Excellent, at the top of its category.
The book is, as we expect from Holt, interesting with the customary mysterious buildings and ruins, the intriguing characters with the dark pasts, the sense of fear and dread and the eventual, startling, unexpected conclusion. However, I did not particuarly like the last chapter, which appeared to be an after-thought, a whole other separate study, as if it belonged to a collection of short stories or in a folder of experimental jottings. Having said that, Legend of the Seventh Virgin is still a great Holt, a mysterious, slightly subversive Gothic which courageously plays a game with the author's own rules and ways. If you are studying the development of the Gothic romance through the ages, you should try to refer to this book as well as to Holt's "Mistress of Mellyn" to sufficently represent her work in this genre. It is dissatisfactory in some ways, but as a friend said:
"I thought it was an interesting twist upon the Gothic plot. The characters didn't deserve the fates that would normally befall them. So they didn't"
"I thought it was an interesting twist upon the Gothic plot. The characters didn't deserve the fates that would normally befall them. So they didn't"
One of Victoria Holt's oldies. Copyright 1964. It was a national best seller.
fantastic!!!!!!!
