think like teens? She hammers many details as if she didn't think her readers would get them.
A little editing would have helped. Her mechanics were good, but passages like "...would have been unlikely that she would have been..." hurt. (Maybe she tired of reading it, too.)
Johnson's generous rendering of current and seventeenth century Moroccan culture was a highlight of the book, but again it felt as if she was trying too hard. Three times she detailed the 1610 expulsion of the Moslems from Spain. Once was enough. I've met enough Moslems to know that some are/were as she portrayed Qasem and Idriss. And, of course, many aren't/weren't. Just like Christians, and Jews, and . . . .
Perhaps as she writes more books for adults, she'll do better.
She may have tried too hard. Too much explaining. Parts read like a flora and fauna catalog. Other parts like history lectures. A stranger asks the protagonist what's she's reading and she answers with thirteen lines of background. How contrived. Do all modern thirty-somethings act/think like teens? She hammers many details as if she didn't think her readers would get them.
A little editing would have helped. Her mechanics were good, but passages like "...would have been unlikely that she would have been..." hurt. (Maybe she tired of reading it, too.)
Johnson's generous rendering of current and seventeenth century Moroccan culture was a highlight of the book, but again it felt as if she was trying too hard. Three times she detailed the 1610 expulsion of the Moslems from Spain. Once was enough. I've met enough Moslems to know that some are/were as she portrayed Qasem and Idriss. And, of course, many aren't/weren't. Just like Christians, and Jews, and . . . .
Perhaps as she writes more books for adults, she'll do better.
October 10, 2017
It seems, according to this book, that all a strong independent woman really needs is to be dominated by an exotic foreign bully with massive sex appeal and a dodgy moral code. If she’s really lucky he will dress her up in a hijab so she can enjoy pretending to be Muslim without any of that inconvenient religious faith thing. While she’s busy drinking her herb tea, applying henna and kohl to various bits of herself, and embroidering kaftans, she can cheerfully forget other people’s suffering, even in cases where she herself was the cause.
I found the moral code of this dreary ‘write it by numbers’ romance completely repellent - I am amazed that anyone can get away with peddling such racist and sexist nonsense in this day and age. I would not want a daughter of mine to read this; both heroines and their respective lovers were utterly selfish and callous and they thoroughly deserved each other.
I found the moral code of this dreary ‘write it by numbers’ romance completely repellent - I am amazed that anyone can get away with peddling such racist and sexist nonsense in this day and age. I would not want a daughter of mine to read this; both heroines and their respective lovers were utterly selfish and callous and they thoroughly deserved each other.
December 29, 2008
The premise (a woman finds a historical account of an ancestor who was taken by slaves and decides to look into it) is quite good, but the book never really took off for me. There were three main problems: (1) none of the characters were particularly likable. They were either one-dimensional, or they had few (if any) redeeming qualities, or were just too unbelievable in their decisions or actions; (2) the writing was quite stilted and boring - it was often too much to the point and lacked flow; (3) the few romantic relationships lacked depth or emotion and made the novel feel as if it's "chick lit" disguised as historical fiction. There was one redeeming quality: the novel discussed the taking of the English who lived in the coastal regions (Cornwall, etc.) as slaves by the Berbers in the 1600s. This is a part of history that I had never heard of, so I did learn something new.
October 19, 2020
2.5 Stars.
Julia's lover of 7 years breaks it off - he and he's wife (her good friend) is going to try and make a go of their marriage again. As a parting gift he gives her a antique book of embroidery patterns.
The book also doubled as a diary for a young girl abducted from her home in Cornwall and sold into slavery. Julia is soon pulled into the story and in an effort to find out what happened to Catherine goes to Morocco to follow her trial.
Set 400 years apart these 2 women are clearly connected.
I enjoyed the parallel story lines and the background of the slavers in Salee was very interesting.
