All This, and Heaven Too (Rediscovered Classics) by Rachel Field | Goodreads
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All This, and Heaven Too

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This number-one bestselling novel is based on the true story of one of the most notorious murder cases in French history. The heroine, Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, governess to the children of the Duc de Praslin, found herself strangely drawn to her employer; when the Duc murdered his wife in the most savage fashion, she had to plead her own case before the Chancellor of France in a sensational murder trial that helped bring down the French king. After winning her freedom, Henriette took refuge in America, where she hosted a salon visited by all the socialites of New York and New England. This thrilling historical romance, full of passion, mystery, and intrigue, has laid claim to the hearts and minds of readers for generations. This replaces 044102226X.

596 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

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About the author

Rachel Field

102 books41 followers
Rachel Lyman Field was an American novelist, poet, and author of children's fiction. She is best known for her Newbery Medal–winning novel for young adults, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years , published in 1929.

As a child Field contributed to the St. Nicholas Magazine and was educated at Radcliffe College. Her book, Prayer for a Child, was a recipient of the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations by Elizabeth Orton Jones. According to Ruth Hill Vigeurs in her introduction to Calico Bush , book of Rachel Field for children, published in 1931, Rachel Field was "fifteen when she first visited Maine and fell under the spell of its 'island-scattered coast'. Calico Bush still stands out as a near-perfect re-creation of people and place in a story of courage, understated and beautiful." Field was also a successful author of adult fiction, writing the bestsellers Time Out of Mind (1935), All This and Heaven Too (1938), and And Now Tomorrow (1942). She is also famous for her poem-turned-song "Something Told the Wild Geese". Field also wrote the English lyrics for the version of Franz Schubert's Ave Maria used in the Disney film Fantasia. Field married Arthur S. Pederson in 1935, with whom she collaborated in 1937 on To See Ourselves.

Field was a descendant of David Dudley Field. She died at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, California on March 15, 1942 of pneumonia following an operation.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
6 reviews1 follower
December 22, 2008
In my all time top ten. Written by her grand-daughter in the 1930's it tells the tale of a woman who is an unwilling part of a murder in Paris, then moves to New York City for a second chance. My favorite passage is the following:
"And I felt so alone, you see," Henriette ventured at last. "If there had been someone to turn to, some one for me to lean on."
"Listen to me." The sharp old eyes blinked fiercely out of their nest of wrinkles. "You'll never find that, so stop wasting your time for a shoulder to lean on."
"But other people have comfort. Why shouldn't I?"
"Because your shoulders were made for them to lean on. You were born a prop and not a vine. You cannot go against your pattern as you tried last night. Believe me mademoiselle, I know what I am saying. An oak may not turn into a strawberry plant for the wishing."
Profile Image for Hannah.
798 reviews
August 5, 2016
This is just a good, old-fashioned historical novel similar in style and scope to works like Katherine and Gone with the Wind.

It's based on the true story of the author's French great aunt (through marriage only), Henriette Desportes. Field re-imagines Henriette's life, from the time she was a 28 year old governess travelling back to her native France in the 1840's, until her death as the wife of Henry Field in New England in the 1870's. How much of Henriette's story is actually true is up for conjecture - probably only the parts centered around the murder of the Duchesse of Praslin and Henriette's questioning by the authorities on the extent of her involvement.

But this lack of clean, substantive historical accuracy doesn't take away from the charm and enjoyment of this book. However, I will stress that it is written in the 1930's, and readers who prefer a more modern, direct approach in their books might find the storyline tedious, overly descriptive and wordy. Being a reader who enjoys the slower pace of these older novels, it was an entertaining read, and I'm glad this oldie has been republished for a new audience.
Profile Image for Karen.
218 reviews11 followers
September 4, 2016
I first read this book 30 years ago, and thought it was wonderful. On a reread, I'm not as enchanted with it. For one thing, it's built around a very romanticized portrait of a real guy who (we are given to presume) killed his wife. Bummer that he did that, but he's really cute and the wife was kind of depressed and miserable and no fun to be around so she clearly had it coming. Is the attitude of this narrative. Yuck.

Also, it's one of those historical novels where the protagonist interacts, Forrest Gump-style, with just about every major figure of the age. It's based on a real person and maybe she did meet all those people, but the writing makes it feel artificial.

