This historical fiction novel was a little difficult for me to get started just because of the many Spanish words in the beginning, but I'm about half-way through and it's interesting. I'll write a better review when I've read the whole book.Book finished. Great read. Here's my review:The Turquoise, a fictional work written by Anya Seton, is about a very remarkable woman who starts her young life with an external gift of a turquoise gem from an Indian shaman, pride of her heritage and internal gifts from her father's mother. She was named after the city in which she was born – Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her full name was Santa Fe Cameron and she was different things to different people.Her Scottish father called her Fey. Her Spanish foster family enveloped her in their poverty-stricken lives, but she came to choose her own direction with strength and the firm conviction that her mother was from Spanish blue-blood just as her father was from Scottish blue-blood.She found her way to New York through marriage to a charming and handsome young man who left her there to pursue his own wishes. “'Where are you going, Terry?' . . . 'I'm pulling out for good.' He did not look at her. His voice was high and offhand. 'We never meant it to last, you know.' He went on faster. 'Way back in Sante Fe, it was just a business arrangment. We never meant it to go on and on. I got you East where you wanted to be, didn't I? You'll be all right. Here's some money for you.'”She then pursues a wealthy New Yorker and wins him over. Together they build a life with the shared goal of social acceptance in the elite circle there.Anya Seton is the daughter of the founder of Boy Scouts and her knowledge of hardships and their solutions as Fey travels from the west to the east makes one think that perhaps her own father taught her those same things that he espoused in his organization such as preparedness and loyalty. It also seems she was quite familiar with New York society and the hurdles to be included.As I read this book I found myself alternately admiring Fey and sometimes being disappointed with her choices. It definitely reflects a few of the issues facing women during that time, though it comes at those from an oblique angle. In today's environment we have little, if any, experiential appreciation for those issues. Fey is a model for independence in difficult circumstances, with her determined, quiet work ethic. But she is also a study in the poor choices a young woman might make if she isn't afforded the guidance of her family and has no obligation to take the guidance offered her by wise and caring people strewn along her path.She paid the highest price possible, as far as I'm concerned, but you will have to read the book to find out what that price is. I recommend it to you as entertainment, but it also as a bit of thought-provoking nature to it. If it were made into a movie, and this would work very well, it would probably be labeled a "chick flick".
I read this book as the March selection of the Rainbow Reading Challenge. "The Turquoise" is the story of a girl whose parents were Mexican and Scottish. She was named for the city of her birth, Santa Fe, but her father called her Fey. Her mother died in childbirth so she lived the first years of her life with her father who was a Scottish doctor. They discovered that Fey had the gift of "sight". Later, when Fey was about 7, her father was killed when he went to help a fellow doctor with a surgery. Fey went to stay with the family of the woman who had helped her father when Fey was a baby. There are so many things that Fey went through in her life. One significant thing is that she met a wise Indian who realized her gift and gave her a turquoise necklace and told her to wear it always and to let the Spirit lead her on her path. He said she would encounter two paths and the Spirit would help her choose the right one - unfortunately, Fey didn't listen. She struggled across the country with a man who ran a medicine show, fell in love with him, and was convinced they were married by an old scout who ran an inn. When Fey and her "husband" got to New York City, they stayed together a week, then he left for greener pastures in Chicago. Meanwhile, Fey discovered she was pregnant and she had to figure out how to support herself and eventually her child. I'm not going to tell the whole story here, but I want to say that I love the way Anya Seton writes and I love the way she blends in religion to her stories. Fey considered having an abortion, but as she was standing on the steps of the place where it could happen, she looked around and noticed the construction of St. Patrick's Cathedral nearby. She turned and went in to the Cathedral and prayed. She ended up not having an abortion and found an Infirmary that cared for women and children and was run by female doctors. Here she made a wonderful, lifelong friend in one of the doctors and she helped out at the Infirmary and learned a lot about caring for the sick. Fey was a very honest character - and direct in her approach when she decided what she wanted. She got everything she worked for, but she ended up making atonement for the times that she didn't listen to the Spirit. I really liked this book. Previously, I had read "Katherine" by Anya Seton and that is why I picked this one up. They were both great reads and what I liked most were the religious tendencies and the fact that, even though sex was obviously part of the story, Ms. Seton didn't describe it in graphic detail, only in a romantic suggestive kind of way. I look forward to reading more of Anya Seton's works.
What do You think about The Turquoise (1973)?
I liked most of the book and on the whole it's well written, if a little melodramatic in places. However, there were some sections that I found boring and/or frustrating. The author had obviously done a lot of detailed research and wanted to ensure that her readers were aware of it. She achieved this by some concentrated name-dropping - presumably of historical figures - and as I was not familiar with any of them, I found these passages quite tedious. I had little or no empathy with the main characters and there is also a side story, regarding Fey's ancestry, which felt like it ought to have developed into a more complete sub-plot, but it just kind of peters out without really adding anything to the whole. I think maybe I would have got more enjoyment out of the story if I had read it when I was younger - the descriptive passages are colourful and evocative of the time, the romance is well handled, and I think these attributes might have appealed to a younger me.
—☆ Ruth ☆
I loved this book. Have read 6 other Anya Seton novels and this one and Katherine are my favorites. The story moves along very rapidly and has some of her very best characters in addition to Fey the strong heroine in the novel. It contains elements of romance, ambition, betrayal, adventure in wide ranging locations. and keeps you turning pages to keep up with the life of this amazing women . Even the 19th century historical settings in Santa Fe and NYC as well as travel between them gives you a wide ranging look at the country and conditions and concerns at that time, as well as her own life among so many different types and classes of people, from a poor Mexican family to the super wealthy in New York.
—Nancy Delaski
I find Seton's writing enjoyable because she has strong and independent female characters. The Turquoise is no exception as she tells the compelling tale of Santa Fey Cameron, whose heritage is the unlikely combination of Scottish and Spanish parents. When her father dies, leaving her orphaned she lives with a poor Mexican family. To escape this life Fey marries Terry Dillon, a handsome Irish rogue, only to be abandoned in New York, pregnant and alone. She finds a friend in Dr. Rachel at a clinic for young women with no resources. Fey is determined to make a life for herself and her child and sets her goal to marry Simeon Tower, one of the richest men in the country. Financially successful, he is afraid of women due to an early demeaning experience. But Fey overcomes his fears and marries him to make a new life for herself and her daughter. Together they work to make a new life, socially and economically, striving to rise from their humble backgrounds and become part of the elite wealthy in New York. However, as they approach their goal, Terry reappears and blackmails Simeon. The story escalates from this point as Simeon lose his wealth and their friends fade away. This was indeed a good story - sad but realistic. Good one!
—Rusty
