Book Description
When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the Gaudy, the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies, and poison-pen letters, including one that says, Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup. Some of the notes threaten murder — and all are dreadful concoctions of a sick mind — yet in spite of their deplorable, criminal nature, the letters are perfectly worded. Soon, Harriet finds herself ensnared in a nightmare of romance and terror, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection, and those of her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey.
Customer Reviews:
Superlative all the way!.......2007-09-17
Lord Peter Wimsey is the urbane, civilized, gourmand, bon vivant sleuth created by Dorothy L. Sayers in the 30s. Yet the Gaudy is not totally about him. It is more Harriet Vane's book. Peter comes in later and as they say saves the day.
What a stupendous achievement! Twice the length of most detective stories of its day, this book boasts of no murder and keeps the interest in the book unflagging till the end. How did Ms. Sayers manage it? Simply by her wonderful writing skill, her command of the English language (next to none-puts Christie to shame)and her characters. Long before the women's lib movement, this spunky character braved public opinion, police scrutiny and nearly the hangman's noose, without losing her inflappable belief in herself. True, it reflected the author's own life but a character that Gloria Steinem would have revered.
Oxford, Shrewsbury College, Sayers' own alma mater, come to life like no one city and institution in the entire history of mystery fiction. Yes, Harriet is the heroine but Oxford is the crown prince. That is what distinguishes this book. It is more realized as a novel not just a detective story. Sadly, though the quality of writing remains the same, the next and last Wimsey novel with Harriet: Busman's Honeymoon, is overwritten and meandering. But that shows that Ms. Sayers was human, too.
The narration is typically British which adds to the enjoyment of this wonderful book.
A Dithering Mess.......2007-09-10
If you have enjoyed other Peter Winsey mysteries, you will be disappointed. The "crime" is a poison pen writer at (Harriet's alma mater, as if she is not competent to investigate anything more serious)
Manners and language of another age form an intrusive barrier to following the germ of plot through many vagaries - a most unsatisfying foray, yet testament to the waning influence of the English upper class system, despite the author's clear snobbery regarding lower class persons and tiresome pontificating about the 'role of women' . Having enjoyed other Sayers works, this one is a big null set.
The pleasure of the English language.......2007-05-08
It seems slow at first (compared with modern mysteries that seem start with a theft, murder or other violent action), but the use of the English language was so refreshing from today's norm that I continue to listen...and very glad that I did. Today's readers will probable find the character traits and social situations unrealistic -- no one argues so politely or maintains the same level of social manners in modern settings. If written by a more recent author it would probable be a psychological thriller with a romantic interest between the two main characters. As it is, the story line is lighter, the mystery is engaging and kept me guessing (all the clues are not provided until the end), yes there is a romantic interest between the two characters. I gave it 4 stars to be conservative but I'll revisit this story again, so it has my personal 5 star - it has my long term keeper rating.
Sayers at her best! And Ian Carmichael!.......2007-01-05
Gaudy Night is Sayers at her academic best. The more you read it, the more you get from it. The characters are delightful, and there is romance as well as detection. All this is brought to life by the expert narration of Ian Carmicheal. A treasure!
An Oxford reunion and ghostly murder.......2006-04-19
Dorothy L. Sayers' GAUDY NIGHT benefits from Ian Carmichael's pointed production: his BBC background lending accent and tension to the story of an Oxford reunion which involves mystery writer Harriet in a case of ghostly murder. Tension evolves quickly as murder turns to mayhem in this thriller.
Average customer rating:
- Reunion and Union
- A wonderful journey back to the Oxford of 1935.
- A perfect love story, comedy of manners, and almost perfect mystery
- No Lord Peter here
- Not A British Tea Cozy
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Gaudy Night
Dorothy L. Sayers
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 20th Century
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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British
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Sayers, Dorothy L.
| ( S )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Similar Items:
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Busman's Honeymoon
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Strong Poison
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Have His Carcase
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Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
-
The Nine Tailors
ASIN: 0060550228 |
Book Description
When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obsentities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters -- including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup." Some of the notes threaten murder; all are perfectly ghastly; yet in spite of their scurrilous nature, all are perfectly worded. And Harriet finds herself ensnared in a nightmare of romance and terror, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection, and those of her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey.
Customer Reviews:
Reunion and Union.......2007-09-21
Dorothy L. Sayers created perhaps one of the most whimsical and enigmatic detectives when she created Lord Peter Whimsy. While many of her tales may seem a little archaic nowadays, her writing is extremely intelligent, full of allusions and quotations that demonstrate the depth of her knowledge. "Gaudy Night" while definitely light in the appearances of Peter Whimsy, is a standout in Sayers' novels, well worth its length and wandering plot.