"What did you think of Abraham Lincoln?"
"I could not think," she answered, "not after he began to speak. Henri, he is America."

This is a fabulous example of "the movie is better than the book."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Melissa.
603 reviews23 followers
November 2, 2009
I went through many different emotions whie I was reading this book. Several things I had read about it previously mentioned the main character's, Henriette Desportes', involvement in a famous murder in 19th century France. Said murder occurs almost halway through the book and then doesn't take much to resolve. This all annoyed me, and I kept wondering if should just give up.
But even as I kept flipping forward, trying to figure out when someone was going to die (you can see where my priorities are), I became completely charmed by this book, and the annoyance vanished. This is not a book about a murder, but about a woman making her own way in the mid-19th century. Henriette is a wonderful character--a smart, single woman who doesn't have many options in 1840s Europe. She comes to the Praslin household, one where the marriage is rocky at best. But she is governess extraordinaire (Mary Poppins has nothing on her!), charming the children, much to the mother's anger.
After the scandal, she finds her way to the US, eventually finding love. And her husband is part of a fascinating family--friends with the movers and shakers and thinkers of the mid-19th century.
Through it all, Henriette is just fascinating, made all the more intriguing because this book has its roots in history. Though the book is long (my copy was 600 pages), it reads quickly. This is a wonderful glimpse into women's history--the limited options single women had and what a bit of gossip could do to a womann's reputation. I am completely in love with Henriette.
This book also left me wanting more--more information on 19th century French politics (there's something I'm rarely interested in!) and a biography of the Field family.

Highly recommended

PS Fans of fashion will love all the period details about clothing--Henriette was quite the reserved (well, she was a governess!) fashion plate.

PPS If you like this book, highly recommend Love is a Wild Assault by Elithe Hamilton Kirkland. Roughly the same time period, more scandalous women ultimately finding love, but with a Texas twist.
Profile Image for Alicia.
1,089 reviews32 followers
February 6, 2017
This 1938 novel is based on the true story of one of the most notorious murder cases in French history. The heroine, Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, is governess to the children of the Duc de Praslin in 1840's Paris. After the Duc savagely murdered his wife, Henriette defended herself before the Chancellor of France in a sensational murder trial that helped bring down the French king. After winning her freedom, Henriette took refuge in America. The first part of the book takes place in France, and the second half is set in America. I loved learning the details of the American history she lived through, including her brother-in-law's laying of the first telegraph cable from the USA to Europe. I loved Rachel Field's writing in her book Hitty, and this book was just as well written. Very interesting read!

Quotes I liked:

“Reputation is a prize you’ve won for yourself with self-denial and hard work. If you throw it away, what have you left to fall back on? How will you contrive to live without it?” -p. 198

“It only takes a drop of poison to turn what is sound to something rotten and corrupt.” -p. 201

When questioned in court (and she refused a lawyer): “All her life she had loved words and kindled to them, but now she was in their power. They shot to and fro, like shuttles weaving the threads of some invisible pattern…
“The quick blade of his irony delicately laid bare the tissues wrapping cause and motive. He must trap her into some unguarded admission of complicity. But she, too, held a blade as powerful as her questioners. She was speaking the truth. She had nothing to hide from him.” -p. 295

“The daily venom of the Duchesse’s jealousy had corroded his self-control. It was as if an oak tree that had defied storms and woodsmen had fallen at last under the incessant hammerings of a woodpecker.” -p. 299

“‘But I was so sure of myself. I believed I could manage my own life. Mud might spatter and spoil other skirts, but not mine. Somehow I believed no harm could come to me because I meant no harm to others. I was defiant and proud because I felt too sure of myself.’
“‘You are not the first to make that mistake,’ he answered gravely. ‘We all believe our lives are our own till we find we cannot separate them from other lives.’” -p. 300

“Integrity of thought, flexibility of mind, and a consuming curiosity concerning the world and its occupants were the touchstones to her friendship. Whether she happened to find these in some struggling gifted youth or in some person of recognized achievement, her response was equally sincere. The sensitive antennae of her own sympathy and human awareness reached out in a roomful of people and unerringly found minds to quicken hers, talents to match her own. She loved wit, but not at the expense of wisdom. She delighted in good company and the exchange of talk, yet she was seldom deceived by mere superficial brilliance.” -p. 505

“Affections cannot be stolen, madam. They are given freely or not at all.”

