Re-release of charming novel by Victoria Holt is a mystery and a romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Eleanor Hibbert died while on a cruise somewhere between Greece and Egypt in 1993. Hibbert had many pen names: Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr, Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anne Percival, and Ellalice Tate. By the time of her death, she had written over 200 novels and sold over 100 million books. Hibbert wrote On The Night of the Seventh Moon under her pen name Victoria Holt.
The book waves the tale of Helena Trant, a girl who loves the Black Forest, the legends, the castles, and the lore of the Seventh Moon. As a school girl she falls in love with the legendary Siegfried, who spirits her away to his hunting lodge. Her virtue intact thanks to a zealous housekeeper, Helena returns to her school. After her father dies, she’s left to the care of her father’s sisters Aunt Caroline and Aunt Matilda.
Helena returns to the Black Forest to find the man who haunts her dreams. Again on the night of the Seventh Moon they connect. He whisks her away again. This time he marries her, and they’re together for days. When she goes back to her relatives she’s told that what she thinks happened didn’t. Did she somehow lose six days of her life or is what happened what she thinks? According to ancient Black Forest legend, Loke, the god of mischief, is abroad in the world on the night of the Seventh Moon.
“I consider myself extremely lucky to have been born and raised in London,” said Eleanor Hibbert, who was born in Kensington in 1906. “To have on my doorstep this most fascinating of cities, with so many relics of 2000 years of history still to be found in its streets.” Hibbert said one of her greatest pleasures was exploring London.
As Victoria Holt, Hibbert wrote spine-tingling novels of romantic suspense. On the Night of the Seventh Moon is mystical and mystifying at the same time. Hibbert’s stories show the different class distinction of someone from the aristocracy, or someone from the merchant class, or a governess, falling in love, similar to Jane Austen and the class distinction in her novels. Seventh Night is a mystery and romance.
Seventh Night is a fast read. The beginning draws you right into the story, the middle is slower and a little repetitive, but then it picks up again. This is a reprint of a book last printed in the 1970s.
On the Night of the Seventh Moon by Victoria Holt. Trade paperback, 336 pages, Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin; Reissue edition March 2, 2010 Language: English ISBN: 978-0312384319
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