This is the selection for January for my Brock House bookclub. I haven't really been attracted to historical fiction and I did find the first half of the novel called "Paris, 1856" rather tedious. Yeah, I know, how couldn't I not be enchanted by anything about Paris. Well, I did like mention of the wonderful Haussman buildings and grand boulevards. Now, the second part "Algeria, 1856" was totally engaging and interesting to me. It's almost like he made the first part dull to make the second part really interesting. Even though I have liked what I've read of Moore, I would have stopped reading this if it wasn't a bookclub choice.
One particularly good thing that came out of it is I learned that there is a film of Moore's "The Lonely Passion of Judth Hearne" ( a novel I read and quite liked) starring Maggie Smith. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this and it's on YouTube. We saw Maggie Smith in Edinburgh performing in Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance"in 1997. She was wonderful as she is in everything.
