Not quite as good as TAGD | Now Face to Face: A Novel

This can't be the end | Now Face to Face: A Novel | Karleen Koen

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	• Now Face to Face: A Novel Karleen Koen Three Rivers Press, 2008 - 734 pages average customer review:based on 47 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ehhhh

I could not wait to get my hands on this book. Through a Glass Darkly was one of the best books that I have read in months (and I read alot). Now Face to Face is a good book but it doesn't live up to the standards that the first book set in place. Now Face to Face is very political and is a little hard to follow in some places if you are not familiar with 18th century England.

Not quite as good as TAGD

After the death of her husband, Barbara is beside herself with grief. Her grandmother, the Duchess of Tamworth, offers her the chance to go to Colonial Virginia to check out her newly acquired tobacco plantation. We follow Barbara to the new world where she learns all she can about the tobacco farming and we get to meet some new and interesting characters, my favorite being Colonel Perry. Barbara eventually returns to England after receiving some letters from back home that there are new adventures afoot. She returns to England and finds herself in the midst of Jacobite investigations.

I think I would have liked this book more had it not been for the ending. The end scene was about one of supporting characters, not Barbara. In turn, I did not have that sense of "closure" so to say. I always like how a book wraps up everything nice and neat for you at the end. And after finishing the book, you walk away content, knowing your new friend will be well. I didn't have that with this and it was a little disappointing.

Another thing that bothered me was that there were a lot of things not followed up on or worked out...a lot of open issues...which leads me to believe that that there may be another sequel?!

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This can't be the end

I feel like a possible romance between Barbara and Tony had been building since TAGD. Otherwise, why make him better looking, becoming more and more like his grandfather (i.e. worthy of the title of "duke") and the constant mention of similarities between Barbara and her grandmother. I imagined that the epic romance of Alice and Richard would be re-invented through Barbara and Tony. Anyway, I hope that comes to fruition in a sequel. Otherwise, I'd say I'm dissatified if this is the conclusion.

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Mirella Patzer's Review of Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen

Now Face to Face: A Novel

Now Face to Face is the sequel to Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen.

Georgian England is a time of tumultuous upheaval. A powerful Jacobite conspiracy to usurp King George and enthrone the last Stuart claimant, Jamie, in place of King George, is at the centre of conflict in this tale.

In this second novel, newly widowed, Lady Barbara Devane is sent to Virginia in the New World as a reprieve from the South Sea Bubble, a scandal that caused financial devastation throughout all of London that involved her late husband. Barbara was forced to sell almost everything she owned in order to make restitution. As a reprieve from the devastation this wrought upon her life, her grandmother, the Duchess of Tamworth, sends her to the New World requiring her to run First Curle, her tobacco plantation.

Barbara is a high society noblewoman in the wilds of the new colony. Thrilled to have a member of the nobility in their midst, Barbara causes a stir with both the men and women of the colony. The women vie for a glimpse of her high fashioned clothing and cultured manners. The men wish to garner her good graces to further their political alliances. No one believes the "fragile black butterfly" possesses what it takes to successfully run a profitable plantation.

But they are wrong. Barbara is determined to make First Curle a top producing tobacco plantation. In so doing, she must come to terms with the realities and harshness of life in the colony - slavery, tobacco, and illegal smuggling. While she learns the ins and outs of growing tobacco and running a profitable business, subversion surrounds her. Unbeknownst to Barbara, her young African servant, Hyacinthe, accidently discovers a terrible secret. When tragedy strikes, it shatters Barbara's illusion and dreams to build a new life. With great controversy, she frees her slaves, leaves a freed prisoner in charge of the plantation, and returns to England.

Turmoil awaits her in England. The after-effects of the South Sea Bubble that consisted of the financial speculations that caused financial devastation to numerous investors, and ruined Barbara's life, continue to plague her. Barbara soon learns that family and friends are entrenched in sedition. Worse still, she cannot help but be drawn into the treachery.

Through a Glass Darkly was a favourite book of mine, so it was with great enthusiasm that I read Now Face to Face. Once again, Karleen Koen does not disappoint. Koen's prose is colourful and thorough as she brings the multi dimensional characters to life. The creation of suspense, the many various plot twists, and duplicitous characters engaged me to the last page.

Neatly encompassed in the multi-faceted plot are the issues of the time - rebellion, political unrest, slavery, and illegal smuggling. Murder and intrigue are also prominent in this richly complex tale.
In order to receive the full benefit and enjoyment of this story, I highly recommend readers read Through a Glass Darkly first. Now Face to Face is a continuation and it relies heavily upon the characters and circumstances of the first novel.

If you are looking for a book that will capture and hold you entranced from start to finish, then this is a must read. Treachery, betrayal, evil, disloyalty, and love are strong elements throughout. With every page, the characters changed, some for the better, some for the worse. It is a story of struggle and survival and the power of one woman to overcome. I highly recommend this novel to all historical fiction aficionados.

Mirella Patzer
Author
Bloodstone Castle
http://www.mirellapatzer.com
http://www.bloodstonecastle.blogspot.com

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The unforgettable sequel to Karleen Koen?s beloved debut, Through a Glass Darkly

A Book-of-the-Month Club main selection

A bride at ?fteen, widowed at the tender age of twenty, Barbara, Countess Devane, embarks for colonial Virginia ?nancially ruined by the death of her husband in scandalous circumstances. Dressed in mourning as is proper for a woman, she is patronizingly described as a ?fragile black butterfly,? but the fragility is deceiving. She makes a place for herself in the new world, takes lovers and friends across political divides, and questions the established traditions of slavery. Facing enemies she never suspected, she must return to England and deal face to face with the problems created by her husband, who haunts her even in death. Back in London, she quickly ?nds herself pulled into Jacobite plotting, and the treachery of powerful men suddenly threatens her family, her friends?and a new love.

Now Face to Face sweeps readers from eighteenth-century America to London and brings both worlds to vivid life. It is a magni?cent evocation of an era, from the plantations of Virginia to Hanoverian England.

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