“Oh, well, it might look like a patterned world, laid out in prim design, but to those living there it could never be so simple. They were as alive as she: that old peasant contriving to outwit the cold; that woman anxiously counting her comical flock lest one goose escape her vigilance; all those who slept, or toiled, or loved under the low-hung roofs or the sharp turrets. Those people out there, if they caught sight of her own face pressed close to the window pane, might be speculating about her. To them she was part of the pattern of the lumbering train with its trail of smoke and little boxlike carriages. Perhaps they envied her, riding at ease to distant Paris. How little they knew of that! How little she herself know what awaited her at the end of the journey!” -p. 13
Profile Image for Rachel M.
175 reviews32 followers
May 19, 2012
I read this book four years ago, but it still lingers in my memory. I don't know if it speaks to the excellence of the writing or just my book-worm nature, but I struggled to put it down even on a road trip through Yellowstone! There was something about it - the introspective quality of Field's language - that brought self-knowledge through the unveiling of Henriette's enigmatic character. A few quotes I still remember:

“Oh, well, it might look like a patterned world, laid out in prim design, but to those living there it could never be so simple. They were as alive as she: that old peasant contriving to outwit the cold, the woman anxiously counting her comical flock lest one goose escape her vigilance; all those who slept, or toiled, or loved under the low-hung roofs or the sharp turrets. Those people out there, if they caught sight of her own face pressed close to the windowpane, might be speculating about her. To them she was part of the pattern of the lumbering train with its trail of smoke and the little boxlike carriages.”

“For most of us one book is not enough to satisfy our minds, and so one life is not enough either. We want to experience more than can ever be crowded into seventy or even eighty years. I am too greedy, perhaps, but I want to catch at the meaning of different lives and different places. I want to find out what goes on under thatched roofs of cottages and behind the walls of palaces and hotels. I want to walk in old ruins and in new cities. I want to watch people everywhere, whether I can understand the words they are saying or not. It is too much to ask, perhaps, but I want to get behind the faces of men and women and feel what they are feeling.”

“And Henriette, who had dreaded the day, found herself moved by the sight of these generations that filled the rooms with a great press of life. Here, she though, past accomplishment and the promise of greater accomplishment met and paused for a brief moment. Tomorrow they would all be scattered again; today they lifted their voices in the Doxology and bowed their heads as the old minister rose to give them his blessing.”
Profile Image for M.
77 reviews11 followers
February 24, 2013
Henriette Desportes is 28 years old when the novel opens in 1841. She is traveling from England to her homeland of France now English charge is of age and no longer in need of a governess. Henriette has secured a position teaching a prominent family’s youngest children. The Duc and Duchesse de Praslin are Catholic; the Duchesse strongly disapproves of Henriette’s Protestant faith. The children find it easy to love their governess because they are terrified of their mother.

Time and trials make Henriette aware of the strife between the oft-hysterical Duchess and her long-suffering husband. The Duc often begs Henriette to remain in the household—and eventually develops romantic feelings for her. Years pass. Everyone has a breaking point... including mistreated husbands.

The book has romance without being a romance novel. It’s more the romance provided by setting — say, attending a dance or a fancy party — and the love of a way of life — than love for a particular person. This is not a love story, yet it has its love scenes. It’s a story of recovery and growth from the most terrible of circumstances without sacrificing personal identity. Similarly, it is a novel of faith without being strongly religious or even preachy.

The writing is rich with description without being too wordy:

“Her first impression was of disorder. The small room seemed overflowing with costumes and baskets of flowers whose fragrance mingled with the scent of powder and pomades. Then she became aware only of the woman who dominated it. Rachel lay on a divan wrapped in a cloak of crimson wool. Under her make-up she looked utterly spent and no flecks of light stirred in the somber darkness of her eyes. Seen at such close range there was no disguising the worn lines of that face the hollows that showed too prominently at cheeks and throat. But the full red lips curved into a smile as a long transparent hand was extended in greeting” (pg. 522).

Continue reading a review of the book and the 1940 film adaptation at my blog, Reel Old Reads.

