Watch this review as a video. I bought this book on a whim during a visit to my local bookshop, because I fell in love with the gorgeous cover design and colours (and yes, I do like to match my tea mug to the book I'm reading. It makes me feel mature and responsible). It's not a book that's well-known in the booktube community, so I thought I'd try my hand at another review. | |
The essence of the storyline is as follows: Deirdre is a servant girl and embroiderer in a Scottish castle; Feilamort is a French boy with an angelic singing voice who is brought over to Scotland. Both of them are hovering somewhere between childhood and adulthood, and they become close friends (and eventually more than friends). Feilamort and his singing coach set off to continental Europe, whereas Deirdre is whisked away to a convent since she shows no interest in marrying a local boy.
Although Feilamort's past is a mystery to him, other people are digging around in the past and making discoveries that will influence not only Feilamort's life, but also Deirdre's (I am impressed, if I do say so myself, by the blurb-worthiness of this last sentence).
The story takes place in several countries and is presented to the reader through several points of view. In spite of that, though, Gone Are the Leaves is essentially a story about the love between to people and the consequences of that love. Besides love, another theme that keeps cropping up is the past. Many of the characters have some sort of hidden section in their lives. While some of them, such as Feilamort, are barely aware of this, others are deliberately withholding information. Finally, religion is an important theme. Not in an obvious, in-your-face kind of way, but as a kind of undercurrent that runs through the entire story. I had a lot of appreciation for how all the characters have a different take on religion and the careful way in which these views are represented.
Last but not least, a very important note on the language in which this book is written. According to the synopsis on the back this is "lilting, hypnotic prose"; in real life, it's Scots. Now, I know quite a lot about the accents of English - if I do say so myself - but I won't pretend that I flew through this. It took me quite a while to get used to reading the bits in Scots (about three quarters of the book) and from what I've seen on Goodreads, other people also struggled with this. But it's a beautiful language and definitely worth sticking around for!
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot once I got into it. It's definitely something I'd recommend for people who like a medieval-style lovestory, with a bit of mystery added in.
Gone Are the Leaves on...
Anne Donovan on...
Although Feilamort's past is a mystery to him, other people are digging around in the past and making discoveries that will influence not only Feilamort's life, but also Deirdre's (I am impressed, if I do say so myself, by the blurb-worthiness of this last sentence).
The story takes place in several countries and is presented to the reader through several points of view. In spite of that, though, Gone Are the Leaves is essentially a story about the love between to people and the consequences of that love. Besides love, another theme that keeps cropping up is the past. Many of the characters have some sort of hidden section in their lives. While some of them, such as Feilamort, are barely aware of this, others are deliberately withholding information. Finally, religion is an important theme. Not in an obvious, in-your-face kind of way, but as a kind of undercurrent that runs through the entire story. I had a lot of appreciation for how all the characters have a different take on religion and the careful way in which these views are represented.
Last but not least, a very important note on the language in which this book is written. According to the synopsis on the back this is "lilting, hypnotic prose"; in real life, it's Scots. Now, I know quite a lot about the accents of English - if I do say so myself - but I won't pretend that I flew through this. It took me quite a while to get used to reading the bits in Scots (about three quarters of the book) and from what I've seen on Goodreads, other people also struggled with this. But it's a beautiful language and definitely worth sticking around for!
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot once I got into it. It's definitely something I'd recommend for people who like a medieval-style lovestory, with a bit of mystery added in.
Gone Are the Leaves on...
Anne Donovan on...