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The Girl with the Golden Scissors
by
From the bestselling author of The Lioness of Morocco and The Elephant Keeper’s Daughter, the story of an ambitious young woman discovering friendship, love, and her own identity on the eve of World War I.
Christmas 1889. A baby is born in the early hours at Vienna General Hospital, only to be abandoned by her unwed mother and entrusted to a foundling home and its lovin
...moreKindle Edition, 326 pages
Published
January 21st 2020
by Amazon Crossing
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Community Reviews
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Start your review of The Girl with the Golden Scissors
In Christmas of 1889, in Vienna, a girl child is born to an unwed mother at the Vienna General Hospital who abandons her. The child is subsequently taken in by the matron of the foundling home attached to the hospital who also presided over the birth. The girl child is christened Fanny Schindler and under the care of her loving matron, grows up to be a strong willed and beautiful girl who has ambitions far ahead for a woman of her time. Determined to rise above her humble station in life, Fanny
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I absolutely love historical fiction especially when it is written as eloquently as The Girl With the Golden Scissors.
Franny was born in 1889 in Vienna only to be abandoned by her unwed mother. She is cared for, lovingly, at a foundling home where she grows into a precocious child and a talented young woman. Ultimately, she finds herself as an apprentice in one of the most prestigious fashion houses in Austria-Hungary. Isn't it interesting how many of these young women end up in fashion houses? ...more
Franny was born in 1889 in Vienna only to be abandoned by her unwed mother. She is cared for, lovingly, at a foundling home where she grows into a precocious child and a talented young woman. Ultimately, she finds herself as an apprentice in one of the most prestigious fashion houses in Austria-Hungary. Isn't it interesting how many of these young women end up in fashion houses? ...more
This book is getting quite a bit of promotion on Amazon right now. I was lucky enough to have gotten an ARC, or I might have skipped it. That would have been a shame.
"The Girl With the Golden Scissors" is an historical fiction novel which takes place in Vienna and Hungary in the periods just before and during The First World War.
It concerns a young woman, born in an orphanage to an anonymous well bred unwed mother, who is lucky enough to be raised by a loving foster mother. She grows into a st ...more
"The Girl With the Golden Scissors" is an historical fiction novel which takes place in Vienna and Hungary in the periods just before and during The First World War.
It concerns a young woman, born in an orphanage to an anonymous well bred unwed mother, who is lucky enough to be raised by a loving foster mother. She grows into a st ...more
How did this receive such good reviews? I stuck with it, but it continuously disappointed me! The main characters were shallow and I was never emotionally drawn in to the story. On top of that, infidelity just doesn't ever fly in my book, so the "resolution" of the story was a huge letdown. Would not recommend.
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Apr 22, 2020
C.A. Gray
added it
I was really into this for the first few hours. I enjoy historical narratives as an escape, because they break the stereotypical plotlines of modern stories, and also because I can generally expect to be spared some of the modern sex, violence, language, and political agendas. I stopped this one when it became clear that the author was setting up an anachronistic, modern political agenda in a book set in 1909! So irritating.
Aug 24, 2020
Joann
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
drama,
ww1,
family-drama,
romance,
political,
shocker-ending,
foreign-transtated,
audible
This was a free audible and it was pretty good. Maybe not great, but it did keep me intrigued enough for several nights.
It starts out at Christmas 1889 in Vienna. A baby girl is born in the early hours at Vienna General Hospital, only to be abandoned by her unwed mother and entrusted to a foundling home and its loving caretaker. All the events in this novel was based on a real foundling home. The girl is now a young lady, Fanny, and strives to make a living for herself but is always finding tha ...more
It starts out at Christmas 1889 in Vienna. A baby girl is born in the early hours at Vienna General Hospital, only to be abandoned by her unwed mother and entrusted to a foundling home and its loving caretaker. All the events in this novel was based on a real foundling home. The girl is now a young lady, Fanny, and strives to make a living for herself but is always finding tha ...more
I truly loved this book. I found the characters rich and wound together in beautiful ways. I wanted to root for Fanny, and most importantly for me as a reader, I couldn't wait to see where her life took her. While I'm still processing the book, I will put a full review on my blog (dionneabouelela.com) shortly. At this time, kudos to the author and thank you for a beautiful story full of rich textiles, rich emotions, and unexpected developments.
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How have I never heard of this author before!? I love that I still discover new authors! Her titles and covers are amazing!
Thank you, Netgalley.com, for giving me a chance to read a free copy of The Girl With the Golden Scissors in exchange for a fair review.
