A Great and Terrible Beauty

Last night I finished reading the first installment of the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty while waiting in line for the midnight showing of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premier.  I was even photographed reading it by a local newspaper!  I was sad when it was over, mostly because of the story but also because I knew I still had 3 hours until midnight and because the sequel was waiting at home on my shelf.

The story surrounds young Gemma Doyle, an English girl raised by her British family in India during the late 1800's who longs to return to England and soon gets her wish after her mother's mysterious death and the devastation of her father.  Along with the mystery of her mother's death, there is the added mystery of the strange visions that seem to over power her.  Sent off to boarding school, Spence's Academy for Young Girls, she makes friends who at times can be more like adversaries than friends and realizes the struggles of fitting in while also finding that even the most popular girls have their secrets and fears to hide as well.  In one of her visions, she is lead to a cave where she finds the secret diary of mysterious Mary Dowd, a girl who she discovers experienced the same type of visions she does and also attended her school.  With the diary in hand, she sets out to learn what is happening to her, how to control it,  what this mysterious Order is about and more importantly who she is in a society that dictates how a lady should be.

As Christine said, there are the evident themes of friendship, trust, love, acceptance and power each pertaining to Gemma or one of her friends, Ann, Felicity and Pippa who in the end need to come to terms with their circumstance, even if it is a tragic, terrible beauty.

I'm excited for the next book, Rebel Angels; to find out what Gemma does next and what journeys her and her friends will embark upon.  If you've read or are reading this book, please feel free to comment with your thoughts on the story.  If you have never read it, please do and join our book club's journey with Gemma Doyle.

Happy reading!

~Sarah