Still I did not really feel connected to any of the characters. The "love story" between Julia and Michael is just odd and the conclusion between her and her good friend just not believable.
Julia's lover of 7 years breaks it off - he and he's wife (her good friend) is going to try and make a go of their marriage again. As a parting gift he gives her a antique book of embroidery patterns.
The book also doubled as a diary for a young girl abducted from her home in Cornwall and sold into slavery. Julia is soon pulled into the story and in an effort to find out what happened to Catherine goes to Morocco to follow her trial.
Set 400 years apart these 2 women are clearly connected.
I enjoyed the parallel story lines and the background of the slavers in Salee was very interesting.
Still I did not really feel connected to any of the characters. The "love story" between Julia and Michael is just odd and the conclusion between her and her good friend just not believable.
September 24, 2008
The thing I liked most about this book is that it's historical fiction, and the story is based on an actual event in 1625. I had no idea that people from Cornwall and Devon were abducted by pirates, and sold as slaves in North Africa. From Wikipedia: "According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and from farther places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland and North America."
The book alternated between modern-day England (a little crass in places) and the 1620s. There were some very far-fetched coincidences, but was still really interesting.
The book alternated between modern-day England (a little crass in places) and the 1620s. There were some very far-fetched coincidences, but was still really interesting.
December 8, 2021
Jane Johnson brings her descriptive and narative powers to her beloved Morocco, in this lovely split time-line story from earlier in her writing career.
While the part of Julia, trying to rebuild her life after a disasterous affair. deals with the consequences of that affair, and how she escapes the greed and power of he lover, the main part of The Tenth Gift tells the story of Catherine Tregenna, captured in a raid by Barbary Pirates on the coast of Cornwall in the early 17th. C.
The author has an exhaustive knowledge of, and feeling for Morocco and its people. She weaves her story through the highs and lows of her captivity in conditions as low as it is possible to reach, before their eventual resolution. And thats what makes it such a good story!
While the part of Julia, trying to rebuild her life after a disasterous affair. deals with the consequences of that affair, and how she escapes the greed and power of he lover, the main part of The Tenth Gift tells the story of Catherine Tregenna, captured in a raid by Barbary Pirates on the coast of Cornwall in the early 17th. C.
The author has an exhaustive knowledge of, and feeling for Morocco and its people. She weaves her story through the highs and lows of her captivity in conditions as low as it is possible to reach, before their eventual resolution. And thats what makes it such a good story!
May 10, 2016
It has been a while since I read this novel, but I remember enjoying it. The book is lush, imaginative with a huge romance and a broad, little known period of history sumptuously covered. It is not a serious novel, but fun for a day or two.
(You may note, in my reviews, that I don't write reams ordinarily about the plot, characters or theme. We have the outline available with the book here, and that is fair enough for my purposes. If something stands out particularly, I mention it. I like to know, after reading the précis, what others think in general and that is what will have me picking a book up when I am not too sure of it. So, that is what I write...)
(You may note, in my reviews, that I don't write reams ordinarily about the plot, characters or theme. We have the outline available with the book here, and that is fair enough for my purposes. If something stands out particularly, I mention it. I like to know, after reading the précis, what others think in general and that is what will have me picking a book up when I am not too sure of it. So, that is what I write...)
February 25, 2013
Yay! I've finally interrupted my stint of picking not so great books to read. I enjoyed The Tenth Gift. It's almost like 3 books in one, going back and forth between the present and the very distant past. I found the main character of Julia Lovat to be only mildly annoying. Whenever a character refuses to listen or read something important just because she doesn't want to deal with it I find it frustrating, but overall I could live with her.
My real love is historical fiction so I was mostly fascinated with the part of the book that takes place in the 1600's.
This book has action, adventure, love, romance, and mystery. Definitely worth a read~
My real love is historical fiction so I was mostly fascinated with the part of the book that takes place in the 1600's.
This book has action, adventure, love, romance, and mystery. Definitely worth a read~
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