Historical fiction is a genre I like to read during the winter months. The Girl With the Golden Scissors is the story of an illegitimate child of the Austro-Hungarian empire, became an independent woman, and an essential person in the fashion industry before and during WWI.
It is the first time that I am reading a book that the perspective is from the losing part ...more
Historical fiction is a genre I like to read during the winter months. The Girl With the Golden Scissors is the story of an illegitimate child of the Austro-Hungarian empire, became an independent woman, and an essential person in the fashion industry before and during WWI.
It is the first time that I am reading a book that the perspective is from the losing part ...more
Not very good.
This story of a Viennese girl born in a foundling home at the turn of the 20th century is very dry and shallow.
The main character, Fanny, is shallow and unlikeable. She is raised by an administrator of the foundling home and as she becomes old enough to go out into the world on her own she causes her own problems many times over.
The story is tedious and the plot is all over the map as Fanny works in various homes as a personal maid to wealthy girls. None of the characters have any ...more
This story of a Viennese girl born in a foundling home at the turn of the 20th century is very dry and shallow.
The main character, Fanny, is shallow and unlikeable. She is raised by an administrator of the foundling home and as she becomes old enough to go out into the world on her own she causes her own problems many times over.
The story is tedious and the plot is all over the map as Fanny works in various homes as a personal maid to wealthy girls. None of the characters have any ...more
I couldn’t put this book down! This would make a great movie.
After sleeping on it, I've changed my rating to two stars.
The writing was very engaging even though it was translated from the original German. I enjoyed the multiple povs since I'm pretty sure I would've been completely bored by a singular narrative by the heroine. However, beyond the storytelling style and the nice historical details, the characters were just not that likable. Except for Izabella and Max's parents and Helene, I didn't like anybody else. And since none of them was a MC, I could ...more
The writing was very engaging even though it was translated from the original German. I enjoyed the multiple povs since I'm pretty sure I would've been completely bored by a singular narrative by the heroine. However, beyond the storytelling style and the nice historical details, the characters were just not that likable. Except for Izabella and Max's parents and Helene, I didn't like anybody else. And since none of them was a MC, I could ...more
I read that this was sort of a historical romance and at first I was like, “Meh. Romance isn’t my thing.” Then I actually read it and went, “This is more like historical fiction with a little bit of romance thrown in!”
Time period: just before and during WWI
Setting: Europe, specifically Austria-Hungary
Oh, the things money can buy. Like anonymity during childbirth. The main character was born during Christmas to parents who wished to remain anonymous. Through a series of unfortunate events, she g ...more
Time period: just before and during WWI
Setting: Europe, specifically Austria-Hungary
Oh, the things money can buy. Like anonymity during childbirth. The main character was born during Christmas to parents who wished to remain anonymous. Through a series of unfortunate events, she g ...more
Not really my cup of tea. I was mostly just bored with it.
3.5 stars
I won a copy of this book through the giveaways page! I never read the synopsis of books nor reviews before reading. I literally decide whether to read/not read based on title, cover, or recommendations by a person. I’ve always loved historical fiction, even though this book some liberties (these were all outlined at the end of the book, which I loved), it was very representative of that time period. The book is wonderfully written & I felt like I really knew the characters. Throughout the book
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What a great read another amazing book by Julia Drosten. The story is about a babe born into a foundling home for orphans of unwed mothers; Fanny Schindler spends her whole life proving herself to the loving woman, Josepha, who took her in. Fanny grew up as a strong minded woman with determination to drive to what she wanted but was never happy with her jobs until one day she had no choice to visit the most glamorous fashion houses in Austria-Hungary that set her path to what she wanted to do w
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Set in Vienna in 1889. Fanny born in a hospital and given up and raised in what what was called foundling home for orphans. So many were mistreated and abused in foster care, that Josepha who had been working there for years, kept Fanny in the home and raised her. Fanny grew to be an independent woman who loved to sew!
"D'you know, I've been thinking about the first time we ever came here, and now this whole place is yours! I'm so proud of you. Not just for that but because of the way you didn't ...more
"D'you know, I've been thinking about the first time we ever came here, and now this whole place is yours! I'm so proud of you. Not just for that but because of the way you didn't ...more
This was a good story and introduced a historical viewpoint I hadn't seen before so that was fascinating. I do wish the main character hadn't spend the first half of the book pursuing careers that she had no interest in. The ending with the big reveal of her lineage was a huge miss for me. I think it would have been better for her to never find out and realize what a wonderful guardian she had without needing to make the comparison to an actual birth mother. Overall an engaging story.