Profile Image for Aubrey.
1,426 reviews965 followers
July 25, 2021
There's a certain section of my regular book sale that I've developed a habit of perusing ever since I began in earnest to commit to various reading challenges involved in reading a series of works written by women whose publication dates land on certain years or within the range of certain decades. You see, this is the section devoted to the uninviting crowds of university library bound labors of yesteryear, thickly spliced between bulky slabs of green, blue, and red, title and author often barely discernable depended on the dilapidation of the copy, largely composed of the usual stalwart classics and boom/bust former bestsellers. It is the second that interests me, for there are multitudes of works by women that underwent that vapid cycle of fame and fortune in the early periods of the 20th century but, by hook or by crook, were squeezed out of the echelons of common knowledge in the decades succeeding and now are only intermittently dug up after years of being long out of print, and Field's work here is a prime example of such. This particular work even had a 2+ hour lavish costume drama attempt at a movie on the cusp of the US' entry into WWII, and after seeing how the author encased the diabolically sordid nature of the history that her great-aunt was caught up in in a work that is half morally upright sentiment, half nationalistic fervor on behalf of the 'American Dream', I would've been more surprised if it hadn't been adapted at one point or another. Such didn't save Field from being reduced to yet another early 20th c. white woman whose works for children have twenty times the ratings on this site as does her most popular work for adults, and while I thought the work was merely decent at best, I know it'd do just fine with certain groups of readers who have raised the more commonly esteemed works of this piece's kind with tens of thousands of ratings. A Chicago Review Press edition put out in 2003 doesn't seem to have helped matters much, but perhaps the next fervent devotee to the art of reviving out of print pieces will do a better job by being less concerned about aesthetic principles and moreso about making sure that casual browsers can actually read this work's title in passing.

After a quarter way through this work's rather unnecessary length of 600 pages, I was asked my opinion about this work. I described it as Brontë-lite, for when one is faced with a bilingual orphan of a governess who starts the book by crossing between the body of water between Ye Olde Merry England and Bon Voyage France with the history of a good employer recommendation behind and the promise of a position in an aristocratic household ahead, what else is one supposed to think? The -lite comes from the author's unwillingness to push the boundaries of free indirect speech, the lack of long and meditative thrusts into various ideologies and issues of the day, and the episodic domestic drama that composes the bulk of the narrative à la 'Downton Abbey' up until halfway through the book, when the main event, transcribed by figures such as Victor Hugo and discoverable today in the annals of places such as Wikipedia, finally comes down. With such material, an author could have gone in any direction, morbidly obsessive or banally moralistic, as they pleased, and Field compromises by drawing up an almost hagiography of her relative, who, according to the text, strove against temptation at every angle and won over all with the strength of her convictions and the forthrightness of her rhetoric. After that, the main character and the narrative moves across the water, and the work is devoted to more winning over of hearts, whether stolidly religious housewife or stoic yet secretly enraptured domestic servant, and whatever historical tidbits Field can stuff in in a sort of Best of the 19th Century USA reel where WASP patriotism is the highest calling of any character and the war of the enslavement of human beings is reduced to a quick bout of pathos for the good-willed and redoubtable citizens of the white middle class. So, not the most thoughtfully probing piece, but if one doesn't mind bucolic paradise with a heavy Protestant work ethic tinge combined with some amount of history with a capital H contemplations and plenty of fun fact namedrops of figures/works of the period, it's a read that goes by relatively quickly for something of its size. Nowhere near a favorite of mind, then, but it was admittedly far more enjoyable than some comparatively sized behemoths I've gotten through that are far more lauded in the modern mainstream, which does say something about the potential this work has were it given a chance today.

