Finalement!

(Picture from emzooo)

The past few days have been dominated by French revision for my mock (this early, it's mental). Thankfully, it paid off and the essay question I picked was fortunatly on 'les avantages et dangers d'internet', and I don't think I've totally failed (yay).

Also, got emailed my LSE stuffs. It looks like it will be a veryyy busy day (no time for the kind-of-awful-sounding Love Never Dies-but I'll be buying the soundtrack) but it's all very exciting. If a little scary.

On another note, it's my birthday next Saturday (I'm 17 [!!]) and I'm planning to go see Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton-style with the friends after work. I'm hoping the birthday fairies will give me Topshop vouchers and New Look creme brogues.

Off to check up on what I've missed dans le blogosphere the past few days

x

Small Things

I've been thrown back into the mix of AS-Levels and stacks of homework again, even my week off wasn't really enough to have some true chill-out time.

Anyway, some small things have been making me smile these first few days of the week, which I find tough, by Wednesday it's nice to know you're near the end of the week.

• People liked my home-dyed hair and trimmed fringe-courtesay of my Mum and some nail scissors
• People also liked the 60s-style dress that I've had for years from Tescos (!), and wore for the first time in probably months
• I recieved a card from a friend in Northampton, who was one of my childhood best friends, to restart our penpal relationship

Also, I *think* I've been made permanent at work now, due to the fact I haven't been paid the last few weeks and it goes from weekly to monthly when one is a full time member. This is good (: but it does meen I need to get my skates on and book off my jollidays (Week in April, 2 Weeks in August) but I don't actually know how much I get!

In other news, a trip to Love Never Dies seems unlikely, my biggest fear with the plot has been realised and it has lots of additional HUH moments from the sounds of things as well. Maybe I should go see Phantom 1, but then perhaps seeing LND will be like seeing a part of history, not to mention my first original cast-not counting the 2006 Revival of Evita...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

(courtesy of...er...Google)

As part of my English Literature AS-Level course, I'm reading Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper alongside Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (yeah, I have no idea why the two link either).

The Yellow Wallpaper was first published in 1892, and raises the issues of women trapped in a patriachal society. At face value, it is the story of an unnamed woman having been taken to a house in the country to recover from an unnamed 'nervous disposition' by her husband, John. Underneath, however, it is a tale that's message is that the seeing the reality of women's oppression can send someone mad or that the only way of seeing reality is by going mad.

Gilman herself had a very interesting life. She was born in July 1860, and during her early childhood her father abandoned her mother with Charlotte and her older brother, leaving them in poverty and the occasional care of her intelligent and liberal aunts. When she was five, Gilman taught herself to read, although her mother forbade the reading of literature. She was also a great student, although she studied just to the age of fifteen, with her favourite subject being (apparently) physics.

In 1884, she married an artist, Charles Stetson, with their child Katharine being born the same year. Upon Katharine's birth, Gilman suffered from a bout of post-natal depression, although many people viewed this as just hysteria and her complaints were mostly ignored. Four years later, in 1888, Gilman and Stetson split in order for Charlotte to get better. Charlotte moved with Katharine to Pasadena, where she became involved in radical feminist movements, becoming involved in groups like the Pacific Coast Woman's Press Association and the State Council of Women, as well as writing for the Bulletin, a feminist newspaper.

After her official divorce from Stetson in 1894, Charlotte sent Katharine to spend some time with her father and his new wife Grace Channing-a close friend of Charlotte's. Upon the death of her mother a year later, Charlotte moved back east and came into contact with her cousin Houghton Gilman, a lawyer, and they soon became romantically involved, and married in 1900.

Houghton Gilman died suddenly in 1934, causing Charlotte to return to Pasadena. Having been diagonsed with terminal breast cancer in 1932, by 1935 Charlotte decided to end her life painlessly with a lethal dose of cholorfom.

One of the most fascinating things about Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the fact that she had such a radical life. She seperated from her husband, and held views surronding issues like Euthanasia that are still talked about today. The Yellow Wallpaper is a stunning work; and it is obvious that she drew on her real-life experience of Charlotte's post-natal depression on the woman in the novel-she has recently had a baby who she rarely gets to see. In my opinion, she seems to be almost an American Virginia Woolf-esque author...

