Black Rainbow

De: Barbara Michaels

Narrado por: Barbara Rosenblat

A troubled Byronic hero, a young governess blinded by her romantic obsession, a beautiful but forbidding manor, and a secret as ominous as the black rainbow that frames the huddled towers of the manor in the moonlight are the romantic elements of this Gothic mystery.©1982 Barbara Michaels (P)1991 Recorded Books,LLC

How things aren’t what they seem.

Entertaining, clever, unexpected. I love her as Elizabeth Peters, but as Barbara she dwells on the depths of the human mind and heart.

A seemingly happy family begins to spiral...

Performance is great! Strong characters, particularly the women. Characters of good and characters of bad intentions in contention.

Delightful

As alway s a superb combination of Barbara Michaels perfectly spun, suspenseful gothic tale and Ms Rosenblat’s incomparable artistry as narrator. Fabulous!

Jane Eyre with a twist!

A very enjoyable dark story written in four parts in the perspective of the Megan O'Neil who is a governess enamoured with her master Edmund Mandeville, and his sister Jane. The moral of the story seems to be, 'be careful what you wish for'. As always, Barbara Rosenblat brings the story to glorious life. Thoroughly recommended.

Not usual Barbara Michaels, still worth a credit

When Barbara Metz/ Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters died I felt I had lost a someone I actually knew. Even her very early work is smart, and funny, if light and still managed to deal with the dark parts of life without being depressing. For example her book the Crying Child has been adapted to film, even though there were no kick-ass heroines. (I love those too). This book is so cynical that reading it is a surprise and difficult to enjoy. Its like biting into a chocolate truffle and getting a mouth full of hot peppers. There is only one character worth admiration in this story, the other female lead is a bit silly and vapid, the hero is narrow minded and vain, and these two are not balanced by sane competent characters. Even the admirable character solves her problems in a way that only desperation would make it ethical.

I began reading Barbara Michaels novels in my early twenties and 50 years later I still reread them from time to time. Under this pen name Barbara Michaels/Barbara Mertz wrote what an old librarian called cozy historical, gothic novels. I love them. Even all those years ago these books were smart, historically accurate and although light, never insulted the reader's intelligence. When she began to write more contemporary and historical mysteries as Elizabeth Peters I loved those too. Barbara Metz earned a doctorate in egyptology at a time when a female doctoral candidate had to be very very good, just to be allowed to apply. So while her books were fun, all of them were historically accurate and made sense. Her Amelia Peabody books are just wonderful.

All of which leads me to this book, and why it is so different from the ones I love to read when I need something cheerful. This is not a story about a hero who admires the spunky, smart heroine, and appreciates the fact that her care of his estates increased his fortune while he was away. Nope. He assumes she is just lucky and begins to spend the money. This book is more realistic and dark than any of her other books. Although I might appreciate the way our heroine handles the problem, the whole thing brought out a cynical sad feeling. I am so disappointed audible chose this book, out of at least twenty of her early books to record. There are early cassette recordings of her early work, so perhaps Audible will be able to give us some of her more usual books. For example the Wings of the Falcon deals with some of the dark sides of history, but also had characters who were not perfect, none of her characters were ever perfect, but they were for the most decent people, who grew into really delightful people