This is one of the longer works that I read partially due to its both being authored by a woman and its publication date, and all in all, I'd rate it as a solid piece of historical fiction that doesn't push the envelope too much but also isn't too lazily insipid in its construction. The unusual facts informing its composition, both in terms of the historical material and the author's own relation to the events, is likely what draws most readers to it these days, so those looking for a much more psychological drama will likely be disappointed in Field's romantic, yet highly conservative approach to the thoughts and falling outs of both her ancestor and her ancestor's employers. As is evidenced by the author's acknowledgements of some of her source material, there are certainly more ironclad pieces one could track down if one wanted to acquire a much more thorough and/or intimate look into the background of the crime and its subsequent impact on history both local and international, but a quick gander at GRAmazon's search results suggests that these works are not in great popularity, and one may even need to pick up some French in order to look into the matter without shelling out hundreds for old and disintegrating papers threaded between two stained planks of wood. I have no interest in the matter beyond what associative details and sensations I can pick up through works such as Flaubert's 'Sentimental Education', which happens to treat with the same historical scene in such a coincidental manner that it makes one almost paranoid about such intersections in one's reading habits. Other than that, I'm ready to move on from a work that certainly made an effort to transcribe a woman's life that happened to pass through multiple cruxes of various histories, but could have afforded to be less workmanlike in its holistic nature as a piece of literature. Nothing monumental, then, but worthy of being 'rediscovered' and brought to a wider readership who don't mind the occasional behemoth of a not too difficult read in their diet every so often? I 'd certainly think so.
Fool, to think that good and evil are a matter of geography!
1,149 reviews
November 14, 2013
This is the third “governess story” I’ve read this year, (along with “Dragonwyck” and “Jane Eyre”), this one based on the true story and scandal of Rachel Field’s great aunt, Henriette Desportes. She was the governess to the children of the Duc and Duchesse de Praslin in 1840’s Paris, a good teacher and a loving companion. The Duc had let it be known that Henriette was to follow his instructions in the care of the children; the Duchesse cared little for them and really only for her own needs and desires. When the Duchesse is murdered, Henriette is suspected, and the scandal rocked the city of Paris and eventually brought down the government. Henriette made her way to America, married Field’s great-uncle, and led a happy and productive life in New England. I remember loving this book when I read it years ago, and it stands up to reading again.
Profile Image for Michelle.
1,221 reviews7 followers
April 28, 2009
This book has a split personality. The first half is very engrossing and interesting. The second half is very boring and I just scanned through most of it. I wonder whatever happened to the children, but it doesn't say much about that. I wonder just how very innocent she really was in life, the book is definitely written from that angle. If this were two books, I would give the first half 4 stars and the last part 1 or 2.
Profile Image for Mary Durrant .
347 reviews162 followers
May 5, 2015
I really felt for the heroine Henriette who returns to France as a governess to the Duc of Praslin's children.
A jealous wife with tragic consequences.
A murder and a suicide where Henriette has to plead her case.
When released she makes a new life in America.
This was actually a true story written by Rachel Field.
Written in the 1930's and was also turned into a lavish movie starring Bette Davis.
This historical romance is full of passion mystery and intrigue.
Well worth a read.
I loved it.
Profile Image for Lee Anne.
850 reviews84 followers
August 31, 2022
This was a bestseller in 1938, and at first, I thought I'd stumbled on another one of my hidden gem mid-century forgotten melodramas that I love so very much. This is a fictionalized retelling of the life of author Rachel Field's great-aunt Henriette. The first part really had me, as it's a gothic potboiler: the French Duc du Praslin and his plump, indolent wife have nine children, five of whom are away at school or wherever. They have been through several governesses (red flag!) when they hire Henriette, who's on the spinster precipice (28) and an orphan with an unfeeling grandfather who has all but cut her off. Henriette is to instruct the two teen daughters and the two little children, a boy and a girl, who remain at home.

Fanny, the mother, is insanely jealous. Doesn't like the Duc paying attention to anyone but her, doesn't want the children to like Henriette better than her, throws tantrums, sulks, jeopardizes her son's fragile health by overriding doctor's orders because they don't give her what she wants, and so on. This creates a cycle which drives her family further away, which makes her more jealous, which drives them further away. The Duc engages in some behavior that is on the knife's edge of "do I feel sorry for him, or is he playing this up to get a little side something from Henriette?" He did love Fanny at one point (enough to sire nine children anyway); but his "poor me, alas" mien with Henriette makes me wonder if Fanny has reason to be the way she is. Maybe this isn't the first governess he's pulled this stunt with? Then the public gets wind of it--scandale!--and Fanny's powerful father works to help squelch things.

