- Hardcover: 444 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (January 1992)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671501496
- ISBN-13: 978-0671501495
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,317,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
As she did in Lace and Savages , Conran here spins a dramatic story tracing the lives of several women, here the members of the O'Dare family. Serving as a nurse in WW I, Elinor Dove meets and marries charming Billy O'Dare, whose continuing cruelty both shames and arouses her. Borrowing from the life of Colette, Conran gives manipulative, feckless Billy the inspiration of locking Elinor in a room to force her to write a novel. To no reader's surprise, Elinor becomes wildly successful, rich and famous. She also raises three gorgeous granddaughters on whom she bestows all the material advantages she once lacked. After Billy's drunken death, she passes control of her money to family friend Adam Grant. When Elinor falls ill, family rifts develop, marriages crumble, businesses and fortunes are undermined--and Adam is pulling the strings, since Elinor has neglected to instill in her granddaughters faith in their ability to take care of themselves. Though this rags-to-riches tale, set in London, Los Angeles, New York and the south of France, has the requisite touches of glamour and glitz, it is never truly compelling. Moreover, readers may be distanced by the female characters' overwhelming passivity. 200,000 first printing; first serial to Cosmopolitan; author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A wealthy romance writer, her three English granddaughters, and the dastardly lawyer who attempts to destroy them all are featured in Conran's new two-generation saga--as businesslike and unsuspenseful as Lace (1982), and as destined for mega-promotion. Elinor O'Dare suffers the disadvantage of having grown up in America, the daughter of a brutish father and his submissive wife, but she manages to make something of herself nevertheless as a WW I Red Cross nurse, the steadfast wife of an upper-class English layabout, and, finally, one of the world's most successful romance writers. Charged with raising her three granddaughters after the death of her only son, old-fashioned O'Dare leans on attorney and family friend Joe Grant for advice and emotional support. When Joe dies his son, Adam, takes over Elinor's financial affairs, and so the O'Dare clan's tragic fate is practically sealed. As Conran reveals much too early in this lengthy yarn, handsome, coldhearted Adam is a compulsive gambler with steadily mounting debts. Thus it comes as no surprise to anyone but the four O'Dare women (the granddaughters include Clare, the judgmental prude; Annabel, the beautiful airhead; and Miranda, the feisty businesswoman) that Adam soon has his hand in the till. As the O'Dares marry, separate, and reunite with an assortment of virtually interchangeable men, they blithely ignore Adam's gambling addiction--but the discovery that he's bisexual serves to remove the veil of idealism from their eyes. Adam is booted out of Miranda's and Annabel's beds; Elinor is delivered from a prison-like nursing home; and the O'Dares are rescued from--horrors!--life with only a minimal financial cushion. For their own money, readers get: the Cannes Film Festival, a palace in southern France, the New York modeling scene, swinging- Sixties London, Europe during WW I, much discussion of love and the importance of female orgasm, and an avalanche of detail on how trust funds operate. Conran should do well, as always. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Women's Empowerment or Glorifying Bad Conduct--You Make the Call, Sep 12 2010
By Mr Vic aka "The CR Reader" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Crimson (Paperback)
This novel, now nearly 20 years old, is a lenghty chronicle of the life of Elinor O'Dare, the fictional romance novelist at the center of the story, along with her best friend and three grandaughters.I won't cover the plot--you can read Publishers Weekly and Kirkus reviews for the details--but will just mention that one of the key themes is the growth and development of the lead female characters as their lives progress.
The Kirkus review mentions that "Crimson" isn't suspenseful, but I don't think the author, Shirley Conran, necessarily intended it to be that particular style. In my eyes, it is simply a well thought out, boldly told, interesting chronicle of the lives of the five females at the heart of the book. As a solid background to the main story line, Ms Conran includes a rather large sum of historical references which add to the plot's intrigue, beginning around World War I and extending through the end of the book in the late 1960's.
I must say I don't agree with the message relayed to the reader near the very end of the book. I won't discuss the specifics so as not to spoil the surprise for any potential readers, but will just say that seriously bad conduct is both glorified and justified. I think the intention of this aspect is to show the lead character overcoming self-doubt by becoming stronger and wiser, but I feel it is the wrong message to those reading the story who might find themselves in a similar situation in real life.
Having said all that, however, I still think it is a worth the read, especially for fans of the fictional romance genre.
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