Sunday, March 5, 2017

BACK TO THE CLASSICS 2017: DRAGONWYCK BY ANYA SETON



A delicious sensation of comfort lapped around her, enfolding her as softly as did the immense bed. The sheets were of linen so fine that they felt like silk and they were also scented not with lavender but with rose petals and verbena”. 
 
That is a description of Miranda’s first night at Dragonwyck, but it also made me think of the satisfaction one gets from reading a good gothic romance:  comforting yet indulgent.  Miranda is a young woman living in 1844 rural Connecticut who dreams of a sweeping romance that she secretly reads about in novels. In her heart, she feels she is destined to more than the hard life of a farmer’s wife. When her distant relation, Nicholas Van Ryn, invites her to his estate, Dragonwyck, located in the Hudson valley, Miranda senses this is the escape she has waiting for; the door to the life she deserves.
 
Since  Dragonwyck is a gothic romance in the tradition of Mary Stewart or Daphne Du Maurier, the reader soon discovers, as Miranda meets her cousin and sees the estate, that this will be no Cinderella story.  Nicholas is both charming and sinister and Miranda feels herself drawn to him, despite the fact that he is married and far, far above her station socially. 
 
In addition to being a traditional gothic novel, Dragonwyck is also a historical novel which highlights not only better known events such as the Mexican-American war, but also (to me at least) more obscure occurrences such as  the Astor Place Riots in New York City.
 
I learned in the afterword written appropriately by the doyenne of historical fiction, Philippa Gregory, that Dragonwyck, first published in 1944, was only Seton’s second novel, which I think shows a bit. It was a fun read and I was compelled to turn the pages. However occasionally I found the insertion of historical events and persons to be a little awkward and the plot could have used more polishing in places. I do think, however, that Seton excels in characterization. Miranda was believably naïve yet ambitious and Nicholas is completely mesmerizing and chilling with qualities that seemed almost vampiric at times.
 
I read this for the Romance Classic category in the 2017 Back to the ClassicsChallenge at the blog Books and Chocolate and I chose it because of Lark's intriguing review. I could have also put it in the Gothic Novel category but since straight up romance is not my favorite genre (and I have read all of Austen’s novels), I thought this would be a good compromise! The above picture is actually from the movie, which I have not seen. For me, casting Vincent Price as the handsome Nicholas Van Ryn doesn't work!

7 comments:

  1. I can't picture Vincent Price as Nicholas Van Ryn either! :) Although I think Gene Tierney could pull off the sweetly naive Miranda.

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    1. Thanks for the comment (and the original recommendation)Lark! I don't doubt Gene Tierney was a lovely Miranda. Tyrone Power would have been a better choice for the dark and brooding Nicholas, I think.

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  2. What a great poster! As a fan of Du Maurier and Mary Stewart as well as Anya Seton (at least based on Katherine), I know what you mean by indulgent. There is just nothing like a good historical romance by one of these authors. I don't know a lot about Connecticut in the 1840s, so it would be interesting for that alone.

    While not all of a favorite author's books are necessarily great, it's interesting how they progress (up and down) over time.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Jane! I know, I had to pick that movie poster over the demure book cover!

      The history is 1840's New York rather than Connecticut. But still, the historical aspects were interesting and I looked them up after reading. Lady knew her history!

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  3. I had fun reading this when I lived in the Hudson Valley and I'm quite curious to see the film. A glance at Vincent Price's filmography shows he acted with Gene Tierney in three films (Laura and Leave Her To Heaven besides this one). A seemingly odd pairing, yet it must have been found to work at the time.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Lory! I have seen Laura and do find that Price was well cast in that film. I think my problem is that I think of Price as "campy" but this was his image in the 70's and 80s, not in his heyday of acting.

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  4. I haven't read Anya Seton for years - since my early twenties, but I did enjoy her books back then. Taylor Caldwell was another author I read then but haven't since.

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