The story centers around Harriet Vane, the infamous detective writer who was accused of killing her lover, only to be cleared by Lord Peter. For the five years after that case, Lord Peter has been pursuing Harriet only to have her spurn him at every turn, yet they remainin companions. Harriet is invited to her Oxford reunion, and returns uncertain of what to expect. But once she is reunited with her old college, her desire for the days of old is magnified, especially when a disturbing mystery begins to unfold within the college. Harriet moves in, under the pretense of doing research, to investigate the person responsible for poison-pen letters and embarassing pranks. When the prankster proves too much for her, she asks for Peter's assistance, certain that he will uncover the culprit before anything fatal happens.
"Gaudy Night" is a lengthy meandering story for a mystery, but that is most likely due to the fact that the mystery is the subplot to the story. For this novel truly is focused on Harriet Vane and the discovery she must go through in order to understand who she is and what she wants out of life. Sayers is a gifted writer who can make even the most stuffiest characters come to life. Truth be told, the solution to the mystery is nothing fantastic, but the journey that Harriet embarks upon comes full circle to a sweet and fitting conclusion.
A wonderful journey back to the Oxford of 1935........2007-09-09
About her book "Gaudy Night," Dorothy L. Sayers had this to say:
"It would be idle to deny that the city and University of Oxford (in aeternum floreant) do actually exist...." But, "Shrewsbury College, with its dons, students and scouts, is entirely imaginary; nor are the distressing events described as taking place within its wall founded upon any events that have ever occurred anywhere. Detective-story writers are obliged by their disagreeable profession to invent startling and unpleasant incidents and people, and are (I presume) at liberty to imagine what might happen if such incidents and people were to intrude upon the life of an innocent and well-ordered community.... Certain apologies are, however, due from me: first to the University of Oxford, for having presented it ... with a college of 150 women students, in excess of the limit ordained by statute. Next, and with deep humility, to Balliol College--not only for having saddled it with so wayward an alumnus as Peter Wimsey, but also for my monstrous impertinence in having erected Shrewsbury College upon its spacious and sacred cricket-ground."
That passage will give you a feeling for Sayers' rather grand, even lofty (by detective story standards, anyway) prose style, as well as the tongue-in-cheek, in-your-eye amusement that lurks behind her formal persona.
When I first encountered Sayers and fell into a binge of reading her works, I was a teenager. With the breezy assurance of that age, I confidently ranked "Gaudy Night" as her feeblest work and "The Nine Tailors"--or maybe "Murder Must Advertise" as her best. If anyone at the time had asked me why I had done so, I would have pointed out that the mystery element was only a strand among many in "Gaudy Night," and far from the most important one. Moreover, I'd have said, it's a Lord Peter Wimsey novel and Wimsey doesn't even turn up until Chapter IV, after which he promptly disappears for a couple of hundred pages.
And yet, over the years when, for whatever reason, one of these books came to mind, I might think, "Murder Must Advertise," yes, very clever, Lord Peter writing ad copy and all that, or "The Nine Tailors," yes, very clever, those bells and all that. But for "Gaudy Night," my thoughts would more likely take this sort of turn: that Harriet Vane has some very odd ideas and notions. We certainly are beyond that sort of thing today--but I know some people who share most or all of those very some ideas and notions. They are walking anachronisms and yet, here they are, unquestionably my contemporaries. On some days, I even find myself agreeing with her and concluding that the lunatics have taken over our Twenty-first Century asylum.
Or consider Harriet Vane as a fictional character--amusing, humorless, witty, ponderous, brilliant, too often plodding Harriet. She is, of course, Dorothy L. Sayers (in every aspect that Sayers, herself, would regard as significant), pinned on the pages of the book like some strange sort of moth, a speciment preserved and displayed for the examination of the ages.
I recently encountered a 1944, wartime edition of "Gaudy Night" in a bookshop window. On its copyright page, it proudly bore the motto, "Books are weapons in the war of ideas." The book was published in an era of tight paper rationing and extreme austerity, but what a wonderfully sensuous volume it was with its thick, creamy paper, exquisite printing, wide margins and excellent commercial binding in dark blue book cloth. I snapped it up (how could I not?), and read it that evening. It was, I suppose, my fifth or sixth journey through the book.
I am no longer a teenager (alas), and I no longer consider "Gaudy Night" to be Sayers' feeblest work. It might very well be her best: better than "Murder Must Advertise," better than "The Nine Tailors" and certainly much better than the workmanlike (but no more) translation of Dante for which she abandoned her true literary vocation in her final years.