This was my first indication that things were going to drag, because this goes on for six years, the equivalent of twenty chapters. A good seven or so could have been cut out of there easily, preserving the story while moving things along. Then, just when I was starting to get bored, all hell breaks loose. SPOILER ALERT: Fanny is found dead, the Duc is arrested, Henriette is arrested, the Duc poisons himself and dies, Henriette, her name and reputation besmirched, leaves for America with the help of friends.

The remaining back half of the book tells the story of Henriette's life in America. She marries a minister ten years her junior, and they live in Massachusetts and New York City, rubbing elbows with literary and historical figures such as Henry Ward Beecher, George Eliot, and Abraham Lincoln. Henriette's brother-in-law is integral in the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, and we get to hear a LOT about that. She gets to go back to Europe a few times, but she never sees or hears from the Praslin children ever again. It's not uninteresting; if it were a standalone story, I might even have found it quite good. It's just that the first half of the book was a gothic romance, with murder and drama, and the rest is a plucky French immigrant spinster finds love and makes it in America. You could get whiplash! And it was so, so long. 596 pages. I was really struggling by the end.

If I met Rachel Field at a dinner party, and she told me the story of her great-aunt's life, I'm sure I would say "Wow! That's really interesting!" (It is) and then forget about it instantly. I don't know if I needed 600 pages of it, though.
Profile Image for Hana.
522 reviews344 followers
April 29, 2014
Sadly, I found Field's writing style somewhat dull. The idea and the story are rather better than the execution. The book started well, with Henriette moving to Paris and taking a job in a troubled royal household. I also enjoyed the historical references in last section after Henriette moves to America, but oddly, the tale bogged down in the middle--just at the moments when it should have been most exciting.

Field does do a good job describing locations, little details about Paris, etc. but does not do anywhere near enough of that. But I think the biggest problem is that Rachel Field does not write dialog with much pizazz, so she says that the Duchess was angry and abusive to her children or husband, or to Henriette the governess, rather than letting us hear and see the things that presumably make the Duchess so unlikeable. As it was, I didn't much care that she died and I could not quite figure out why anyone would bother killing her. I read some of the court records and recent analyses of the case and it seem clear the the Duke was guilty--yet we never get a hint of his capacity for violence.
333 reviews13 followers
October 11, 2018
Rachel Field, the author of the children's book Hitty, has written a wonderful story of her Great-aunt, Henriette Desportes/Deluzy. A book filled with events concerning her aunt as well as a history of the times - in France and America. The second half of the book tells of her life in American and the many well-known people of the time that intersected with her life. It is a book to savor - not one to page through quickly. I so seldom give even four stars for a book, so this for me is a real winner! It was made into a movie with Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, but I think I'll pass on the movie. Could never be as good as the book!






Profile Image for Taylor.
76 reviews2 followers
September 23, 2021
"As for ourselves; I came into your house, my dear friend, and in your unhappiness you reached out your hand for help - and I, in my lonliness, took it. And we have had such a friendship as is given to very few."

I was first put on this story from seeing the movie adaptation starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. Needless to say, I loved it so much I decided I needed more and would one day read the book. Well here we are.

I did not realize when I first fell in love with the film that it was based on a true story from 1840s France. I quite enjoyed the slow burn story of this subdued and low-key relationship taking place over a tragic backdrop of societal scandal and a understandably unhappy marriage.

Surprisingly, the movie only covered about half the story of the book, so a lot more to appreciate on both sides (it really was a great adaptation). It does feel as if the story goes on about 40% longer than necessary however - most of the spectacle and conflict are contained in the first half, with the latter half being almost entirely denouement or entirely a different story which was fairly uninteresting to go through after a point. I was very disappointed in the latter sections which seem to be a spark-noted biography of the less interesting parts of a person's life.

Not much else to say; the first half is really good stuff if you enjoy period dramas, or if you enjoyed the film, as I did, you are getting more story you can slot the actors performance to in your head (my love of the movie is obviously greatly influencing my experience). I would not bother with the second half...

