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Summary
Set during the years before World War II, The Morning Gift is the story of 20-year-old Ruth Berger, a half-Jewish half-Catholic Austrian girl, and her marriage-of-convenience with Quin Sommerville, a British paleontologist who is friends with her professor father. Ruth's family travels to England to escape Hitler's invasion, and her fiance, brilliant pianist Heini, makes it home to (some country I can't remember right now), but Ruth is caught in Germany until Quin comes to find her father. To get her out of the country, he proposes that they marry, and she agrees, fully intending to get a divorce or an annulment as soon as she becomes a naturalized British citizen.
Things get a little complicated once Ruth comes to England. Heini has trouble getting into the country, Ruth has to enroll in Quin's class at university (something neither of them likes), a vicious, grasping, intelligent coed does not handle competition for grades well and has designs on Quin. With the threat of war looming over everyone's heads, Ruth must deal with her complicated emotions for Heini and Quin.
Opinion
Okay, I know I said before that I can look past all of Ibbotson's romance clichés because I tend to like the ones that she uses, but this book just about ended that for me. Ruth is much too perfect, and much too like Harriet from A Company of Swans and Anna from A Countess Below Stairs. The climax hinges on a Big Misunderstanding, and I have become too much of a sophisticated romance reader to handle that for three books in a row. Seriously, get a new device.
That said, Ibbotson's writing is too brilliant not to enjoy the story. She's intelligent and slyly funny. Also, the historical aspects of the novel could really have taken a back seat to the love story, and they should since the romance is the point of the story, but Ibbotson never forgets the fact that war is looming. As an Austrian escapee, she knows what she's talking about, and all the historical details ring true.
All in all, I give the book 7 out of 10 for personal enjoyment, 7 out of 10 for actual quality.
Coming soon: A Song for Summer, Flowers in the Attic, and Just The Way You Are
Set during the years before World War II, The Morning Gift is the story of 20-year-old Ruth Berger, a half-Jewish half-Catholic Austrian girl, and her marriage-of-convenience with Quin Sommerville, a British paleontologist who is friends with her professor father. Ruth's family travels to England to escape Hitler's invasion, and her fiance, brilliant pianist Heini, makes it home to (some country I can't remember right now), but Ruth is caught in Germany until Quin comes to find her father. To get her out of the country, he proposes that they marry, and she agrees, fully intending to get a divorce or an annulment as soon as she becomes a naturalized British citizen.
Things get a little complicated once Ruth comes to England. Heini has trouble getting into the country, Ruth has to enroll in Quin's class at university (something neither of them likes), a vicious, grasping, intelligent coed does not handle competition for grades well and has designs on Quin. With the threat of war looming over everyone's heads, Ruth must deal with her complicated emotions for Heini and Quin.
Opinion
Okay, I know I said before that I can look past all of Ibbotson's romance clichés because I tend to like the ones that she uses, but this book just about ended that for me. Ruth is much too perfect, and much too like Harriet from A Company of Swans and Anna from A Countess Below Stairs. The climax hinges on a Big Misunderstanding, and I have become too much of a sophisticated romance reader to handle that for three books in a row. Seriously, get a new device.
That said, Ibbotson's writing is too brilliant not to enjoy the story. She's intelligent and slyly funny. Also, the historical aspects of the novel could really have taken a back seat to the love story, and they should since the romance is the point of the story, but Ibbotson never forgets the fact that war is looming. As an Austrian escapee, she knows what she's talking about, and all the historical details ring true.
All in all, I give the book 7 out of 10 for personal enjoyment, 7 out of 10 for actual quality.
Coming soon: A Song for Summer, Flowers in the Attic, and Just The Way You Are
Current Mood: 
frustrated
frustratedCurrent Music: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'- Righteous Brothers
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