Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107002 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-13
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Where's the soul?
I bought this having loved HDM & Ruby In The Smoke, but this...!

I'll be polite about it, though I've been seething since I read it. The story involves Sally Lockheart, now a young woman with a child. As this is the rather prudish Victorian era, the fact Sally isn't married is a scandal. Even so, at the beginning, Sally is living a comfortable life. Her world is torn to pieces, when she is handed a summons. A man is claiming to be her husband, which gives him rights to all her property, money, and most frighteningly of all, he will get probable custody of her young daughter, Harriet.

I love Sally. She wasn't a woman to take this lying down but she finds herself in a difficult position. The lawyers are imcompent, worse some of them don't seem to care. She is a woman, she must be telling lies. Everywhere she turns any shred of evidence that might prove that she is telling truth vanishes or is falisfied. Sally knows that she does not have any option but to flee with Harriet, giving her up to this unknown but contemptible man is just not an option.

So Sally goes on the run. She finds herself moving from place to place, hunted by enemies she can't see but knows are there. These enemies have put her an extremely nasty position. She has no money at all, for the bank has turned over all her assets to her 'husband.' Sally is destitute, alone.

Now here story drifts between Sally and a young socialist, a very good man called Goldberg. Goldberg is aware of the evils that are going on in London; poor housing, expoitation, prostitution, fraud. The weak are being exploited by cowards only too willing to take advantage of them. He reads about Sally's case in the paper and it occurs to him there's "Something not right about it." Filmsy. There must have been hundreds of these cases in the papers, did he have time to check every single one? It's he who rescues Sally from the brief situation of being homeless and gives her a refuge, and a purpose, with his fellow socialists.

Now this is where I began to seethe. I have no irritation with Pullman's politics, he writes about what he believes, as all good writers do. But I resent being lectured as I'm five years old & can't think for myself, especially when the story is gasping it's last breath at this point. I throughly disliked the elitism & sheer snobbery I was reading, despite all his protests to the contrary. Only the educated people could make a difference, well, sorry, this is rubbish. The sheer will to make a difference is what makes a difference. It would have quite nice to have some of the ordinary people, particularly Becky, who I adored, telling the idealists something. Seems to me that Becky could have said & done a great deal if she had been allowed to!

And the idealists had no faults at all that I could find. It would have great to see moments of impatience and anger with the people they were trying to help. You're not telling me they didn't get them because I wouldn't believe you. When people make the same stupid mistakes over and over, others don't always react with sympathy, especially if this involves the abuse of their children. Pullman seemed far too much love with the idealists, to show them as fallable humans, rather than saints. Instead, he sneers greatly at the fallable characters, (OK, some did need sneering at) but there is no balance here, none at all.

I'm afraid I couldn't tell you what happened in the end, I stopped caring. I stopped reading at the point where Sally influtrates the man's house to find out why he attempting to destroy her life.

It lacked all the wonderful, complex subtle parts of human nature, failings & strenghts, that made the characters so alive in HDM. Where was the soul in this?

Read it, if you want an adventure tale. I wouldn't if you resent being told how to think. You'll end up throwing it.

3 of 4, and possibly the best, ties up well with the others
There is a great twist in this book, which gives it it's title, you need to read all four books, the last one is a little far fetched, but hey it is fiction afterall.

Watch out, there is a BBC production scheduled (starring Billie Piper of Dr. Who fame) of the first book of the series, The Ruby In The Smoke, I would as always, say read the books before you see the film.

The contents are a little more teenage, so not really for younger readers.

As Gripping as the Rest
Sally's world is perfect- she has a daughter, great friends and a lovely home, until she receives a letter which turns her world upside down. A man she has never met before claims they are married, and is asking for custody of her beloved Harriet (her daughter). An excellent story about Sally's battle with this unknown demon, trying to find out why anoyone would want to make up lies about her, but also trying to desperately protect her daughter. I recommend it to teenagers/adults, and suggest reading the previous books to truly understand the story.

I found that I couldn't put the book down- it was very well written, and had the beautifully vivid writing that was shown in the previous books.

The only problem was the abrupt ending- I found Philip Pullman skipped time a bit, and didn't go in to too much detail, which made the ending appear a bit rushed.