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Silk |  | Author: Penny Jordan
Publisher: AVON, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy Used: £0.01
as of 23/11/2009 06:17 GMT details
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New (21) Used (79) from £0.01
Seller: brit-books
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 38560
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Paperback Edition
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.6
ISBN: 1847560733
EAN: 9781847560735
ASIN: 1847560733
Publication Date: August 15, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 Loved it! December 7, 2008
K. Waugh (UK)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Maybe I'm more shallow than some of the other reviewers, but I loved this book and read it in record time because I couldn't put it down! Can't wait for the next one!
Good absorbing read January 29, 2009
Cheryl (Derbyshire)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book, I love sagas that are based on a family going on over the years. The story is easy to follow but absorbing I just wanted to stay at home and read all day. I liked the main character thought she was real and believable. The silk talk added to the background of the novel, which makes it more real.
br /I cant wait for the next one to be published!
 Couldn't put this book down........ July 17, 2008
D. Kulakowski (lancashire)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book on a whim to be honest and didnt give it much thought at first. However, I couldnt put the book down. what started off as a book that i thought was going to be slow moving turned out to be a book with drama, passion and toward the end i couldnt help crying- i was gripped by the emotion i felt from Penny Jordan's writing. I felt that some of the book that linked the main character (Amber) to 'silk' was a bit boring. the business of the mill and the store that 'Amber' opened up in london was obviously what the character's heart was in...sadly it wasnt mine and the lack of interest left me skimming a few pages. of course there was much more to this book than the mill, there were affairs, parties with the King as well as the upper class members of society, holidays to france, Berlin...these things all created a back drop to the lives of the characters. not all things were as fantastic as their lifestyle appeared. The characters had many choices to make due to the way society was and to please their family for the sake of their reputation. Something that one can easily reflect in their own lives of todays society and family........i will definitly want to read the sequel.
Elaborately Woven September 20, 2009
M. J. Saxton (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire United Kingdom)
This book is modelled on those great family sagas of the seventies and eighties that your mum always used to take on holiday - and nothing wrong with that. The influence of Susan Howatch and Rosamund Pilcher is clear here; a line which actually stretches back to the Victorians, really. However, it's the start of a trilogy, apparently, and I certainly would be happy to read the sequels.
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br /Penny Jordan has an accuracy to her characterisation that shows how deeply she has considered the position of men and women in high society in the thirties. She doesn't just pepper the story will well-known names (though she does that, too), but she takes the reader into the mindset that period fostered.
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br /Amber makes a good pivot for the story to revolve round. At first I thought she was rather wet and inactive, then began to realise that this portrayal showed the woman as a product of her upbringing. Then came the realisation that a lot of popular writers make their herione's the exception, where here Amber is not. She thinks like a woman brought up to know her place both as a woman, and as a commoner mixing with the aristocracy.
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br /For the modern reader this can be unnerving and annoying, you want her to act more strongly and not so emotionally and "weakly". Gradually the reader's affection for her grows out of her character of woman and mother, coming to terms with her own needs and those of others connected to her.
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br /Robert is a good foil for her, and Penny Jordan's exploration of his character is perceptive and realistic. Certainly, she explores aspects of a 1930s "lavender" marriage which is most unusual in fiction.
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br /She baulks at the usual choices of an author of popular fiction when it comes to working on her characters. They are complex psychologically and she is not afraid of portraying very dark, but deeply human motivations.
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br /My main criticism is of some of Penny Jordan's sex scenes which can read more like a general guide to how to do it, rather than an honest portrayal of erotic experience. Sometimes she just comes on too strong. Less clinical detail, more emotion I think would help. Although Amber's early scenes with Jean-Pierre are excellently written.
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br /However, it's a holiday read or an excuse for a wallow in an excellent story. Ideal material for a TV film, and I hope the sequels are as much fun to read.
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br /© Martin J Saxton 2009
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 Harmless fluff for romance fans July 18, 2008
Henny (London, UK)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this book in a rush when I was looking for something to read on the train home. I saw the cover, saw the title, and for some reason thought that it was the book on which the film Silk was based, which is apparently very good.
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br /I was wrong. I realised fairly swiftly (by the third page) that Silk was a) not the same book, and b) one small step up from a romance novel - in fact, the author, Penny Jordan, is known for her romance writing for Mills Boon; and romance novels have never been my cup of tea.
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br /That said, I decided to give it a chance, and read the whole book. To give Jordan credit, she has clearly done her research, and done it well, both on the time period she's set the book in (the 1930s), and on key aspects of the book like the silk trade and high society: though I disliked the use of real people from the era, such as Diana Guinness and Brian Howard, as characters in the book. I have never been a fan of authors blurring the lines between fact and fiction in this way.
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br /The story is reasonable, though again it is only one step up from a romance novel; it's let down quite heavily by the ending, which is a bit of a cop out. Ditto with the characters, with the exception of Robert.
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br /Pick this up if you're a fan of romance novels, looking for something slightly heavier. If you dislike romance novels, steer clear.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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