Karleen Koen's "Through A Glass Darkly" is as rich and broad in scope as the period she writes about - the initial years of England's King George the First's reign. Her plot is exciting, romantic, historically accurate, and includes many real life personalities, i.e. Chistopher Wren (one of England's greatest architects). Her fictional characters display an extraordinary depth. What is most enjoyable about the men and women she peoples her book with is that they are not cardboard figures but are allowed to grow with time & the experience they acquire. The novel reminds me a bit of "Gone With The Wind" in terms of its sweep of history and unforgettable characters....or it might also be reminiscent of an "upscale Forever Amber."
England, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was filled with political unrest & economic upheaval. King George I of Hanover had inherited the English throne, (1714), succeeding his cousin Queen Anne. English law stated that their King/Queen must be Protestant - and King George, even if he could not speak English, was definitely Protestant. However, many English Catholics, known as Jacobites, wanted to overthrow George and crown James Stuart, (James III), called "The Pretender," as king. He was the son of England's King James II & directly in line to the throne through his royal English bloodline. Thus plots & whispers of revolution abounded.
Interestingly, the terrible economic times of this period resemble those we are experiencing today. In 1711 the South Sea Company was formed. It was given exclusive rights to trade with the Spanish colonies in South America, transporting many slaves from Africa to South America. In 1720 shares in the company became massively overpriced. Then the share price collapsed - the South Sea Bubble burst - and many investors, from the highest nobles to the poorest commoners with a few guineas to invest, lost huge sums of money - their entire life savings. The losses and subsequent impact on the country's economy were catastrophic.
Fifteen year-old Barbara Aderley is central to the plot. This is her coming of age story and so much more. Bab, as she is called, is beautiful, intelligent, precocious, strong-willed and ready to be married off. The custom in these days is to marry young and for money and/or title. Her grandfather, Richard, Duke of Tamworth, a famous general, is deceased and much beloved by his countrymen. Richard's widow, Alice, the Duchess of Tamworth, may be elderly but is every bit as sharp and lively as her granddaughter. She is a powerful dowager who rules her roost, but has an extremely soft spot in her heart for Barbara. And Diana, Barbara's vicious but gorgeous mother, bears child after child to her unscrupulous Jacobite husband and leaves them with the Duchess to raise. What can I say? Diana is a hoyden and a slut...to put it mildly. And she is willing to sell her daughter off to the highest bidder.
Roger MontGeoffry, Lord Devane, served as an officer under Barbara's grandfather in the long wars with Louis XIV of France, and she has known him and adored him from early childhood. And why not? He is handsome, brilliant, kind & charming. Although there is more than a twenty-five year difference in their ages, when Lord Devane is proposed as a potential match for Barbara, she is thrilled. And he is extremely fond of her and needs her fortune to build a visionary architectural estate and museum in the center of London.
Sweeping, passionate and scandalous, the story moves from London to Paris to Italy, taking with it the members of a great English family with all the intrigue and baggage they bring with them....and a haunting, hurtful secret and betrayal to boot.
I usually do not read a book twice unless it is a beloved classic. However, I read "Through A Glass Darkly" when it was first published & it became a favorite. I read it again about ten years ago and found that the novel only improved with age. Now that a sequel has come out, ("Now Face to Face" - also excellent), I read it for a third time so that there would be a flow of events & people when reading both books back-to-back. I cannot recommend "Through a Glass Darkly" highly enough.
PS - To see "through a glass" -- a mirror -- "darkly" is to have an obscure or imperfect vision of reality - perhaps by letting our emotions distort the true nature of people or events. The expression comes from the writings of the Apostle Paul, the King James version of the Bible, Corinthians 13.
Jana Perskie
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