Celia Garth (Rediscovered Classics)

The time period used made the story more interesting. Lots of detail.It was hard to gather who was who due to all the characters introduced. Would have loved if the story of Luke and Celia were written into the story more.

The Book contains great glimpses of old Charlestown and interesting facts about the Revolutionary War. The downfall is rather poor writing lacking depth and over simplistic sentence structure and stilted dialogue. The characters are one dimensional.

CELIA GARTH is the story of a young woman, fending for herself as a seamstress in Charleston, South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. Gwen Bristow weaves the story of what Charleston went through when the city was lost to Great Britain in a way that is interesting, intriguing and exciting. There is some romance that is tender and real without being graphic or vulgar. I have read everything Gwen Bristow has written and consider her writing style the best ever. I am just sorry she didnt write many more books before she died. What a wonderful way to learn history!

Very good historical novel. I read it as a teenager in high school and really enjoyed reading it again as a 63 year old adult woman. I love romances and this story sad some romance but not overwhelming. The focus was on the historical period.

I HAVE PROBABLY READ THIS BOOK 10 TIMES. WHEN THE LIBRARY HERE IN SHARON, PA. SOLD IT AT THEIR ANNUAL BOOK SALE, I KNEW I HAD TO BUY A COPY. EVERYTHING THEY CLAIMED IN THEIR AD WAS SPOT ON! FANTASTIC!

I enjoyed this book. It gave me an appreciation for the life during the American Revolution in Charleston, S.C. The focus was on the experience of white people. The slaves in this novel were referred to as maids or field hands which is not exactly accurate but I understand that the author wanted to tell a story without getting into the very painful enslavement of people of color.

the book was entertaining and the auther did a good job letting the readers know about the situation during the war... however it was too easy of a read and the situations were expected. it was a good read but it could have been better...

I was surprised at all the glowing reviews. To me this book was nothing more than a glorified Harlequin romance novel....very predictable. I did enjoy this perspective of Greene and Cornwallis' battles before and after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. But, that's about all.

After reading many of the reviews for "Celia Garth", I was looking forward to reading about Celia. I'm a huge fan of the Sara Donati series, starting with "Into the Wilderness". Whereas Ms. Donati had fabulous character development; I found most of the characters in Celia Garth to be quite one dimensional. How many times can you fill pages about spending time in the basement? It's a combination of 80% harlequin romance (without the steamy sex scenes) + 20% historical facts. There could have been an exciting story to tell - I felt the author fell short of the mark.

As I started CELIA GARTH, I felt that the writing was a bit simplistic. The first paragraph is a description of Celia's looks, and I was almost reminded of a child's chapter book. But it didn't take long for me to be drawn into Celia's life, and either the writing got better or I stopped noticing it.

When we meet Celia, she is a twenty-year-old apprentice at a sewing shop in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1779. The country is at war with the British, but Celia is busy living her life and not really involved in politics or completely aware of what's going on around her. She often made me think of Scarlett O'Hara, except where Scarlett was selfish and spoiled and only grudgingly did the right thing, Celia is sweet and good-natured and happy to help others, a “poor relation” who is hoping with all her might that when her apprenticeship is over she'll be given a permanent job and won't have to rely on her rich cousin to support her.

But when the town you live in and love with all your heart is invaded by the enemy, you can't stay unaware. Still, for the first 100 pages or so the story was focused more on Celia's day to day life, as her friend Jimmy arranges for her to meet Vivian, who is looking for a dressmaker, and as Celia becomes embroiled in Vivian's life. There are lots of secondary characters, and at times I had a little trouble keeping all of them straight, including Vivian's sons, with the exception of Luke, the son of her favorite of her five or six husbands.

When the British attack Charleston, many townspeople escape the city to the relative safety of the countryside, including Vivian and her household. Celia, now engaged to Jimmy, refuses to leave, feeling that she needs to be near her fiance. And at this point the story became very tense and gripping, as the two women find themselves alone in the house, at times hiding in the cellar from the guns and cannons firing across the town, at times rushing outside to stamp out a fire started by a shell hitting one of the outbuildings or the porch railing.

I've read a lot of books set during the Holocaust and the Civil War, but I realized that I haven't really read anything set during the Revolutionary War. I can't say that I know a lot about it, but I feel that Ms. Bristow did some meticulous research while writing this book. She brings the plight of the rebels, the day to day life of surviving in the middle of a war, the horrors that families faced, to vivid life.

A very compelling story, and a new author whose other books I'm now going to have to track down.