Some mystery fans downgrade "Gaudy Night" because it is a weak mystery novel. A couple of such fans are to be found right here among the Amazon reviewers of the book. They are quite right. It is a weak mystery novel. It is, in fact, just a novel, but a very good one.
The true peers of "Gaudy Night" are not such classic mysteries as Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" or Marsh's "A Man Lay Dying," but English academic novels, the likes of Amis' "Lucky Jim" or Snow's "The Masters." If the literary arena is widened to include plays, then "Gaudy Night" shares space with "The Browning Version" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Here is Dorothy L. Sayers again, this time as Sayers the novelist:
"Harriet Vane sat at her writing-table and stared out into Mecklenburg Square.... A letter lay open on the blotting-pad before her, but its image had faded from her mind to make way for another picture. She saw a stone quadrangle, built by a modern architect in a style neither new or old, stretching out reconciling hands to past and present. Folded within its walls lay a trim grass plot, with flower-beds splashed at the angles, and surrounded by a stone plinth. Behind the level roofs of Cotswold slate rose the brick chimneys of an older and less formal pile of buildings--a quadrangle also of a kind, but still keeping a domestic remembrance of the original Victorian dwelling-houses that had sheltered the first shy students of Shrewsbury College....
"Memory peopled the quad with moving figures. Students sauntering in pairs. Students dashing to lectures, their gowns hitched hurriedly over light summer frocks, the wind jerking their flat caps into the absurd likeness of so many jesters' coxcombs. Bicycles stacked in the porters' lodge, their carriers piled with books and gowns twisted about their handle-bars. A grizzled woman don crossing the turf with vague eyes.... Tall spikes of delphiniums against the grey, quiveringly blue like flames. The college cat, preoccupied and remote, stalking with tail erect in the direction of the buttery."
Five stars (with flower-beds splashed at the angles, of course.)
A perfect love story, comedy of manners, and almost perfect mystery.......2007-06-12
This is simply the best book written by Dorothy Sayers, and in my opinion, one of the best books I have ever read (and I read well over a hundred books a year). I read it periodically when I need to cleanse my palate after some of the pap being published today; when I am sad or need something comforting and lovely to cheer me; when I am trolling my shelves for an oldie but goodie. Sadly, the setting and language have made some of my friends reject it. But for anyone who loves British literature or wants to read the thoughts of a university educated feminist of 80 years ago, this is the book. Peter and Harriet's love story is all about finding love and equality, respect, and intelligence.
I admit, the mystery itself is not perfectly plotted, but is handled well, and is, besides, only the framework for this lovely comedy of manners. It might help to read Strong Poison first- then you get the opening and closing of the courtship.
No Lord Peter here.......2007-06-03
For a recent trip to England, I decided to stock up on books by English authors and read them during the trip. I saw that Gaudy Night was set in Oxford and since I was staying there for a few nights it seemed particularly appropriate. The glowing reviews for Dorothy Sayers in general and this book in particular made me hopeful I would like it even though I had never tried her work before.
Despite being part of the Lord Peter Wimsey series, this book really isn't about him. The story follows Harriet Vane as she attempts to uncover the identity of a person writing mean-spirited letters to faculty and students at the fiction Shrewsbury College at Oxford University. For a while, I expected a murder but the story meanders along with nothing more menacing than a little vandalism for virtually all of its 500 pages. The only real tension in the story comes from the bickering of the female professors with each other as they debate topics that may have been interesting 50 years ago but are wholly irrelevant today (e.g. educated women are traitors to their gender if they get married and stop working). These debates and dissertations tend to be quite lengthy and do nothing to advance the story.
My biggest problem with Gaudy Night is that it is really not a mystery story at all. Murder mysteries are a well-established genre but here we have nothing more than a "poison pen mystery" and after reading it I know why that genre has definitely not established itself as a force in literature. There is no real tension, nothing at stake except the possibility of a scandal for the school and after listening to these people bicker forever and a day I found that I really didn't care if they had to endure a scandal or not. Harriet spends a lot of time chasing shadows at night but does very little real investigating and figures out virtually nothing on her own. Lord Peter comes into the story in a meaningful way only toward the end and delivers the solution on a silver platter in a deus-ex-machina ending that is wholly unsatisfying.
It is obvious judging from the rapturous reviews that this book is a big hit with fans of Dorothy Sayers. I can only say that as a first time reader, I would strongly recommend other newcomers to try another of her novels as an entry point. My favorite parts of this book were those where Lord Peter was actually in the scene and her other books would almost certainly feature him far more prominently. I would recommend this book only for true fans of Sayers and Lord Peter.