If you read it, you'll know when to stop because it feels like an ending.
Profile Image for Isabel Luna.
1,143 reviews11 followers
June 29, 2019
Lastimosamente no está registrada la edición en español q leí, pero es un libro digamos "antiguo". Cuenta la historia de Enriqueta Desportes, que en 1841 fue contratada por la aristocrática y poderosa familia Paslin para cuidar de sus nueve hijos. El problema está en que el duque y la duquesa tienen serios problemas maritales y Enriqueta en algún momento se ve envuelta en la complicada relación; debido a los celos enfermizos de la duquesa.
Fue en el año de 1847 que la sociedad francesa en todos sus estratos se ve conmocionada por un crimen que sacude a toda Europa y es el punto de quiebre para la monarquía de ese país.
La duquesa ha sido asesinada… La sociedad parisina y la justicia apuntan al duque y a la joven institutriz lo q podría resultar un poco cliché pero q está muy bien llevado con una narrativa muy cuidada. Enriqueta pasó muy mal toda la investigación pero cuando finalmente queda en libertad decide emigrar a los EE.UU para reconstruir su vida.
El libro esta basado en hechos reales e históricos; la autora Rachel Field, es la sobrina-nieta del Enriqueta Deluzy Desportes y en 1940 la novela fue llevada al cine en una película producida por Darryl F. Zanuck, dirigida por Anatole Litvak, y protagonizada por Bette Davis y Charles Boyer.
Profile Image for Jill.
1,955 reviews54 followers
July 11, 2019
I super enjoyed this book! I generally don't care for this genre (historical fiction where the characters and events are real but the dialogue and interactions imagined. What's fascinating about this one is that the great niece wrote the book. Other intriguing facts are that Victor Hugo was contemporary to the murder and wrote about it in the newspaper. I enjoyed the first half much more than the second half (if I remember, the book is divided into thirds or maybe fourths, but I enjoyed the first half regardless. I had no idea about this piece of history but was gripped by most of it. There are some incredible people in it! I found this one by happenstance. It's referenced in The Woman Who Smashed Codes as a book used by the Nazis for their codes (it was a contemporary best-seller)! Presumably, since everyone else was reading it, it was easy to get your hands on a copy, and not unusual for anyone to be reading it.
Profile Image for BookAddict.
1,114 reviews4 followers
July 24, 2022
I was quite surprised by this. I expected it to be written in the slightly stuff way of many books written in the 40s, instead, at least for the time period it's written in, it's practically breezy!

I'd forgotten about Rachel Field until I just finished The Field House, so decided to read this, her most famous adult novel and the basis for the Better Davis/Charles Boyer movie of the early part of Henriette DesPortes life.

This novel encompasses her entire life both in Paris and in America. Of course it's a novelization but the history is so solidly written you feel like you're living it. Yes, this is long and yes it is very wordy but it is such a lovely story with wonderful real life characters that it's hard to find fault.

One must need some patience to get through this - it is not some breezy chick lot, but it is, at heart, a romance.

Highly recommend it and while the movie is a bit over wrought, it's worth a look as well.
Profile Image for Stuart Endick.
71 reviews3 followers
July 1, 2021
This is an absorbing historical novel about a fascinating Nineteenth Century woman, Henriette Deportes, who had the misfortune to be caught up in the sensational Praslin murder case that likely triggered the 1848 revolution in France. She later married into a remarkable New England family of intellectual overachievers and actively participated in their circle as recounted in the second half of the book. The talented author, Rachel Field, was her grand niece and her fine 1938 book was faithfully made into a large scale film in 1940 starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. This is a worthwhile and enjoyable read for anyone even though the author at times was evidently writing with a primarily female audience in mind. (I read a used 1940 edition of the book and not the edition with the added forward.)
Profile Image for Cindy Koch-Krol.
Author 9 books2 followers
August 13, 2021
The movie only told about one part of Henriette Field's life. The book told about her entire life. This one life touched so many others, people that you've heard of, people who did great things. Aside from her involvement in a "murder" that brought on the French Revolution, she was also sister-in-law to the man who built the Trans-Atlantic cable that enabled telegrams to cross the ocean in the same amount of time that it took to cross from New York to California. This woman had an interesting life. She hobnobbed with nearly every famous man in her time, lived through the Civil War and even heard Abraham Lincoln speak before his Presidential run. This was all delightfully depicted by the Author Rachel Field who was the great-niece of Henriette Field.

