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A review by camilleisreading24
A Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates
5.0
Awesome book!! 752 pages so it took me about 2 and a half months to read (especially with Netflix, Audible, and podcasts taking up so much of my time these days).
Takes place in America (mainly Pennsylvania) in the Gilded Age, specifically 1879-1899. Follows the 5 daughters of the Zinn family, all of whom defect from social mores over the years.
Opens with the abduction of the youngest (adopted) daughter, Deirdre, by hot air balloon. She later becomes one of the most famous psychic mediums of all time. Another daughter runs away to become an actress. One girl elopes while another flees her marital bed and reappears many years later after undergoing a major bodily alteration.
The book is told in Victorian prose but takes diverse and fascinating subjects including transsexuality, substance abuse, and the decades-long attempts by the family patriarch, JQZ, to perfect his perpetual-motion machine. Fascinating and enthralling book that combines romance, literature, and history.
Takes place in America (mainly Pennsylvania) in the Gilded Age, specifically 1879-1899. Follows the 5 daughters of the Zinn family, all of whom defect from social mores over the years.
Opens with the abduction of the youngest (adopted) daughter, Deirdre, by hot air balloon. She later becomes one of the most famous psychic mediums of all time. Another daughter runs away to become an actress. One girl elopes while another flees her marital bed and reappears many years later after undergoing a major bodily alteration.
The book is told in Victorian prose but takes diverse and fascinating subjects including transsexuality, substance abuse, and the decades-long attempts by the family patriarch, JQZ, to perfect his perpetual-motion machine. Fascinating and enthralling book that combines romance, literature, and history.