And she says:

This is a good visual reference book, especially if you are a collector of dolls 100 years old (and older). The beautiful wood dolls on page 10 are from the late 1600's - I think a museum would have something like that, but not me. The book is divided into 11 chapters, based on the material the doll is made of, or unusual subject matter such as who they depict. The funniest page is called Patriotic Character Dolls, with all the photos depicting Political Figures (men) from 1890-1918.

The text is somewhat sparse, but the photos are stunning. It seems that every page has color photos on it, making this a good buy for an "art book". As an amateur collector, I do not feel that the information in the book is adequate for me to identify a valuable antique from a reproduction.

There are interesting suggestions for restoration, so this book would be a good addition to a museum curator's reference library if your museum has old dolls to display.

This book is for adults, and its reading level is too advanced for children under 12.

Doll collectors and fans will find Caroline Goodfellow's Ultimate Doll Book to be a fine, colorful guide showcasing more than 400 dolls ranging from 18th century simple peg woodens, to 19th century French fashion dolls, down through today's Barbie & Ken. Chapters are packed with color images and even more important, provide portraits of the dolls clothed and unclothed along with identification tips based on structural details. From rag dolls to baby dolls and national dolls, this is packed with insights.

Robert Ward's The King of Cards is, for the most part, witty and charming in ways that few other modern books are. While Ward's attempt at a emotional ending backfires, and the main character's wordy ramblings on the events that shaped his persona are unimpressive, the book is consistantly funny and the characters are well drawn. This book is a nice bit of light humor.

Highly evocative novel set in late 1970s/early 1980s de-industrializing Baltimore as seen through the eyes of permanently laid-off steelworker Red Baker. No prior knowledge of the milieu is required: A friend unfamiliar with the geographic and social specifics that Robert Ward describes attests to the fact that it conveys a feel for Baltimore's industrial decline, and the individual tragedies that accompanied its transition to a post-industrial economy.

The first half of the novel is well done, and enchanting in places. However, plot twists often become confusing, and by the last chapter, we are led to the most implausible surprise-- that Mrs. Fairfax was somehow the evil queen in all this. Nothing in the entire novel prepared us for this, and thus, it felt completely contrived. Perhaps the author was trying to be gothic, but she failed utterly to convince this reader. I felt cheated of the true richness and emotional depth that is "Jane Eyre."

As an editor of the letters of the late Jean Rhys, i felt the same sense of discovery and excitement on reading Emma Tennant's Adele as i did when i first read Wide Sargasso Sea. Again, a character no one had thought or known about had been rescued and brought to the fore. In the case of Sargasso Sea it was of course the first Mrs Rochester, in Tennant's book, the little french girl, Mr Rochester's daughter is the heroine of a novel that goes hand in hand with Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Adele moved me deeply;this is a story with which so many will identify. for adele wants one thing more than anything in the world, and that is the reconciliation of her mother and father. That Celine Varens, actress and trapeze dancer, Parisian to her fingertips, has abandoned her daughter cannot at first be accepted by the child; and in this beautifully written account of her life in France and in the grim confines of Thornfield Hall in Yorkshire, Adele brings us both grief, a sense of a rebellion and finally, happiness.
A wonderful book.

"Adele: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story" provides a unique perspective of "Jane Eyre" through the eyes of some of the minor characters in the novel (Adele, Rochester, Grace Poole and Mrs. Fairfax). In this book, we find out about Adele's life with her mother, and explore Rochester's "hidden secret" in greater detail. "Adele" is a wonderful companion to Jane Eyre, and has earned its place next to "Jane Eyre" on any bookshelf.

This book is a sorry disappointment coming from a talented authoress like Miss Aiken. The lpot is not true to Miss Austen at all, and not a whit of it leads to the plot, structure, theme, language or depth of "Mansfiedl Park". And like all Janeites out ther, let me point out that the youngest Miss Ward's first name is not Harriet (Hatty); it's actually Frances (Fanny). Our Heroine in "Mansfield Park" is Fanny Price, and she is the eldest daughter, and in true Jane Austen fashion, the eldest daughters and sons are usually named for the parents. A disappointemnt indeed, a far cry from what Miss Austen conceptualised.

I started out thinking I was in for yet another jewel along the lines of "Jane Fairfax" and "Mansfield Revisited." Aiken certainly starts off in that vein, but halfway thru, the plot turns ridiculous. Hatty became so 'Dickens-like' in her cheerful suffering that I wanted to gag, and the antagonists were also crosses between those found in Bronte and Dickens and not Austen-like at all. Aiken seemed to abandon wit and good humor for pathos and melo-drama. I hope she will not continue on this vein in her future Austen ventures. Aiken is VERY gifted and readable, so it is easy to forgive her for "The Youngest Miss Ward."

