PENGUIN The Silk Merchant's Daughter

tres bien

Dinah Jefferies is my personal favorite. This is the third book that I have read of hers. Captivating storyline, beautiful character building. It takes you to a different world. Must read for romance, history and story

I really enjoy immensely historical novels and this one by Dinah Jefferies did NOT disappoint me. This is the first historical novel that I've read that is set in the 1950's in Viet Nam. I was really amazed at the accuracy of that time period and I read her notes at the end of the book to learn how much time and effort she puts into researching and visiting in person, the places she is writing about. I was captivated by the sights and sounds and visuals of Hanoi and the old Vietnamese quarter where Nicole has her silk shop. Nicole's love of the silks and the explanation of how the silk is grown until the final product was perfect. I had visited Viet Nam and am also a textile collector so I doubly appreciated the rich descriptions and the author's accuracy. The story itself is heart-breaking and a good mystery right up to the end. The pain of dealing with her Vietnamese and French ancestry is realistic and sad and understandable as to the choices she makes in the book. It was difficult to put the book down each night as I wanted more, more more...

Great read

Dopo aver letto Il profumo delle foglie del te in italiano ho voluto provare a leggere questo in inglese, cosa che abitulamente faccio quando un autore mi colpisce particolarmente. Purtroppo in questo caso sono rimasta molto delusa, a pagina 54 siamo ancora fermi a descrizioni con nulla di concreto di costruzione nella storia e dei personaggi poco costruiti. La delusione nasce dal fatto che avrebbe potuto avere un grosso potenziale da descrivere e cmq stringendo poteva nascere una bella storia come la precedente citata.