The Glass Woman

Hugely enjoyable. Recommend.

This novel is a gem. The writing is what makes it positively glow. The author is artful. She does not tell you things, she makes you form your own images of characters and landscape both. This quality is rare in much modern fiction. There is so much to like here that I will skip right to what impressed me most. Throughout the narrative, other than the two protagonists who are depicted as always honest and pure, there are a host of other fascinating characters who shift back and forth from trustworthy to potentially evil & dangerous until the very end. It is this continuous shift that kept me reading with interest from start to finish. The story is winding and ever-changing in unexpected ways, like its characters and the unpredictable weather of Iceland. If you want to treat yourself to an enriching, absorbing read over the holidays, this is the book for you !

After finishing Bone China by Laura Purcell,,, I was going into this book thinking the worst. No no, I mean that the characters and the tale would be sorrowful. Not a lot of happiness. Not that the book itself would be bad. Anywho.. the synopsis of the book I found very mysterious. I also got serious silent companion vibes which is great because that remains one of my favourite modern gothics.At the beginning I found the writing style quite.. rushed? Like sentences had been took out,small paragraphs, leaving holes. But one thing I must say is that Lea crafted this story with the perfect timing. Slowly but fast paced unraveling the mystery. Throughout I found the book so compelling I couldn’t put it down. When I did.. it’s all I could think about. The issue I found with the lack of detail picks up in the book and I found it fitted perfectly with the story... like not giving too much away too soon and then BAM!.. the lack of detail did bother me but It didn’t for one second make me want to stop reading this book. I was desperate to know what was going on. I hope that makes sense because I am so bad at explaining things.... The story and the writing is utterly gripping and at times the story plays out to be darkly claustrophobic. The scenes are set very well. I loved where the tale was set. I find it quite unique and it was new to me, as I haven’t found or read many tales set in Iceland. I think this added a powerful and more chilling twist. I found it all so fascinating. It is utterly haunting. The glass women is honestly a fine piece of modern gothic.SPOILERS BELOW!I can say that I was not prepared for any of this. Like wow.. The forbidden love between Rośa and Pall I found to be utter heart wrenching.. I picked it up very early on. Just.. 💔 I found it.. difficult to read at times because of how women were treated back then but also viewed. However, Lea does mask this in a very good way and you really do feel the pain of the female characters and also the male characters towards the end.

Just terrible. Not worth the time.

The cover is beautiful..story seemed more like between Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Its very atmospheric. Although im still struggling to understand the importance of the title of the book here. Its only mentioned as the name for a pendant the heroine wears which is given by her husband, but other than that there is nothing significant about it. I dont know why its titled the Glass woman.