Strands of Bronze and Gold

Today’s post is on Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson. It is 339 pages long and is published by Knopf publishing. Cover has the heroine in profile with her fire lit up from the light behind her. The intended reader is young adult but if you are fan of the Bluebeard fairy tale you should read this. The story is told from third person close with the focus on the heroine Sophia. There is no language but there some intense situations between Sophie and de Cressac involving violence and sex. There is no sex but de Cressac does not understand that no means no. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father die, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation- on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting- from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.
Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives- all with hair as red as her own- in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.
Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut- a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.

Review- This is a well written and interesting retelling of a lesser known fairy tale. De Cressac is a good villain, he is evil, he is selfish, and I was worried about Sophie. The prose is good and easy to read. You believe that he has murdered and done other horrible things to people and animals. He is scary so be warned. Sophie is not stupid, which is nice. At first she does not want to believe that de Cressac could do those things but over the course of the story she comes to not only believe that he would do them; she gets proof so that he could be publicly brought to justice. There are shades of grey in all but two of the side characters. Sophie’s real love interest and the wise woman who lives in the woods are Sophie’s support system as she tries to survive the dangerous and deadly abbey in the woods. The final confrontation between heroine and villain is intense and gripping.

I give this one Four stars out of Five. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.