Avatar

Yes, I realise I'm about a few months behind most of the population of the planet in seeing Avatar but I finally finally have.

Basic story if you too haven't seen it: Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a disabled ex-Marine, replaces his dead brother on the Avatar scheme on a planet called Pandora. Essentially, certain scientists take the form of natives of the planet in order to explore it. The scientists are lead by Dr Grace Augustine (wonderful name, played by the wonderful Sigourney Weaver) and Sully is joined on the ground by the trained Norm Spellman (Joel Moore) and in the air by the pilot Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez). However, whilst the scientists are wanting to explore, the army-under the control of Colonel Quaritch (Steven Lang)-are working for a company (managed by the weedy Parker [Giovanni Ribisi]) who are after resources from the planet of Pandora. Sully agrees to help them, but once on the ground falls in love with the planet, the beliefs and the people-especially Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).

James Cameron seems to be making a huge point about people destorying cultures-especially references in my view the Native Americans, the people of Pandora even make similar cries. However, in all honesty, the message of the film plays second fiddle to the incredible effects. I saw it in 3D and the immersive impact of the experience was wonderful, you almost felt like you were in the film.

The graphics also take away from some fine performances, especially by Weaver and Saldana, but also allows for some not so great performances-although the character is probably meant to be so, Lang just seemed to be playing stereotypical navy man. Even Ribisi got more out of his character, and he was only in a few scenes. Speical mention also goes to Laz Alonso as Tsu'tey the usurped (kind of) tribe leader and Neytiri's intended match.

Avatar is favourite to win the Academy Award & BAFTA for Best Film. Whilst it didn't really feel like an Oscar winner to the likes of There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men (I've seen neither but they strike me as 'best film' contenders) it may just be a nod to the stunning work that must have gone into make it.

Theatre News

London seems to be getting some pretty awesome productions coming up:

Paradise Found (Menier Chocolate Factory: 19th May-26th June)
Directed by Harold Prince (She Loves Me, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera etcetcetec) and Susan Stroman (The Music Man, The Producers, Young Frankenstein) Paradise Found is a new musical, featuring music by Johann Strauss II (who granted, has been dead quite a while), lyrics Ellen Fitzhugh (who wrote something called Grind which starred Ben Vereen but flopped) and a book by Richard Nelson (Broadway version of Chess)
It's the cast for this that is getting me so excited though:
Kate Baldwin, whose voice is just a.m.a.z.i.n.g on the 2009 Finian's Rainbow recording
John Cullum, who has a GAZILLION Broadway credits (check the link) but has most recently seen as the missing patriach in August:Osage County
Shuler Hensley, who scared the HELL out of me when I went through my addicted to the National Theatre's Oklahoma film phase in which he played Jud Fry and recently been performing as the Monster in Young Frankenstein
Judy Kaye, who was the original Carlotta in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera
Mandy Patinkin, who was the original Che in Broadway's Evita, and the original Archie Craven in The Secret Garden & is in the awesome The Princess Bride-currently appearing in Compulsion at Yale Rep-read about that here

The dates are a little scary (I'd been done with all my AS-Levels) but I woud lovelovelovelove to see this. SO MUCH [even if the plot sounds a bit like Kismet]. *Crosses fingers*

La Bete (Comedy Theatre: 7 th July-28th August)
La Bete is having a season in London before it transfers to Broadway with an amazing cast. Now, I'm not much of a play person myself but the combination of Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing and apparently the man of the moment), David Hyde Pierce (Fraiser, Curtains) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) is pretty damn cool!!

Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory: 3rd July-11th September)
Okay...so...I'm not a BIG fan of Aspects of Love. I've never seen it live, but I do have the really long cast album and it's the only Andrew Lloyd Webber album, aside from The Beautiful Game (now known as The Boys in the Photograph or something I think) that I just CANNOT sit and listen to. The story is also pretty disturbing-the Forbbiden Broadway parady 'I, I sleep with everyone' is pretty correct.
But hey, casting could be WONDERFUL, you never know. The Menier tends to seem to get that right.

