Although possibly shocking when first published Forever Amber is tame when compared to contemporary historical fiction. A good fun read set in Charles II restoration. Our heroine Amber, a self absorbed schemer had me at times cheering her on and others wanting to give her a shake. Terrific ending.

Second rate Gone With the Wind wanna be crap. Skip the bad writing, fake history, and excruciating sex scenes and just read the real thing.

How I felt before I started reading the book: Excited, intrigued, and a little intimidated by its enormity.
When I started reading the book: Still excited, but a little taken aback by how nonchalant the author is in her situation descriptions.
Half way through the book: Begining to feel anguish. I also started hating the main character (which never happened to me before. Typically, you want them to succeed.)
Five sixths through the book: Skimming paragraphs until I get to dialogue. Sick and tired of this girl's bullsh*t.
Last page: You finally have a victory, but it is against the main character, which made all that time wasted worth while.

Conclusion: This book utterly and entirely confused the hell out of me. At first, you think "Oh, poor Amber." As you read on, you realize that she is the one causing everyone (including herself) strife and dismay. Look at some other reviews on this damn epic novel... (clears throat) and I quote " Amber is the heroine of her time and triumphs her situations." Ok, she is not a heroine. She is a walking disaster that carries a bag of bad karma on her shoulder. I actually felt myself in complete despair for the people around her! Everyone she aquatinted herself with died or was part of some arrangement/secret thing she had going on to find out about Bruce. Moving on to the subject of love. I don't care how loose the British supposedly were in 1666, but let me tell you, if I loved a man as much as Amber did, I would not sleep with his friend. I understand that she had to marry to hide her out of wedlock children and for money, but why did she sleep with Almsbury? Because she is a slut. Amber always thought if she made it in the world, and up the ranks, that Lord Carlton would end up marrying her. Well, he was never going to marry her. He made it clear several times, and still she tries and tries and ends up just being his whore. She reminds me of that annoying friend that was broken up with and she is still sleeping with the guy because they "are meant to be" and all you hear is how depressed she is and how her life sucks and blahblahbalah. I wish I had a review like this to read before I bought this book. Out of nine hundred and seventy two pages, approximately six hundred of them were unnecessary, full of useless detail and had way too many "had had's." I was always left wanting more of the juicy details. Instead you get the stupid details about the dreaded drapes. How much detail can you write about the damned drapes, what the footmen were wearing, how the seat cushions looked, and honestly, Bruce was always wearing the same thing so why describe it every time... Ugh! Who cares? I also think it was outright pathetic to have the main character of a novel, chasing after a man that does not want her. Amber left and often endangered her children which was also very irritating to me.

My favorite quote is when Bruce is talking to Corinna, he says that Amber is ok to be someones whore, but not their wife. That was so pleasing to hear.

It was, nevertheless, an easy read, and if anyone has nothing better to read, or a week of time to waste, then read Forever Amber. If you value your time, but are still curious, go on wikipedia and read the synopsis. It is just like reading all the important parts of the book without all the useless detail. You will write and thank me.

Yes, I could have simply stopped reading this book, but my OCD would not allow it.

"Spellbinding till the very last sentence!"(from Classic Reverie's review)
As always, you are absolutely right C.R.
This book is a real page-turner and great fun to read: colorful, vivid, with a fast-paced plot.
A historical epic with a memorable heroine. I warmly recommend it.
(and many thanks to my good friend C.R. for introducing me to this lovely novel)

I really loved this book! I loved the characters, the wonderful period detail (it's obvious the author put tons of research into her story), the non-stop action, and most of all I loved Amber St. Clare (even if I did want to slap her at times). And the ending? Perfect! All in all, a great read, and one that I'm sure I will want to read again.

I remember watching the movie Forever Amber years ago and enjoyed it. I found it a fascinating story about a rebellious girl who wanted more out of life and sacrifices true love for ambition. When I discovered it was based off a novel, I wanted to read it.

I found Amber St. Clair to be immature, vain and manipulative yet resourceful and a survivor. She is the classic big fish from the little pond. Amber never develops, grows or changes in her epic story, is all action and no thought . I wanted to stop reading it because Amber was not the type of heroine I like to read about. She used her beauty, sex and even thievery to climb the social ladder without thought or care on how it affected the other people in her life. To continue reading it, I had to adjust my view of Amber to the time period she lived in. I know that during that time period there were few venues for people to rise above rather station in life, especially women. After that, I admired her rise from an illegitimate orphan to a lofty position in King Charles’ court. No matter what life threw at her she kept her determination and rose above it. But I still couldn’t care or root for her. In fact I never really cared about any of the characters including Bruce, Amber’s supposed true love.

