Somehow, what she has seen in her vision has truly transpired, and her mother is dead. Gemma’s mother grabs the dagger, whispers her daughter’s name, and plunges the knife into her heart before she can be devoured by the shadow. Overcome with panic and fear, Gemma has a vision where she sees her mother stalked by a man with a dagger, and then a terrible shadow shimmers to life. Lost in the crowd, Gemma feels a strange sensation, tingling through her body.

Panicked, worried, she tells Gemma she must return home immediately without further explanation–and Gemma, angry, runs off in the marketplace. They are confronted on the street by two strange men, one older one younger, and the older man relays a cryptic message to Gemma’s mother: Gemma’s mother tries to explain that high society isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but Gemma isn’t having any of it (in true typical teen fashion, Gemma thinks her mother is out to ruin her life and holding her back from a glamorous life of parties, dancing and romance). Gemma longs to go to London, to be a part of high society and to leave her perceived drudgery of India behind. Sixteen year old Gemma Doyle is shopping with her mother, and being a typical teen–complaining. To my delight, after buying this one I discovered that it has quite a following and has received numerous positive reviews across the board. Why did I read the book: I picked up the book on impulse, based on the lovely cover, and catching title. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the “others” and rebuild the Order.

The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions “for a bit of fun” and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing.

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Stand alone or series: First book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy.Ī Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy–jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel. Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Gothic Novel

A great terrible beauty