Monday, November 05, 2012

TY Book Recommendations 7

The latest recommendation from the Transition Year Extended Essay reading is Jessye Faulkner's:

I have been reading for my extended essay The Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, the story of a young woman's struggle over the death of her mother and the strange events that follow as she starts her new life at a finishing school that her departed mother had a connection to.

Gemma had always wanted to go to London - the season, the fashion, all the amazing stories that she had heard from her friends - but the life that Gemma knew is the one of Bombay and being told what to do by her mother. Gemma didn't know that when her mother gave her, her stone necklace and ushered her home. When she refused, which resulted in an argument, Gemma didn't know that this would be the last time she would ever talk to her mother. After her mother's death she was sent to Spence, a finishing school for young ladies, which was where she got entangled with the most powerful daughters in the country. Visions of her mother's death haunted her in her dreams and a 'shadow boy'  warned her about those visions.

I adored this book and it was hard to put down: sometimes teachers caught me reading it under my desk during lessons. The people who read it will agree with me that it's incredibly well-written and you really feel like you can relate to this character. Gemma really influenced me during the day and I thank Libba Bray for creating such a masterpiece.

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