Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Winged horse (Frankau) 311

The winged horse was a kind gift from Heather who reads this blog and I wasted no time in getting around to reading it. I'd read Frankau's The willow cabin earlier in the year, without many expectations and had greatly enjoyed it, and was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately, although it was quite a good read, it was not in my opinion as enjoyable as The willow cabin. In some ways this may reflect where Frankau was in her career; The willow cabin was written aged 19 and was her first published book; The winged horse was written in her late 40s, and was quite a different read - a more intricate plot line and more complex prose.

The story involves a number of characters, but it revolves around the newspaper tycoon JG Baron and his children and those that work for him. He is successful and those around him seem to lead a charmed life, but under the surface things are not quite so; Celia his eldest daughter is trapped in an unhappy marriage and then filing for divorce, another son is killed, another daughter struggles to live up to the perfection that her father believes she has.

Has anyone else read both The winged horse and The willow cabin? If so, how did you feel that they compare? Must read A wreath for the enemy which is her final VMC and see what I think of that.

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