An exquisite rendering of the story behind the Rapunzel fairy tale.
Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. She is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of Bitter Greens ...
After Margherita's father steals a handful of parsley, wintercress and rapunzel from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off ... unless he and his wife give away their little girl.
Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-four years later. Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition.
Locked away in a tower, growing to womanhood, Margherita sings in the hope that someone will hear her. One day, a young man does ...
Three women, three lives, three stories, braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic and the redemptive power of love.
Bitter Greens
This book is a dark re-telling of the original Repunzel story. Forsyth is a great storyteller, creating a nice balance of history, dark magic, family and love, Despite being around 500 pages long it was not a chore to read. The story is faced paced and alters between three main characters. Each character is unique and all three stories blend seamlessly together. The love stories are heartbreakingly good, the dark magic is gritty and raw and the history is interesting and insightful. Forsyth has clearly done her research and her historical accuracy and attention to detail are spot on. Overall a great read. - Zena
QBD the bookshop, 10/05/2016
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
This was a fabulous read with a bit of everything history, romance, adventure and magic. It is the tale of three women, whose stories are beautifully interwoven and whose lives are enduringly connected, even though time and place divides them. Set in Italy and France, Forsyth takes you on a journey from the glittering Palace of Versailles, to seductive and mystical Venice, to a peaceful lake with a stone tower that has no way out and a girl that longs to escape. Forsyth has reinvented the classic Rapunzel and brought it new life in a way that is intriguing and captivating. It will draw you in from the beginning. Reviewed by 21dd
Guest, 25/09/2014