In other Andrew Lloyd Webber news, the world has been ROCKED by the fact that the first preview of his new musical, Phantom sequel Love Never Dies has been cancelled. I don't get the SHOCK HORROR about it all....I mean, MANY MANY MANY productions cancel previews. Previews are not to be confused with performances. If the first performance was cancelled, sure, I get the anger. But a preview is really just a very polished rehearsal with an audience in front of it. Surely its better to have the show and all the sets and stuff run smoothly and safely for the actors than to open and risk an accident.

Anyway, Love Never Dies is hugely intriguing to me. POTO was the first musical I really fell for, followed by Les Miserables, and I am yet to see it on stage. However, I've seen the film and listened to the soundtrack a billion times and have seen enough photos/videos of it to feel like I have seen it. I'm hoping to get the schedule for LSE's open day within a few days so I can try and grab tickets for a LND performance. I'm am just PRAYING that it isn't a wish fulfillment, with Christine ending up ditching Raoul (who apparently now has a drink problem & is played by the rather handsome Joseph Millson) to marry the Phantom with whom she actually has a son (cause call me crazy, but unless the Phantom did something horrible between 'Music of the Night' and 'I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It' that is pretty much impossible.

Then, this is ALW. Anything is possible ;)

A Thousand Splendid Suns

'Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.'

This book is stunning. Hossieni (best known for The Kite Runner) depicts Afghanistan in stunning detail, almost as though you are actually there, watching the-at times-horrifying events unfold before you. Certain instances, like a scene where Rasheed forces Mariam to eat a handful of stones because that it is apparently how her rice tastes, stay firmly with you.

The bitter patriachal society is perfectly shown-in the above instance-the appearance of a burkha within the first few days of Mariam's marriage, the violence released when Rasheed realises that his second wife and mother of his survivng son Laila loves another man and the hideous unfairness of the court proceedings against one of the characters, ending in a hideous punishment that was grossly unnecessary.

Whilst I, and many others, are unsure of the real reasons for the UK's (and USA's) involvement in Afgahnistan and Iraq, having read this novel, I can only hope that the future for the young women now holds far more promise than when they were under the control of the Taleban.

Lundi-Gras, Mardi-Gras & Mecredi-Pas-Gras

So; it was Pancake Day yesterday-probably the only day of the year my Mum actually makes pancakes.

But now I can make them myself, and I can provide myself with yummy pancakes whenever I wish. As me and my friends got together chez moi to celebrate Pancake Monday (or Lundi-Gras). The reason being that one of my friends, Anna, is in Bath for a few days for holiday and university examining. So, we piled into the kitchen and made pancakes from scratch on a gas oven (which they didn't really know how to use. Something called electricty is apparently now all the rage!)

I was pretty happy with the results, after the first couple of rather skinny disasters-impossible to flip over. Anna came armed with blue food colouring and made herself a 'smurf pancake'. Tasted the same, only bluey-green in colour!

On another note, my Valentine's gift to myself arrived today. A pair of New Look creamy-pinky courts that I've been mooning over since last summer-thankfully they're still in stock and lovely. I also picked up a pair of white framed sunglasses-which are whiter than you think, but for £3 were an absolute steal.

I am however loving the denim shirts. But what does one wear them with? I have a pair of brogues coming for my birthday (I hope) and it would seem that they'd go nicely. It just seems bizarre that double denim has been such a NO for so long, and now its acceptable again.

(Blogger's playing up and refusing to add pictures. Grr.)

Also, finished Extended Project plan, typed up every piece of French writing I've done and started History revision mind-maps.

Happy half-term 'holiday'

Valentine's Day

I'm not a huge fan of V-Day. And no, it's not just because I'm a jealous singleton. As I am not. I find it slightly weird that people feel that it is the one day in the year that they simply must prove that they love their boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/partner or face severe punishment.