Not A British Tea Cozy.......2006-11-10
Dorothy Sayers is no more "just a mystery writer" than is Josephine Tey or P.D. James. Gaudy Night is brilliant in its portrayal of the insidiousness that suspicion has in a closed community. Each reading brings a new insight, as any good piece of literature should.
Book Description
Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault evoke the beauty and the mystery, and the sounds and the silences-- of rain.Listen to the rain,the whisper of the rain,the slow soft sprinkle,the drip-drop tinkle,the first wet whisper of the rain.Their marvelous ear for the melodies and rhythm of language, combined with James Endicott's spare, almost abstract paintings, have created a lyrical book with a haunting power-- perfect for reading aloud on a rainy day.An NCTE Notable Trade Book for the Language Arts.
Customer Reviews:
A mesmeric, lovely book........2001-08-25
I had this book when I was a child, and although we lost our copy a few years back, I still remember both the words and the pictures in almost perfect detail- it's that amazing. "Listen to the Rain" is evocative and beautiful. Captivating paintings interweave with words which are utterly beautiful in their rhythms and their fanciful, yet dead-on descriptions of the rain. This is an absolutely wonderful book, for both children and adults. When I was young, it was one of my favourites; I would read it with my sister, over and over, and it was one of the books which our parents actually enjoyed reading to us. It's one of the best children's books out there; not silly, not serious, just real.
Customer Reviews:
Good Romantic Read.......2005-06-29
[...]
Abigail Ashton had a weakness for injured animals and hotheaded cowboys. So when she found both a lame horse and rodeo rider Russ Gannon at Louret Vineyards, she decided to extend her vacation. Abby may have come to Louret to find the family she'd never known, but she'd stay for the pleasure only Russ could bring her.
Russ was a glorified farmhand and part-time rodeo star - not the kind of man that usually dated socialites. But Abigail was not high maintenance, not self-involved. What she was was hot. And she made him hotter just thinking about her. But he had to ask himself a question: What could he possibly offer an Ashton virgin?
Dynasties: The Ashtons - A family built on lies...brought together by dark, passionate secrets.
Average customer rating:
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DYNASTIES - THE ASHTONS (Set of 12 Books) - ENTANGLED /A RARE SENSATION /SOCIETY-PAGE SEDUCTION /JUST A TASTE /AWAKEN THE SENSES /ESTATE AFFAIR /BETRAYED BIRTHRIGHT /MISTAKEN FOR A MISTRESS /CONDITION OF MARRIAGE /THE HIGHEST BIDDER /SAVOR THE SEDUCTION
Eileen;;DeNosky, Kathie ;Child, Maureen ;Jameson, Bronwyn ;Singh, Nalini ;Orwig, Sara ;Whitefeather, Sheri ;Gold, Kristi ;Rose, Emilie ;St. Claire, Roxanne ;Wright, Laura ;McCauley, Barbara Wilks
Manufacturer: Silhouette Desire
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IP9UG2 |
Book Description
Like an unstoppable cosmic storm, the dreaded Genesis Wave sweeps across the Alpha Quadrant, transforming planets on a molecular level and threatening entire civilizations with extinction.
To combat the rushing terror of the wave, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise have been forced into a tense alliance with the Klingon and Romulan Empires, both of which crave the forbidden secrets of the Genesis technology for themselves. Now the finest minds of three civilizations must race against time to find some way to halt the deadly wave before yet another world is transformed into something alien and unrecognizable....
The bestselling saga continues!
Download Description
After the death of the Genesis Planet a century ago, Starfleet destroyed all data regarding Project Genesis. Now, a mysterious wave of energy is sweeping across the Alpha Quadrant, wiping out entire planets. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the "Enterprise" crew discover the threat--and become endangered as well.
Product Description
Three mass market paperbacks.
Book Description
In Matthew, Jesus commands his disciples to, "Raise the Dead". These resurrected Immortals are living among us. Personal encounters with Immortals, practical steps to immortality and the truth about the greatest "mistake" in human history are revealed in this book.
Customer Reviews:
At last! A manual that really points the way.......2007-01-23
Many people wander around for ages, going here, there and everywhere in search of a path that satisfies their spiritual thirst and really shows the way to mastery. The beauty of this book is that it provides an effective guide to the key things that one must do to achieve mastery and physical immortality and, best of all, gives the reader an opportunity not just to wet the spiritual appetite by reading the book, but to put the principles into practice and even take classes at the author's online school (as I did).
An attractive feature is the simplicity and directness of the author's style and her ability to make difficult concepts easy to understand. There is an invaluable glossary of terms following the four main parts into which the book is divided.