The novel lacks character development and no one gains any redeeming qualities. Winsor also rehashes/repeats many incidents in the book. I had anticipated enjoying this novel and was surprised I didn’t. I’m not saying it’s badly written, it wasn’t my kind of book with the type of heroines I love to read about. It’s strange I liked the movie but not the book. I was in my 20’s when I watched the film, and might have to re-watch it to see if I feel the same now I’m older and wiser...well at least older.

Kathleen Winsor does make the 1660s period come alive with her historical research. She also does a wonderful job with evocative descriptions and showing the hedonism and decadence of King Charles’ II court. I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction that is more about plot may find it an interesting read.

O nasıl bir son öyle??? Şok oldum devamı da yok sanırım var mı bilen biri aydınlatırsa sevinirim...

Ingiltere'nin yozlaşmış burjuva sınıfını, ahlaksızlığın erdem sayıldığı zamanları yazar çok güzel anlatmış. Popüler historical romanlarındaki zeki kadınlar gibi bir kadın karakter bekliyorsanız okumayın. Aşkı için tüm çapkınlıklarından vazgeçen bir erkek kahraman da yok. Yani gerçeği yansıtıyor ve çok başarılı.

Ama o son neydi öylee

Oh Amber! You just don't LISTEN, do you?

This is wonderful historical fiction - meticulously researched, full of rich detail (I especially loved the scrumptious descriptions of the dresses), and with a protagonist undoubtedly belongs in her time period.

Amber's behavior is appalling and shocking, but she fits just right in with the decadence and corruption of Restoration England. But she certainly isn't the most morally ambiguous character in the book. The scheming Lord Buckingham and Lady Castlemaine made me cringe with horror!

I enjoyed reading about Restoration England - the prisons of Newgate, intrigue, power play, and politics at the court of Charles II, international conflicts, the reopened theaters after years of Puritan rule, the rise of the merchant middle class, privateering, the Plague and Great Fire... this certainly was a colorful time in England's history! And through Amber we experience it all.

Ah, I was reading the part about the plague when I had a high fever. After reading the vivid descriptions of the symptoms and sufferings and deaths, I had feverish dreams about having the plague myself! I do NOT recommend reading that part of the book while sick and delirious. :-)

I do heartily recommend the Charles II BBC miniseries to those interested in Restoration England. Don't bother with the American A&E version - they cut an hour from the series.

Rated 4 stars. 972 pages!! Historical fiction/romance set in 1660's England during the reign of King Charles II. This was one of Mom's and Grandma's favorite book. For some reason I never got around to reading this. A few years back bought the Kindle version when on sale.

This caused quite a scandal when first published in England in the 1940's. And in America it was banned for sale in numerous states. There was a movie version in the late 1940's which I've never watched but I assume much had to be left out! To be honest many of the sex/romance scenes are tame by today's standards.
I think what shocked readers back then was how morally corrupt the court of King Charles was.

Amber St. Clare is an extremely selfish, vain, greedy, and immature young lady. At the age of 16 she falls madly in love with Lord Bruce Carlton and runs away with him to London. She ends up pregnant and penniless although she eventually lands on her feet partly because of her beauty but also she decides to take advantage of many young men. Some with money and titles. Wish I had kept a list of all the men she slept with and/or married! Definitely not an admirable heroine but life was pretty grim for those without land, money or title.

In my opinion the strength of this novel is the author's decision to honestly show the reader the immorality of court life. Amber survives The Plague and The Great London Fire. Lord Carlton drifts in and out of her life and she is so obsessed with him that she doesn't seem to be very happy. At times it was like watching a train wreck waiting to happen and I just wanted to reach into the story and yell at her to realize he would never be the person she wanted him to be.

Overall this was much more then a romance novel. Many of the chapters focus on the real historical people who lived at this time plus the complicated history of England and Europe. And for such a long story (972 pages!) I could hardly stop reading. Stayed up too late many a night while reading.

What a book! It felt more like an epic, with its length but fascinating read. The leading lady, Amber, was somebody that I found myself both rooting for and despiting her. She was the type of person who you wanted to succeed, to be happy, to be with her love, yet your nose crinkle in disdain about her dishonourable actions. Her discontempt for others, and her egostical attitude.

