Shadow of the Lynx by Victoria Holt was published in 1971. Nora's father is a dreamer. He always has some invention or scheme for vast riches that somehow never manages to come true. When rumors of gold in Australia make it to his ears, he leaves Nora at school and goes out to seek his fortune. While in Australia he meets Charles also known as "The Lynx". When Nora's father dies in his pursuit of gold, Nora is taken in by "The Lynx".Nora falls in love with Stirling, Charles's son and always believes they will one day marry. But, Lynx controls all their lives and he is on an all consuming mission to seek revenge for his wrongful conviction of robbery.Nora, no matter how much she resist can not deny Lynx. She at once loves Stirling and Lynx. Each person in Lynx's life is used to help him achieve his goals. His obsession will take them all from England to Australia and back to England where Charles's dream of revenge will eventually come to a shocking conclusion.Victoria Holt is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is so lush and she can suck you into a story with seemingly little effort. This one was a historical saga about one man's all consuming obsession for revenge and the sad effect this has on all the people in his life.This one has a little bit of a twist in the end when another person's obession rivals the obssession of the all powerful Lynx.Nora seems helplessly swept along in the plans of revenge and obssession although she has the backbone to stand up and voice her opinion, it seems to do her little good.What I had a hard time with was the complete and total adoration of Stirling to his father and his then his father's obsessions becoming his own to the point of destroying his own happiness. But, it was a very interesting novel. Strangely absorbing. I liked it, but not as much some others by this author. This style of novel is often forgotten about, but these books are probably still in your local library. Overall a B-
I used to love Victoria Holt.. remember that car that you LOOOVED when you were a kid? maybe a '57 Chevy? and it's still perfect in your mind's eye? and then, lo and behold, you SEE that car again! now! years later. WOW!! it still looks good - from a distance... when you get up close? there are rust bubbles under the shiny paint, the seats are cracked, and the knobs have fallen off the radio... um... it's showing its age.. just like this book. it was written in the 1970s... and the storyline was a hundred years earlier. the dialogue showed its age.yet I perservered and continued to read it. not out of pennance, but rather because I really did like Nora, the protagonist, and wanted to find out what happened to her.(threw me for a loop when almost 3/4 the way through the book the narrator changed to another character... WTF??) It was so subtle, the development of Nora. Her transformation was not apparent until the end of the book. Basically, she grew up.the story, in the end, was an interesting dissertaion on the different types of love that people experience and the different types of love that develop over time and that change people for both the better and the worse. the quiet love, the under-the-radar love, the passionate and all-consuming love, and the love that develops over time between two people that aren't part of the love at fist sight experience.would I read this again? yes. would I recommend it? not sure..... in retrospect I enjoyed it, but it took a long time to get to "enjoying" it. :)
What do You think about The Shadow Of The Lynx (1971)?
Too long, it dragged on and on. The main character seemed unhealthily obsessed with Linx and then with the son, Stirling, so there was definitely an incestual vibe in the story. Actually, everybody was obsessed: Lynx, Stirling, Nora, Arabella, Lucie, Jessica, Lizzie... so it's a bit tiresome to read about the way a house could have created such madness in so many people, directly or indirectly. If you want to read about a gothic tale about obsession, this is the story for you. If you want to read a love story in a gothic setting, there are other VHs which are a lot closer to the objective.
—Romina
Thomas Tamasin spends his life chasing rainbows and leaves his daughter Nora firmly ensconced at school as he chases the biggest one of all and heads for the gold fields of Australia. He soon dies and leaves Nora in the care partner/employer Charles Herrick - also known as The Lynx for his dominating personality. Charles's son Stirling arrives in England to escort Nora to Australia, but they make a curious stop at a country estate called The Whiteladies (named for the nunnery it had been at one time) and Stirling seems to have a strange interest in the estate and it's inhabitants. Stranger still, when Nora arrives in Australia the Herrick home is a copy of Whiteladies. Nora soon discovers that The Lynx has a mysterious past of his own, falsely accused of theft in England and deported to Australia as a criminal. As the Herrick family's fortune increases it leads them ever closer to the obsession of Charles - enacting financial havoc on those he blames for his false conviction. Nora and Stirling return to England with Stirling bent on completing his father's plans for revenge. They soon insert themselves into the lives of the residents of Whiteladies as Nora fights to stop Stirling before his lust for revenge destroys all their lives. Whew, that's more plot description than I care to give but there's not much on the product page. I found this book a bit slow paced at times and a tad too predictable, especially the murder attempts on Minta. I also found the alternating POV's between Sara and Minta in the latter part of the book quite distracting. A nice comfort read for a rainy day - it's a good book, just not a great one. 3/5 stars.
—Misfit
The reason why I like Victoria Holt's novels is because she always manages to demonstrate her precise penmanship in her books. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love her writing. It never fails to be evocative and well-written. For all my compliments, there's a lot to be said about the storyline for this book, unfortunately. I found myself rolling my eyes over certain decisions and motives made by the characters. There was nothing remotely interesting going on in this book. I was tempted to just call it quits but decided against it and slogged right through it. What a waste of my time. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book, especially to those who are new to Victoria Holt or even long time fans of the author. It's undeniably a 'Miss,' this book is.
—Abigail Yow