I found this latest book of Joan Aiken's to be a very enjoyable one, with many references to characters and events in Mansfield Park, and an excellent portrayal of the early nineteenth century. For the entire first half or more I was quite caught up in the heroine's life and that of the whole cast of unusual characters, many of which seem to be right out of an Austin novel. It was with some chagrin when I realized, toward the end, that Hattie (the youngest Miss Ward of the title), had slipped into the "Goody Goody" mode, and was becoming somewhat insipid. I mean, really, she goes around solving everyone's problems, and taking all kinds of abuse with never a frown, but is always cheerful and helpful to a fault. The other characters have also fallen into rather neat groups of villians and good guys. However, this would not really have bother me, had the ending not been as it was. I don't wish to give anything away, so I won't comment on the obvious flaws and lack of continuity in many of the storylines and characters. However, some may not be as troubled by the ending or the character of the heroine , and, if interested in this period of history, will certainly enjoy reading The Youngest Miss Ward.

Although it is valid to group these two novels together, I feel that someone should mention that Northanger Abbey is a parody of gothic novels, particularly those of Mrs. Radcliffe. Those expecting a horror story will be disappointed.

Even casual readers of Jane Austen understand that all her writing exists within a certain range. All her novels contain some variation of certain plot elements - the hero, the female rival(s) for the hero's affections, the decoy hero, the wouldn't-marry-him-even-if-he-was/even-though-he-is-worth-10,000-a-year anti-hero. Austen's genious was not in original plotting, but in her use of this formula to explore character, human nature and society. The opening chapters of _Charlotte_, those penned by our beloved authoress, set up all these elements brilliantly. Unfortunately, when Julia Barrett takes over the narrative, we find no social commentary (forgiveable perhaps since Ms. Barrett does not live in the society described), but more importantly, a plot which ambles about as non-sensically as a drunk who has lost his sense of direction. The heroine spends most of her time outside the hero's company, and a considerable time outside of Sanditon and away from most of the characters introduced. The characters clearly intended by Austen as rivals disappear from the pages between their introduction and their marriages, approximately 90% of the story. I can hardly critize Ms. Barrett for not writing in Austen's style or with Austen's formula. I only expect such deviations to be done well, in a manner that is internally consistent with the characters introduced, which _Charlotte_ is not.

I truly enjoyed this novel, as much as I did its predecessors "Presumption" and "The Third Sister", I think, though each of the three had its own individual, special delights. Though by no means an expert myself in Jane Austen or late 18th Century England, it seemed to me that "Jane Austen's Charlotte" like the two others, did indeed "engage and entice" back into that world, and I believe they kept to the "great lady's" own standards of wit, warmth, and intelligence.

I think the aspect of these novels, and most recently "Charlotte", that impresses me the most is the prodigious imagination required of a writer in today's world to imagine and bring to life these very real-seeming characters in an age not like ours at all in so many ways, especially in language. Julia Barrett definitely has a "felicity" with language much like the "great lady". I loved the turns of phrases, the chapter beginnings, the extremely insightful observations on human nature, both its strengths and foibles, and above all, the way she, like her wonderful predecessor, makes the characters individualistic and memorable without a lot of physical description or observation.

And, the satirical asides and situations in "Charlotte" seem to have more contemporary resonances than in the previous novels or even in Jane's. I was constantly smiling and even laughing out loud at Lady Denham and Mr. Parker and how they got caught up in the seashore health fads and get-rich-quick enthusiasms of the "new day" dawning in England in the early 1800s. If they could only see the modern world mania for "development" and dubious investments as well as today's corruption and avarice gone wild almost everywhere.

Like Jane Austen, Ms. Barrett brought the story to a close most satisfactorily with the heroine getting her fairly predictable education in life and a fine, upstanding husband to boot, and with little collateral damage to those relatives and loved ones least guilty of the shenanigans that brought Sanditon to near ruin. Barrett really did open up "Charlotte" to the rest of the world, hinted at in her two previous works as well by the "great lady" herself in her later novels, but she also somehow maintained the high level of wit and charm and intelligence that are so enjoyable in her mentor. So, kudos and many thank yous for another very enjoyable visit to Jane Austen land. As with a few other books I've really enjoyed, I'm sure I'll take them down in a couple of years to re-read. And, I'll definitely recommend them to whomever I run into who seems capable of enjoyment of such a high order. To those who think no one should "sully" Jane Austen's memory or tread on her legacy, I say nonsense and challenge them to give Julia Barrett a try. Jane Austen has indeed a worthy successor these days. I eagerly await an addition to the canon.

Those of us who adore Jane Austen are rightly fearful of attempts to pick up where she left off. But Julia Barrett is on to Austen's devastating wit--the critical and amused eye that she casts over the social landscape--and the result is a lovely read.