Welcome to Litsy!

The introduction highlights this book as inspiring many great noir writing + quotes chandler praising the author. I can see the comparison to highsmith + double indemnity, but somehow, the plot stretched my credulity. It was interesting to read as a lost classic, but I don't feel it dated well.
@quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @LeahBergen #persephoneclub

This was a morally ambiguous (fun!) read because Lucia finds herself in a cascade of consequences flowing from a single act of deception. While she is motivated out of a sense of familial duty, her conscience gives both her & readers all kinds of grief. #PersephoneClub

Aside from the mystery, Holding offers readers plenty to think about re: women‘s roles and their fulfillment.

Reposting for @leahBergen
It‘s now October so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@quietjenn ‘s pick for us this month is The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

It‘s now October so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@quietjenn ‘s pick for us this month is The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I really enjoyed this. At first it seemed like the story of a young girl growing up on a ranch, with an almost idyllic life, but the detail about Ernestine‘s future revealed that the story was going to get darker. This is my first Ethel Wilson, but won‘t be my last.

Does anyone else think that Hetty would be able to get herself out of trouble in Austria, no matter how ominous the last lines? 😏

#PersephoneClub

#PersephoneClub
I have a lot of thoughts about this one. Firstly, the ostracism. No one quite seemed to know exactly why, but Hetty was a “menace” & to be shunned. I wonder how often this happened (& still happens) to someone innocent? Then the “femme fatale”. Of course it‘s the woman‘s fault, no man can resist a beautiful woman who appears available & interested🤬 I was kind of disappointed that it turned out Hetty conformed to the stereotype.

I‘m late to review our latest #PersephoneClub read as I‘ve been travelling around the interior of British Columbia (and very close to the setting of this novel).

I loved it! And who was surprised by the “reveal”?? I felt like I could have continued on with Frankie‘s story just a little bit longer.

@quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @LeahBergen #persephoneclub
Another great read with (reminded me of a lost lady by WC) a central character who is the hypnotic femme fatale who attracts everyone except the sceptical narrator ,here Frankie burnaby who as a child loves the stranger + her parents forbid her to contact but as adult sees the spider like risk.

So much packed into this slight novel! Such layered, complex characters in a story that did not go all the places I expected it to. A great #persephoneclub pick!

A coming of age story in which young Frankie's life in beautiful British Columbia, and later in Europe, is disrupted several times by the fascinating, enigmatic -- evil? -- Hetty Dorval. I've read books with similar themes before but I'm not sure I've ever read one in which the narrator comes so satisfactorily into their own by the end; no matter who Hetty really is, Frankie will be the person she needs to be.

#PersephoneClub