The newest addition to my “must read” books includes one entitled A Great and Terrible Beauty. The main character, Gemma Doyle, is a beautiful sixteen year old girl who has quite the intellectual mind of her own. This is especially important to the story because the book is set in the late 1800s. While other girls make sure to place the napkin loosely on their lap, Gemma is constantly questioning her purpose in life. Gemma attends the Spense Academy in London, following the tragic death of her mother in India. Gemma had foreseen the tragedy that took her mother’s life in India not moments before it happened. The tragedy occurred after mother and daughter became engaged in an argument. Gemma’s mother refused to tell Gemma about an unknown message between an Indian man and herself. Out of frustration, Gemma runs away through the market streets of India. Gemma is concerned about the secretive conversation, and is curious as to why her mother demands that she return home instantly, once she had spoke with the unknown man. The Indian man’s younger brother, who Gemma is quite fond of, notices her screaming episode as she is having her vision of her mother’s untimely death. He asks her if she has seen his brother. Clearly this brother is aware of what is happening while Gemma is experiencing this unusual vision. Unfortunately, Gemma might have been able to prevent her mother’s suicide had she known that she had this power to see the future.
Living in London, Gemma quickly learns that one must hold their station in life properly in order to keep order among the people of England. Hierarchy was very important back then to every English citizen, including those who slept outside in the slums or were beggars on the street. Gemma’s family was part of the upper class in society. I have not continued much farther than this into the book. However, I have already been captivated by the mystery of Gemma as she struggles to find her way in the proper, yet scandalous Victorian age. Gemma Doyle is no ordinary girl. She refuses to draw back in fear and hide behind the wall that separates a woman’s world from the real world.
