A Great and Terrible Beauty

Time to venture back into the Victorian era of the late 1800s to England and the story of Gemma Doyle and her new life at a boarding school.  This is the first of a trilogy by Libba Bray called A Great and Terrible Beauty.  Gemma is sent to the boarding school after her mother dies suddenly from an apparent suicide, though her family tells others that she died of cholera.  Gemma is “haunted by visions” of spirits that come and go over the course of her young life, which she has yet to fully comprehend.  While at Spence Academy, Gemma is an outcast among her peers at the school when she arrives and is placed with the awkward stutterer, Ann Bradshaw.  Ann and Gemma are challenged by the “mean girls” of Spence Academy until Gemma catches one of the ring leaders, Felicity, in a compromising situation with a male gypsy.  Gemma uses the information in a way to control Felicity’s mean spirit and actions towards her and Ann.  As they become friends, Gemma is led into the caves that border the school grounds by one of her visions. There, she finds a diary written 25 years earlier by a 16-year-old girl named Mary Dowd who also attended Spence Academy and seemed to suffer from the same visions as Gemma.   As the story unfolds, Felicity and fellow “mean girl” Pippa join forces with Gemma and Ann and become intrigued by the history and stories Gemma shares with the others about her background and the hidden group called the Order.  The Order was a group that allegedly formed at Spence Academy many years ago and is confirmed by one of the teachers at the school.  In fact, the teacher brings the girls to the caves as part of class, the same caves that Gemma has had visions of in the past.  When the girls put the caves and the diary stories together they want more and more interaction in the caves and a visit to the realms, which Gemma has explained through her visions, and tells the girls of her secret powers, which at one point she uses to assist Ann in enhancing her singing and the other girls with their looks and brains.  Things get really interesting when Gemma’s mother appears, Pippa falls into the waters, and the spirits in the realms turn on the girls.  How will they escape this awful drama that they have gotten themselves into?  Which one of the four will suffer a tragic fate?  Will the spirit of Gemma’s mother be helpful in saving Pippa?  This fantasy Victorian story is a nice read but falls apart for me when I find out… it’s a trilogy!  I didn’t know before I started.  What happened to the days where stories had a beginning, middle, and ending in one book?  Oh well, well written and had some surprises along the way.  Not bad.