Book
The obsession
Record details
- ISBN: 9780593034798
- ISBN: 9780684842417
- ISBN: 0593034791
- ISBN: 0684842416
-
Physical Description:
print
317 p. ; 24 cm. - Publisher: London ; New York : Bantam, 1995.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Fathers and daughters -- Fiction Inheritance and succession -- Fiction Monomania -- Fiction |
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Domestic fiction. |
| Topic Heading: | AF |
Available copies
- 4 of 4 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 4 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Rupert Library | COOK (Text) | 33294000873729 | Adult Fiction - Second Floor | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #2 May 1997
Cookson will continue to please fans worldwide with her latest tale of intrigue, unrequited love, and extreme passions. Miss Beatrice Penrose-Steel celebrates her twenty-first birthday in style with her family gathered around her. As the eldest of four daughters, Beatrice assumed control of the house after her mother's death. While the three youngest plan to escape by any means, including marriage, Beatrice enjoys directing the servants, dusting imaginary spots of dirt, and trying to please her beloved father, Simon. When Simon is killed in a freak accident, the ugly truth about his financial condition surfaces: he is heavily in debt to gamblers and moneylenders who hold a mortgage on the house. Beatrice, devastated by the revelations, ruthlessly destroys her family's remaining happiness in an effort to maintain her grip on the house and on appearances. Her whole life is built on one obsession after another, but even her family is shocked by the lengths to which she will go to get her way. The Obsession follows Cookson's other popular novels, particularly The Rag Nymph (1993) and The Year of the Virgins (1995), and is a featured alternate of the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. Expect high demand from customers who can't get enough of Cookson's masterful storytelling. ((Reviewed May 15, 1997)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1997 March
Wildly popular in Britain and attracting an ever bigger following here, Cookson delivers the tale of an heiress who stands to lose the estate she has been managing. Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1997 June
Beatrice Steel's fanatic devotion to her family's north-country estate and to her unscrupulous father alienates her three sisters. The two oldest, Marion and Helen, escape by marrying. After the father's death reveals that his gambling and whoring have bankrupted the family, Beatrice's obsession only grows. Through deception, she convinces her youngest sister's fiancé to break his engagement so that Rosie will be forced to remain at home. Then Beatrice manipulates her own marriage to the local doctor, John Falconer, whose real love rests with Helen. Intriguing subplots, interesting and well-developed major and minor characters, and strong narrative movement demonstrate Cookson's (The Year of the Virgins, LJ 3/1/95) mastery of the historical romance. Although the happy outcomes for Rosie, Helen, and John are unsurprising, the journey there is well worth the read. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/97.] Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn. Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1997 June #1
Set in England, this story of a wicked woman's vengeful drive to control her family estate is another in popular romance novelist Cookson's (The Rag Nymph) formulaic but eventful tales. When Doctor John Falconer attends strong-willed Beatrice Steel's 21st birthday celebration, he falls in love with Beatrice's beautiful younger sister, Helen. Fate is not kind, however, because she is set to marry another. Later, when Simon Steel, the father of Beatrice, Helen and two other daughters, is murdered, Beatrice, the eldest daughter, channels her jealous, controlling spirit into Pine Hurst, which she inherits. Burdened with the old man's debts and the revelation of his gambling, womanizing ways, Beatrice sets about keeping her youngest sister, Rosie, from marrying and leaving her alone. Devastated, Rosie is comforted by Robbie McIntosh and his mother, who live next door to Pine Hurst on a bit of land deeded to them by the Steel girls' grandfather. When the doctor rents a small house on the estate for his arthritis-stricken mother, Beatrice shows a softer side, and John marries her after a tipsy Christmas Eve proposal. Soon, however, he finds that she is spiteful and evil. As the good doctor struggles to abide his marriage, Helen reappears with her dying husband, who asks John to look after her, a request that is to have violent consequences. Although Cookson knows how to tell an absorbing tale, she allows Beatrice to remain disappointingly two-dimensional, her strange bitterness and isolation left unexamined. This, however, is unlikely to deter Cookson's huge following. Doubleday Book Club featured alternate; Literary Guild alternate. (July) Copyright 1998 Publishers Weekly Reviews