However, I thought I may put out a word for the things I love:

• My family. The old adage of you being able to choose your friends but not your family is actually a good thing in my case. See, I make notoriously bad decisions about friends over the past couple of years, and my family has been my rock. Especially my Mum, whose been through a lot herself and still wants to make sure I'm okay.
• My friends. I traded in my bad choice of friends last June, after much tears, soul-searching and not much sleep. However, I instead landed myself with three of the kindest, most honest people I've ever been around.
• My cat. Tiggy is probably the dumbest animal you will ever meet (she chases her own tail. seriously) but she is a big ball of fluffy happiness. She purrs like a dynamo.
• Musicals. I could do a complete series of blog entries on my favourites (...oooo...) but just to give you a clue: Chess (in both London & B'way forms), Les Miserables, Parade, The Secret Garden, The Sound of Music, Rent, Company, Evita, Into the Woods, Oklahoma, Wicked, West Side Story....
• Comedy panel shows.
• Shoes, Bags & various accessories. I think it's inherited from my mother.
• Books. There are perfect for escaping and learning and a life without books would be miserable. Some of my favourites include Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Trench coats. Especially stupidly expensive Burberry ones which I can not afford.
• Dresses. I love them. I cannot wait for summer and an ability to wear them more often.
• London.
• Spain, especially Morira, near Valencia, which I've been visiting since I was about...gosh...six. It's a beautiful place, not overly touristy and it's a place to completely relax
• Politics. I find it totally fascinating. I am praying that one day we'll have a government that realises that the 16-18 bracket are just as capable as voting as those other 18+
• French. Whilst I'm not brilliant at my lessons I think the language is beautiful.
• Josh Groban's voice. Seriously. It relaxes me no end.
• Horseriding. Although I don't do it so much anymore, nothing feels better than racing around on a horse.
• Coffee Shops. They are life saving establishments.

Happy Valentine's Day

x

Double Standards-The Lara Stone edition

WARNING. UN PEU DE NUDITY BELOW. THOUGH IT IS MOSTLY COVERED

This is Lara Stone. Lara Stone who is apparently to be celebrated because she is shaped like A REAL WOMAN. And she has curves! And she got turned down from jobs for being FAT. We should all unite around her!

Frankly, in the above image she still looks like she needs some food. I came across a more face-on image whilst flicking through Tatler a moment ago and felt compelled to write something.

Most people know that airbrushing takes place in most fashion magazines, we all know deep-down that no woman's skin glows quite so much as the women in foundation adverts and that Madonna probably does actually have wrinkles.

However, when a person is praised specifically because she is curvy and does not have the figure of models like Kate Moss it seems incredible that they can be airbrushed to look exactly the same weight as these models, just with huge breasts. And that does not equal curvaceous and normal. It makes her look like she'll over if she walks.

I'm going all out and saying that she looks more curvy in her Louis Vuitton ad campaigns than on the front of Love. Highly ironic since that magazine recently featured a nude Beth Ditto in all her glory..

PS-I do think Lara Stone is quite attractive despite her dubious taste in men and don't want anyone to see this post as spiteful, I just think fashion magazines really really need to consider their audiences properly

The University Countdown-Part #1

Now that Year 13 (the 17-18 year olds) have been receiving offers, and basically 'just' need to receive the grades their Conditional Offers desire them to have school have moved on to us Year 12s to depart their wisdom.

Or just terrify us all.

Today's lecture basically went through the application system...which is something like this:

1. End of Term 6 (July)-Prepare Personal Statement (aka THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF
WRITING YOU WILL EVER DO IN YOUR LIFE)

2.Term 1 (September)-Complete UCAS application form
Complete Personal Statement/Hand in for School Reference
End of term-my school's personal deadline of applications

Basically, from today, we have roughly 7 months until we have chosen where we want to go, what we want to do, have written our statements AND got good enough grades.

Argh.

At least I have vaguely got some idea of where I want to go and what I would like to do...


1. Warwick University-Politics & International Studies
2. London School of Economics & Political Sciences-Government & Social Policy
3. Lancaster University-Politics (Study Abroad) OR Politics & International Relations
4. Birmingham University-Political Science

And...that's about it at the moment. My predicted grades as of now stand at 2 definite A's, one maybe A and a B. Plus my Extended Project (which Warwick can take as a grade...yes).

LSE's Open Day is on March 24th and my place is booked for that.
Warwick's Open Day is May 8th, two days before my French speaking exam, but it'd be crazy to miss it.

The future is now stupidly close. It's terribly scary but also terribly exciting.

The Story of Chess

This news has made me a very happy person indeed.

Chess has got to be one of my favourite musicals, although I only discovered it last year, it's wonderful score (courtesy of Abba frontmen) and lyrics (courtesy of Tim Rice) pulling you through a romantic and political tale, set during the Cold War.

