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Fool's Apple
They all came to the old family house on New England's bleak coastline…
The great-grandmother, with a hundred years of hate keeping her silently alive.
Young Elizabeth Frame, returning with her husband whom she deeply loved and was fighting desperately to keep.
And Kimball, Elizabeth's cousin, now transformed into a wild, passionate beauty.
Together they gathered in the old house and together they found themselves caught in a terrifying web of passion, witchcraft, drugs, and strange secrets too powerful to be controlled.
The great-grandmother, with a hundred years of hate keeping her silently alive.
Young Elizabeth Frame, returning with her husband whom she deeply loved and was fighting desperately to keep.
And Kimball, Elizabeth's cousin, now transformed into a wild, passionate beauty.
Together they gathered in the old house and together they found themselves caught in a terrifying web of passion, witchcraft, drugs, and strange secrets too powerful to be controlled.
- GenresGothic
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 13, 2015
Fool's Apple was written by three different authors, and I'll be interested to learn how they set up the plot, developed the characters, and co-wrote the book. The plot centers on a married woman, Elizabeth, in a Massachusetts town where her ancestors lived and where her aunt and grandmother still reside. After her aunt dies, her cousin returns and promptly upsets the entire household.
As the plot thickens, Elizabeth reconnects with an old flame who was deemed unsuitable because of his ethnic background, and we learn more about her Spanish husband, Raoul, who is researching drugs to treat mental illness. The drug is derived from a plant on their property called Fool's Apple and through a series of twists and turns, Raoul uses his new, unapproved drug on Elizabeth's cousin. There is a tragic ending which gets rid of the nasty people, and leaves Elizabeth free to marry her old love, Mark.
My biggest issue with this book was the varying styles. Especially the styles at the beginning and end that seemed almost formulaic to me. The first paragraph of Chapter Ten, is an example of the language that drove me crazy:
"I look back to that time now, wondering how Raoul and I were able to have any conversation that night. Over the cold supper, our words and gestures were guided by ritual forms of social intercourse, while outside it was the storm that expressed our feelings, moaning and wailing and beating at the walls. Still, like the praying mantises in their courtly dance, we went through our motions."
As the plot thickens, Elizabeth reconnects with an old flame who was deemed unsuitable because of his ethnic background, and we learn more about her Spanish husband, Raoul, who is researching drugs to treat mental illness. The drug is derived from a plant on their property called Fool's Apple and through a series of twists and turns, Raoul uses his new, unapproved drug on Elizabeth's cousin. There is a tragic ending which gets rid of the nasty people, and leaves Elizabeth free to marry her old love, Mark.
My biggest issue with this book was the varying styles. Especially the styles at the beginning and end that seemed almost formulaic to me. The first paragraph of Chapter Ten, is an example of the language that drove me crazy:
"I look back to that time now, wondering how Raoul and I were able to have any conversation that night. Over the cold supper, our words and gestures were guided by ritual forms of social intercourse, while outside it was the storm that expressed our feelings, moaning and wailing and beating at the walls. Still, like the praying mantises in their courtly dance, we went through our motions."
June 21, 2012
This was one of my library sale "$1 for all you can carry" books. I lucked out this year and have like most of the ones I picked up, unlike previous years. This is an "older" book, 1971, and reads like one but I enjoyed it. The plot was good with a good twist at the end, although somewhat anticipated.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews