A Long Fatal Love Chase Week 4 - Chapters 13 to 16

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

This is such an action-packed book, but I think it is becoming repetitive as well. Just about everything that can go wrong for Rosamund does, as Tempest keeps chasing her and finding her.
How does Rosamund attempt to escape from Tempest?
Please comment on any other aspects of the plot, characters or settings that come to mind.

Here are the four chapters for this segment:

Chapter 13: Flee Temptation
Set in a convent in Amiens, France

Chapter 14: Glimpse of Happiness
Chapter 15: Madame la Comtesse
Chapter 16: Mad
All three set in a hotel in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Who did you think Rosamund was going to shoot at the end of Chapter 16?

[Deborah, Moderator]

I’ve finished it so I will be cautious re spoilers. I can’t help but wonder how Tempest keeps finding her. It seems unbelievable to me.

The chapter where she is accused of being mad reminds me of how many women were deemed mad for things like reading too many novels among other ridiculous things. Women were so vulnerable in so many ways during this time.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That makes me think of the story The Yellow Wallpaper. Women didn't have it easy in those days.

I will be finishing it today. There's not a lot to discuss, but it is a page turner.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "That makes me think of the story The Yellow Wallpaper. Women didn't have it easy in those days.

I will be finishing it today. There's not a lot to discuss, but it is a page turner."

It’s been a really fun read.

[Frances, Moderator]

While this started out as a sort of romantic folly, Tempest has matured into a horrifying stalker. I don't know if the whole Psychological sense of this urge to control and know every aspect of your supposed love object was at all known at the time, but Alcott does a brilliant job of describing the claustrophobic sense of someone who is always there, always watching, gaslighting constantly to make their victim seem like the crazy one, and destroying their life. I was sorry that Rosamond would agree to marry someone that she didn't love, although perhaps that solidity and the ready-made family would appeal to her.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I sensed that Rosamund was really getting tired of always being on the run. Tempest is terrifying in his persistence.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Frances wrote: "While this started out as a sort of romantic folly, Tempest has matured into a horrifying stalker. I don't know if the whole Psychological sense of this urge to control and know every aspect of you..."

I think she craved safety at this point and felt, perhaps, once she was married a Tempest would have to leave her alone. Plus the fact that during this time women needed men to survive (for the most part).