I won the K ...more
I won the K ...more
I won this book through goodreads. The story was easy enough to follow along and had some beautiful moments. Overall it was an okay story but not spectacular.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The bad:
* Any story of WWI that ignores the Spanish Flu has missed half the story right off the bat.
* Leaving Jewish characters in Austria, the home of the future fuhrer, at the end of WWI without any hint of the coming holocaust was again leaving an important story untold.
* The very idea that one kiss would make an umarried woman ready to lose her virginity during a time of no birth control and few women's rights is just not realistic and provided no foundation for the great love story of the ...more
* Any story of WWI that ignores the Spanish Flu has missed half the story right off the bat.
* Leaving Jewish characters in Austria, the home of the future fuhrer, at the end of WWI without any hint of the coming holocaust was again leaving an important story untold.
* The very idea that one kiss would make an umarried woman ready to lose her virginity during a time of no birth control and few women's rights is just not realistic and provided no foundation for the great love story of the ...more
Born into a foundling home for orphans of unwed mothers, Fanny Schindler spends her whole life proving herself to the loving woman, Josepha, who took her in. First by obtaining good grades in school and longing to continue her education, she works as a lady's maid for several rich young women. After several failed attempts in prominent houses, she decides to follow her dream of becoming a seamstress and buys herself an apprenticeship to one of the most prestigious clothing shops in Austria-Hunga
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This is a new author for me. She and her husband co-author, but use just her first name. I would read another historical fiction novel by them. The novel takes place in Austria in the early 1900’s. The main character, Fanny is left orphaned and grows up in a home similar to an orphanage. A caretaker loves her and takes over her care. Fanny is a strong woman, a characteristic of Julia’s 2nd novel I am reading. Born poor and destined for a life of domestic work, she loves sewing and fashion. Throu
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were engaging, and the story was compelling. Fanny is a strong young lady who didn't let her being abandoned in a foundling home at birth shape her entire life and future. She had a vision of what she wanted to do with her future, and used courage and determination to strive towards her goal. The romance part of the story did not dominate the narrative, and her morals and loyalty to her former mistress (when she was a lady's maid) and friend led her to,
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There was a lot I really liked about this book. The historical accuracy was outstanding and I loved following Fanny’s life and seeing her struggle in childhood and her dreams of being a seamstress, as well keeping that functionality in the war effort while taking on realistic roles for women that made an impact.
What I did not like was the romance between Max and Fanny. It felt forced initially, I did not like how in the end, she and Max were together (the writing made it make perfect sense, but ...more
What I did not like was the romance between Max and Fanny. It felt forced initially, I did not like how in the end, she and Max were together (the writing made it make perfect sense, but ...more
Story of a foundling raised in an orphanage that likes color, texture and sewing. When it comes time to make her way as a servant, her sense of style makes her attractive to wealthy families as a personal maid to young ladies. After several disastrous events in Vienna & then in Hungary, she returns to Vienna and petitions a French designer to apprentice in her well-known fashion house, ultimately becoming it's owner.
The story incompasses the height of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s u ...more
The story incompasses the height of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s u ...more
I totally enjoyed this book to the max. Great story of a bastard child raised by an older person , and this child's determination to get a life despite all the obstacles in her path. Life was not that easy in the late 1800 and early 1900 up to the first World War. The husband and wife authors really did research on the events of that time to give us the readers a sense of what went on during that Austrian, Serbian, Hungary conflict and after involving Russia, France and other European countries.
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A beautifully crafted story
The story immediately draws you in. And as it progresses, you become increasingly invested in the characters. At the center of it all, the gutsy heroine has so many ups and downs, it keeps you on your toes. Some of her woes are more or less self-inflicted, but I found myself cheering for her nonetheless. While the main character steals the show (as she with the flair of the golden scissors, how can she not?), the other characters have enough color to elicit emotion fo ...more
The story immediately draws you in. And as it progresses, you become increasingly invested in the characters. At the center of it all, the gutsy heroine has so many ups and downs, it keeps you on your toes. Some of her woes are more or less self-inflicted, but I found myself cheering for her nonetheless. While the main character steals the show (as she with the flair of the golden scissors, how can she not?), the other characters have enough color to elicit emotion fo ...more
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Julia Drosten. They live in the picturesque Münsterland region
of Germany and have always wanted to write books. They find
the research to be almost as much fun. For Das Revuemädchen
they have flown in a historic biplane and for Die Seidenrose they
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