Through all it's incarnations (more on that below) the basic plot summary is roughly as follows: Florence Vassy is the chess second of the American player Frederick Trumper. She was born in Hungary but fled in 1956, during the Budapest uprising which is believed to have left both her parents dead. Trumper's match is surrounded in politics as his opponent is the Russian player Anaotly Sergievsky, who is seconded by the KGB agent Alexander Molokov. Florence and Anatoly soon fall in love, with Anatoly defecting in order to be with her-despite the fact that he is married (in some versions he also has children). What then follows is the Russians desperate attempt to get him to return, using his wife (Svetlana), Florence and sometimes Freddie as tools to win him back.

Chess has also got one of the most fascinating behind-the-scenes story of a recent musical. It opened in the West End in 1986, and originally was due to be directed by Michael Bennett (of A Chorus Line and Dreamgirls fame) however, he passed away due to AIDS before he could finish the job and so Trevor Nunn (who would soon direct Les Miserables) was called in to finish the job. It starred Elaine Paige, Tommy Korberg and Murray Head, and ran for three years.

Upon its move to Broadway in 1988, Trevor Nunn and the rest of the team decided that Chess needed a complete re-imagining, and Richard Nelson (a playwright) was bought in to create a 'book musical'. Elaine Paige was also ruled out of the transfer, by Nelson writing Florence Vassy as an American-Hungarian as opposed to an English-Hungarian, she was replaced by Judy Kuhn, who came straight from performing in the original Broadway cast of Les Mis as Cosette. This production also starred David Carroll and Philip Casnoff. On Broadway, the show folded after only 68 performances, with Carroll being the driving force between it receiving a cast recording.

In 1990, the musical was changed again when it began its US tour. Nelson's book was revised by Robert Coe. It substantially altered the plots of both the previous versions; Florence seems more ridden with guilt than usual when Freddie catches her with Anatoly, Anatoly seems to defect to stop Florence leaving after she breaks up with Freddie, Svetlana and Anatoly's relationship seems more solid than in previous versions and the motivation of Anatoly losing/winning the final chess match in order to enable Florence to be reunited with her 'father' is totally cut out. It toured for five months, starring Carolee Carmello, John Herrera and Stephen Bogardus.

The same year, a Broadway-based version opened in Chicago directed by David H Bell, the production remained true to the basic Broadway plot, but made the songs fit more snuggly, had the scenes between the Americans and Russians move easily and, in reflection of the now defunct USSR, ends with Florence truely being reunited with her father, having lost Anatoly. It played for nearly five months, and starred Susie McMongal, David Studwell and Kim Strauss-who would reprise his role in other Bell-directed productions, including one opposite Jodi Benson-the voice of The Little Mermaid-as Florence.

In 1991, Tim Rice handed his version of a 'book musical' Chess to director Jim Sherman in Australia. This production had Florence's orphan-hood date from 1968 in Czechslovakia, as the cast were generally younger. It took place in one tournament in Bangkok (Most versions flick between either Merano/Bangkok or Bangkok/Budapest). Svetlana is featured throughout, as opposed to only appearing in Act Two as with prior versions. Again, her realtionship with Anatoly seems stronger than the weakened marriage you would expect having looked at other versions. It ran for 5 months and starred Jodie Gillies, Robbie Krupski and David McLeod.

In 2002, Bjorn and Benny revisited Chess, in a Swedish language version of Chess. Chess pa Svenska starred Helen Sjoholm, Tommy Korberg (reprising his role almost 20 years on) and Anders Ekborg. It featured new numbers, and was set wholly in Merano.

However, the 'definitive' version, which I guess is what the new tour will be based on was performed in 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall. Starring Idina Menzel, Josh Groban and Adam Pascal, the synopsis followed the London one for the most part, with some additional lyrics from the Broadway incarnation.
And I am jumping up and down with excitment, the idea of actor-musicians makes me dubious-with the characters essentially being 'played' by others within the musical it would be strange seeing them actually playing an instrument-perhaps the ensemble could perform? Whatever happens, I'll be jumping on tickets if it comes near here.