The age old questions concerning the nature of God and creation, touched upon in a usually obscure manner in many religious texts, are discussed in Part One, along with the emergence of man, his glory and fall and an assessment of his current situation. Part Two deals with Jesus' true mission and promise for the Golden Age. The author does not pull her punches in placing man squarely at the centre of, and being responsible for, creating his own reality, also covered in Part Two.
Parts Three and Four comprise the main sections of the book. Those who are serious about their spiritual development would welcome in Part Three, the insights into the roles that motivation and ego play, as well as the presentation and explanation of a number of key tools for accelerating one's development.
Part Four provides an extended introduction to the Sacred Fire and an explanation of the differences between Ascended Masters and Immortals and between ascension and resurrection. A fascinating account of the Seven Levels of Spiritual Growth, which gives one a better understanding of humanity and the human condition, is given.
The book thoroughly deserves five stars. The serious reader will not only love it for many of the reasons stated above, particularly for its explanation of the condition of man in this "reality" and how to master it as well as the Sacred Fire and how to employ it in our lives, but will, I am sure, recommend it to his or her more discerning friends and colleagues.
A "must read".
Bernard
5 stars is not enough.......2006-12-22
I give this book five stars because it just does not go any further.
I'm reading this book now for the second time and it realy blows me away.
To me a whole different world opens up by reading this book.
On the very few bad reviews this book has here there are certainly some very liberal new agers that have turn words around to make this book look bad (ZORAN FROM MELBOURNE , YOU ARE SUCH A LIER).
Thank you jhershierra for writing an absolute masterpiece that is easy to read and written in a no-nonsense style.
Michel
Best Book Ever.......2006-08-16
This book is the best book I've read on gaining immortality in this lifetime. I took the classes too that she offers for those who are serious and really wish to work on their spiritual growth. The author is obviously operating at master level awareness and every person serious in growing and learning all thing immortal (and spiritual) should buy this book.
Jeff
Mapquest for Spiritual Growth.......2005-11-09
Jhershierra is a very comprehensive and competent teacher of a topic many of us search for but find it hard to believe. This book, while containig some things that are hard to accept the first time you read it, offers a blueprint that not only brings together many of lifes spiritual questions but also offers the reader a simple to understand path to making it work for them.
This book has made a very real difference in my life and hope it will make a similar difference in yours.
A book to Challenge and Awaken.......2005-11-06
This is a book for those who are ready to enrich their minds in solid Truths, not fairy tales. For those who are ready to have their limited beliefs completely shattered in the process.
What is written will feed both mind and soul and change all perception of the world around us for any that truly aspire and apply what is read into their lives.
There are things written by the author, that really will challenge all previous conceptions of society for many that read it. And for many, being challenged with the very things we have for so long identified with, is difficult when we're surrounded by so many social, religious and political structures...it takes time and effort to break those down.
It was hard for me, very hard when I first started to read this book. In fact, for a while I put it down, but determined to finish and to understand I read through it, and with time and patience, I came to see my perceptions and social programming alter to a level that my life is now changed forever. Changed for the better.
This is not a self-help book that strokes the ego and tells us what we want to hear. This is a book that will shatter that ego so that it will no longer need to be stroked. Providing of course, we use the information within it. It isn't enough to just sit and read. What has been written needs to be applied and put into practice.
Action on what is read makes all the difference.
And this is not a book that anyone who actually reads it without tainted bias would, in error, judge as "New Age".
This is a book for those that are actually ready for the next step. This is a book for those that are not satisfied anymore with the feel-good New Age books that basically cover everything to occupy the mind on a spiritual level but don't actually CHALLENGE you to look to the Highest Source for spiritual empowerment, and then in the process show you the tools to equip and EMPOWER YOURSELF.
I'm one of millions who have spent years searching for spiritual Truth in a whole array of different books.
That search ended when I opened 'The Resurrected Dead, Now Immortal, Live Among Us: a Manual for Immortality' for the first time.
A* for both Book and Author
Books:
- Gone Fishin': Featuring an Original Easy Rawlins Short Story "Smoke" (Easy Rawlins Mysteries)
- Grace at Bender Springs: A Novel
- Hardboiled and Hard Luck
- Harvey & Eck
- Heathen Girls
- Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- How Like an Angel: A Novel (Sweetwater Fiction: Originals)
- I Am Madame X: A Novel
- Imani All Mine
Books Index
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Strong Poison: A Lord Peter Wimsey and Harrie Vane Mystery
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Busman's Honeymoon (BBC Audio Collection: Crime)