Definitely a fun read- but not by any means light! If you're looking for a book to last a few weeks on a vacation, this is it, but if you want to get through something quickly without having it dragging on and on, then I highly suggest finding another book.

All in all, it was a well written book- definitely a harlequin romance novel! Not to mention that the ending was very unexpected- a rarity in these type of novels.

I've seen this more than once compared to Gone With the Wind as the epitome of historical romance. I'm afraid I didn't find this compared well, and given the nature of the heroine, aspects of the plot, and that this was written after Gone With the Wind, I couldn't help but feel Forever Amber was heavily influenced by it.

The style is decently written omniscient, and there's a wealth of well-rendered historical detail, giving you the sights and sounds and smells of Restoration England. That's its greatest virtue. It's not an era I know well, and I found the portrait of King Charles II and his times engrossing. The book takes you from low to high, from Newgate Prison to Whitehall Palace, and though there are no explicit sex scenes, there's depiction of prostitution, adultery, unmarried pregnancy, abortion, etc that explains why this novel was notoriously "banned in Boston" and 14 states. The scenes involving the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London alone made the book worth reading. I won't soon forget the cries of "Bring out your dead." There's such a wealth of fine detail, from cuisine, dress, manners to superstitions and slang, I can well credit the claim that Winsor read hundreds of scholarly books on the period before starting the novel. It's the kind of novel that makes me want to read more on the period, and that's about the highest compliment I can pay a historical novel.

The problem for me is the titular heroine, Amber. She's to me by no means as entrancing a figure as Scarlet O'Hara. Scarlet is not kind, she's no intellectual, she's greedy and vain. But she's smart, practical and a survivor--that's not fluff between her ears. Amber on the other hand... Well, when we meet her she's only 16 years old, a country miss of no education or sophistication. But she acts in impulsive, foolish ways you know when reading will lead to disaster. Like Scarlett she's greedy for pleasure and vain--but not a lick of the sense that redeems that other character for me. I thought at the end of Part I that maybe I could put it down to Amber still being a teenager, but she never learns--especially when it comes to pursuing the man she's obsessed with, Lord Bruce Carlton.

Still, I kept reading, because this reminded me somewhat of Anya Seton's Katherine, which I wound up loving. In that novel the heroine also starts out as a callow teen, and Winsor, like Seton, is good at conjuring up her era. But unlike Katherine Swynford, Amber St Clare never grew into a character I could root for. She has her moments, and rises to near-heroism when she nurses Bruce during the Plague. At times Amber would show some disinterested kindness or her (mostly self-inflicted) problems would cause me to feel sympathy for her. But those moments would be fleeting, because Amber would soon do something so appalling, I'd go back to being disgusted at her. The most appealing characters are her victims: her lover Rex Morgan, her second husband, Samuel Dangerfield, and his daughter, Jemima, the son of her third husband, Philip Mortimer, and his wife Jean, and Bruce's wife Corinna. I also felt disappointed at the abrupt open ending, which left me going "Huh?"

I'd give this a base of five stars for the wonderful portrait of a boisterous, bawdy era, then take off a point and a half because I can't remember the last time I've despised a protagonist more, and another half point for an unsatisfying ending. If having a likable, sympathetic main character, or at least one of some depth doesn't matter to you, and you love to be truly immersed in another place and time, revel in a sprawling, trashy read, than this novel is for you.

I suspect this is one of those books that people have Views on, and I can understand why it has generated so much Talk – especially when it was published in 1944.

While I found the character of Amber unlikeable, a) that was probably the point and b) what’s important is not whether or not you like her, what’s important is that she is screaming as loud as she can that a woman should have goddamn freaking independence already. A stunning thesis for 1665, 1944, and, sadly still, 2017.

Amber is looked down upon by the characters and the audience for using her sexuality to get rewards – but the focus should be on the fact she is rewarded at all. If she had lived in a society that gave equally stunning rewards to different pursuits, then that’s what she would have pursued. She takes advantage of a system already in place, the same way someone today can take advantage of Wall Street to make millions – the only reason they get is rich is because of a system in place that allows that. Reform the game, don’t hate the players.

The book itself is an exciting romp through Restoration London with a freewheeling main character who crashes her way through more adventures than Tom Jones and Moll Flanders put together. It clocks in at almost a thousand pages and yet moves forward at such a breakneck speed you don’t realize how long it is as Amber dashes through a decade of upheaval, scandal and escapades.