(Many thanks to Square One, the info booklet that came with the Chess in Concert DVD by Tim Rice and all the wonderful casts that have made their way onto recordings)

Skins (Series 4)

When Skins began in 2007, it caused a huge stir amongst the Conservative Daily Mail-reading crowd, who took it as proof that Britain's teenagers were all yobs-taking drugs, getting drunk and sleeping around.

What they failed to notice is the series' ability to heighten reality, and yet keep the story as real and relevant to teenagers as possible. In the first two series, characters dealt with religion, sexuality, education, eating disorders, pregnancy, stalkers and death. The actors from that series were also fantastic, with people like Dev Patel (who played doubting Muslim Anwar) and Nicholas Hoult (who played King Bee and kind-of-a-jerk Tony) going on to particular success in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire and Tom Ford's A Single Man respectively.

However, last year the cast were traded in for the new sixth form, this time led by Tony's somewhat wayward sister, Effy (Kaya Scolderio). The last season ended with Effy, Cook (Jack O'Connell) and Freddie (Luke Pasqualino) coming to a strange kind of agreement over their romantic entaglements together. JJ (Ollie Barbieri) is happy, convinced that all his friends problems are now solved, and Emily (Kathryn Prescott) and Naomi (Lily Loveless) beginning a relationship.

It is now one year on, and this first episode centered on the life of Thomas (Mervielle Lukeba), an immigrant from Congo, struggling to deal with both his family life and his new personal life alongside his rebellious new 'friends'. This comes to a head when at the beginning on an episode a girl dies in a nightclub on his watch, probably under the influence of cocaine. The new headteacher (Chris Addison) announces the arrival of the police to try and discover who was in the club, and specifically whether anyone knew that drugs were being handled there. Things are complicated further when Thomas becomes attached to Andrea (Adelayo Adedayo), the daughter of his pastor (Steve Toussaint), despite having a girlfriend in the form of Pandora (Lisa Blackwell).

Skins still delivers it's shock tactics, with this episode opening on a girl taking crack, two sex scenes and plenty of swearing. Yet, as always, it is the performances of the cast that make it feel real. Lukeba delivers a mature and in the end heartbreaking/warming performance as Thomas, aided by the stunningly voiced Adebayo and the David Cameron-esque Addison.

The Little Stranger

Sarah Waters' latest novel follows in the creepy Gothic vein that her previous work Affinity featured. Affinity was my first Waters novel and I was completely gripped by the tale of a woman who volunteered at a local prison and got terribly tangled up in the life of one of the inmates.

A similar tale of gentle interest into hideous entanglement is followed in The Little Stranger. The bachelor middle-aged Dr Farady has spent his life looking after the inhabitants of a small village in Warwickshire. When his co-practitioner, Dr Graham, is called on an emergency case, Farady takes one of his minor cases at a house named Hundreds Hall. Once a fine family mansion, the house is slowly falling into disrepair. The remaining Ayreses struggle to adjust to the post-Second World War life. There is Mrs Ayres, the matriarch who still requires maids and grand parties, Caroline Ayres the oldest daughter who is not quite beautiful and who seems to do much of the house work herself and Roderick Ayres, the son who was badly injured in the war and is absorbed in the declining finances of the estate. Farady's one-time visit turns into weekly and then almost daily visits to the Ayres household, as it becomes slowly gripped with a mysterious spirit-like thing that begins to slowly destroy all its inhabitants.

Told mostly through the eyes of Farady, Waters' latest novel is chilling, frightening and brilliant. The crumbling hall has a hint of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and the novel is referenced when Caroline points out a broken clock that her and Roderick set to 8.40 when they were young.

Waters expertly portrays a fading class, with modern society-with its legal action and council building slowly creeping in on them. The mental decline of the characters, as the house itself seems to take them over is particularly effective, with Roderick's decline from a flippant, somewhat arrogant young man to an (apparently) mentally ill man is both scary and heartbreaking.

Reading this so soon after finishing The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (which was wonderful) and also as we begin to disect The Yellow Wallpaper in English Literature has made me realise how much I really adore Gothic fiction, done well. I find it fascinating that the stories that began with the likes of the Brontes have continued through the years with The Yellow Wallpaper at the end of 1800's, the brilliant (she's one of my favourite authors) Daphne du Maurier and now Sarah Waters, among I'm sure many others.