Forever Amber | Kathleen Winsor

Forever Amber | Kathleen Winsor | Best book I ever read!

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Forever Amber

	Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor Chicago Review Press, 2000 - 976 pages average customer review:based on 152 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare manages, by using her wits, beauty, and courage, to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in Restoration England?that of favorite mistress of the Merry Monarch, Charles II. From whores and highwaymen to courtiers and noblemen, from events such as the Great Plague and the Fire of London to the intimate passions of ordinary?and extraordinary?men and women, Amber experiences it all. But throughout her trials and escapades, she remains, in her heart, true to the one man she really loves, the one man she can never have. Frequently compared to Gone with the Wind, Forever Amber is the other great historical romance, outselling every other American novel of the 1940s?despite being banned in Boston for its sheer sexiness. A book to read and reread, this edition brings back to print an unforgettable romance and a timeless masterpiece.

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Non stop reading

A friend of mine got me into historical romances. I am more interested in the history behind it then the romance but I have to say that Forever Amber was such a page turner. You can't help but to adore Amber, be repulsed by her, feel sorry for her, be excited with her.
I love this book and I am looking for more like it. I found this one in a trade in book store and boy am I glad I did. Excellent reading.

Best book I ever read!

I have to say that this is by far the BEST book that I have ever read in my life. If you are debating whether to buy it, don't even think twice about it. Trust me, you won't be sorry. I fell in love with Amber from the very beginning of the book. Her strength and determination to survive is inspiring. I did feel like slapping her when she begged Bruce Carlton for his love. Still, her love for Bruce is something you will never forget. I can't believe I had this book for a year before I read it. The minute I finished the book I came online convinced that there was a sequel. No such luck! However, there is a movie that was made in 1947.

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Needs a Sequel

If ever a book was written that required a sequel, it was this one.
Sixteen year old Amber St. Clare, ward of a yeoman farmer and his wife, falls instantly in love with a handsome cavalier who happened to stop by her tiny village for refreshment. Almost immediately, she surrenders her virtue to him and begs him to take her to London. "I won't ever marry you, Amber," he states and he keeps his word in spite of fathering three of her children over a ten year period. During his numerous absences, she manages to land in Newgate Prison for indebtedness, be rescued by a notorious highwayman, marry several men for their money or titles, take up a tarnished career as an actress and become one of King Charles II's favourite mistresses.

(Warning--could be a spoiler here)

Throughout it all, she maintains her love for the devastatingly handsome, Bruce Carlton. To my mind, Lord Carlton is the real villain of the piece. His vacillating between his obsession with her beauty and his desire to marry "quality" is annoying and unfortunately the "undoing" of Amber. It is a sad commentary of what a woman alone in that period had to do to get along in the world. She may have become hardened and scheming due to her circumstances, but she more than proved her mettle during the terrible London plague. I wonder if Kathleen Winsor or her estate has ever had any thoughts of a follow-up novel.

For all it was banned in Boston in the 1940s because of Amber's immoral life style,there is nothing explicit or graphic in this book. I could have liked it immensely, simply for the wonderful research the author did with regard to the 17th century Stuart Restoration period. One experiences that time and place as in no other book I have read about the era. As it is, like many other readers, I hated the ending which left me with an overriding feeling of aggravation.

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Emotionally Spending

I read this book based on recommendations since readers often compare its Amber to my favorite heroine, Scarlet O'hara. I differ. I think Amber mostly reminds me of Thackery's Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair) - someone I sometimes route for (when I can manage to feel sorry for her), but most the time I route against. I'll save a plot synopsis for other reviewers. There are only two words to describe my feelings while reading this novel...emotionally spent. This book is a delicious page-turner, yet I felt wretched, exhausted, tight, and anxious after every chapter. In that regard, Winsor accomplished what a great auther should - a stirring of emotions (but, the unhealthy kind). I think the only character in this novel without an ice-heart was Catherine of Braganza (and I grieve for her). Winsor's description of the Restoration is intriguing: she paints a picture of a period in which there is no conscience, no morals, and no integrity. I ponder why the world didn't self-destruct in the 1600s. The Plague didn't even affect a change in (the court's) lifestyles. Winsor taught me more about that period than I ever knew. All I can say is that I'm greatful, for once, that this is only a book; I sincerely don't yearn to experience any of it for myself.

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One view of Restoration England

I should start this review by mentioning that I first read this book 40 years ago at the age of 11 or 12. As a consequence, I fell in love with the history of the restoration period and developed a weakness for fictional heroes with dark hair and green eyes. I have read the novel twice since, and while it has ceased to have that same early attraction I will be forever grateful for the presentation of this period of history as it led me in the direction of more serious study.

I've found that the novel itself doesn't quite hold the same attraction on reread: the fictional characters seemed less appealing. Amber St. Clare herself reminds me of her literary descendant Scarlett O'Hara, with her opportunistic manipulation of people and events. Alas, Bruce Carlton does not have many of the redeeming qualities of Rhett Butler. However, the attention to historical detail, the inclusion of the Great Fire of London and the Plague, the introduction of various historical personages from King Charles II himself and Barbara Castlemaine and many others made this period come to life for me and my interest in the period has never waned.

First published over 60 years ago, it is perhaps the style of writing and characterization that dates the novel for more modern readers. And yet, any novel that can bring a period of history to life by using the historical framework sympathetically, by peopling it with characters who are memorable (albeit for all of the wrong reasons), and thereby creating a thirst for a knowledge of this period that has yet to be entirely slaked is still worth considering.

As a childhood and young adult reader, I would have awarded this novel 5 stars. In my more senior and critical years, I will award it 3. In my own way, I am no more constant than Amber.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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