This proves once again that reading about history doesn't have to be dry and boring. On the contrary, this was a page turner.
Profile Image for Monica.
193 reviews1 follower
May 5, 2022
I hadn’t really known this book existed until I began working on the autobiography of Sonia H. Davis. In a letter to her niece, Sonia had recommended this book in hopes that her own life story would be presented in a similar fashion in terms of literary style, but scholarly work aside, I must say I absolutely love this book. All This and Heaven Too is a beautiful and yet tragic tale about love, scandal, and ultimately redemption for the heroine. The Praslin murder case was entirely new to me while reading the book, but it’s definitely a mystery I would like to research some more on a later date. The author did provide articles and volumes regarding the case at the end of the book for those who wish to learn more. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.
Profile Image for Haley Smith.
10 reviews1 follower
August 10, 2022
Thoroughly enjoyed this life story. The author whom is the main characters' great neice, Rachel Field has a gift with words and portrayed her great aunts life with absolute dignity and grace. Below I copied some quotes that I commonplaced.

"I'm alone in the world, madame, and I've learned to take what bits of love come my way and piece them together as best I can to keep me warm. I am reminded of those coverlets patched together from odds and ends of other people's garments."
pg. 117


"Like a spirited horse, she rebelled at anything which restrained personal liberty and freedom of expression." -pg. 186


"No wonder she felt qualms at stepping boldly into unknown country where she must blaze her own trails through the bewildering jungles of the heart and senses"
- pg. 184
Profile Image for Gloria Gna.
285 reviews
September 22, 2023
Me ha costado. Mucho. Está muy bien narrado, pero se me ha hecho reiterativo. Y a ello he de sumar que las situaciones y la tensión dramática me han parecido poco creíbles. Por poner solo un ejemplo: la pobrecita protagonista, una institutriz, necesita sí o sí una carta de recomendación de sus últimos señores sin la cual no puede vivir; la señora, una neurótica, se niega a dársela, pero el duque, que es un encanto y está de parte de la prota, resulta que no puede hacer nada, que es imposible que esa carta la redacte él... ¿Por qué? ¿Acaso no era él quien tomaba las decisiones sobre la educación de sus hijos?
En fin, necesito algo más ligero para reponerme de tanto drama.
Profile Image for Sophie.
701 reviews20 followers
May 27, 2017
I made it halfway through this book, but I just don't think I have another 300-pages-worth of interest in it. The author drags the story out way too much—sometimes it felt as if the five years the governess spent with the family were being narrated in real time—and I just don't care for the characters enough to stick with it. Henriette is ridiculously idealized, the Duc is weak and unappealing, and their love story is too tepid to make up for these deficiencies. I'll stick to the Bette Davis version. Did not finish.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
59 reviews12 followers
December 1, 2017
I picked this up for a song because I recalled my mother LOVED the movie with Bette Davis. Based on a true story, which makes it more interesting to begin with, it is beautifully written, and I agree that the first half is more compelling. But Henriette is a very likable heroine, she deserves to be happy, so I persevered and read to the end. I enjoyed the depictions of 19th century Paris as well as New York and Massachusetts. I just picked up a biography of Margaret Fuller and it occurred to me that she might have written about the scandal Henriette was involved in. Who can say?
815 reviews3 followers
November 22, 2019
It was interesting to follow the story of Henriette as she worked as a governess in France. The psychological interplay between the members of the household was especially engrossing. The book was long, but the length was justified; there was no way to capture such a wide range of experiences for one woman than to lay them all out thoroughly.
42 reviews
August 11, 2021
I discovered this gem sitting patiently on my bookshelf. It is inscribed with my great-grandmother's name, Avis Patience--a gift from her friend for Christmas 1938. I am stunned by this beautifully written account of a resilient and independent woman who moves with grace through such turbulent times.
6 reviews
August 27, 2020
An interesting time travel to the finery and backstreets of Paris

Europe and America too in an age of simplicity and horror when women were second class citizens. Lovely level of detail
August 4, 2023
this book is incredibly inspiring and beautifully written! it tells the true story of a French governess and how, after being wrongly accused for a crime she did not commit, must stand strong and brave, even when everything is against her. also!!! it was written by the great niece of the heroine!!!
Profile Image for Marjorie Towers.
172 reviews2 followers
September 29, 2023
Managed to read 3 classics so far this year. This was by far the best. Historically interesting, just like the other three. It is interesting how these older books are not only long, but cover a broad swath of time and characters.
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