Captivating romance or accurate historical, this Gone With the Wind style novel was most popular in the 1940’s, the same era that banned it from circulation in 14 U.S. states, “starting with Massachusetts, where the attorney general counted 70 references to sexual intercourse, 39 illegitimate pregnancies and 10 abortions and recommended an adding machine for anyone who hoped to keep track of Amber's many suitors.”
You see, this book was about a young orphan girl in London during the 1700’s who slept her way to the top. Amber St. Clare, who has been referenced as a more selfish Scarlet O’Hara, was completely and totally in love with a man she couldn’t have and so could not be satisfied with any one man.
Amber’s fortitude during the plague and fire has been compared to that of the women who held hearth and home together through the blitzes of World War II. Some say those few moments were the times the despicable woman redeemed herself. The selfish tendencies of the protagonist made many people despise all the characters of the 972(?) page novel while also believing it was one of the best books they had ever read. As far as historical fiction is concerned this book had everything you could ask for; court intrigue, infidelities, smallpox, the plague, the great London fire and so much more.
Forever Amber sold 100,000 copies during it’s first week in bookstores, 3 million copies during the first year of its publication (1944), not to mention; Twentieth Century Fox purchased the screen rights after the book had only been published one month.
Classified as a literary work of art, the expertly written story as things people love, and things people hate, but overall the book continues to get read as something worth taking the time to read.
Have you ever noticed that books that are banned or censored are the ones that ring a little to true? Books that are the most historically accurate, or books that depict the errors of human ways are the ones people take offence over. “Miss Winsor said she did extensive historical research to re-create 17th-century England with its plague outbreaks and raging fire in London, the setting of her 972-page opus. She added that her detractors civic leaders the world over were too blinded by the publicity to see her book was not nearly as lurid as they attested.” Point taken?
Catcher in the Rye . . . Of Mice and Men . . . Harry Potter . . .
What's your favorite book? Chances are good that someone has tried to ban it. Celebrate YOUR freedom to read during Banned Books Week, September 25 to October 2, 2010.
For more information, visit this site. http://www.ala.org/bbooks.
Bibliography: “Kathleen Winsor, 83, 'Forever Amber' author Obituaries” Byline: Adam Bernstein; The Washington Post .
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