A young woman’s heart is torn between two men in this compelling British historical romance novel from the author of The Silver Locket. England, 1960s. On her first day at Oxford University, Lily Denham meets Harry Gale and Max Farley, two fellow undergraduates who are full of mischievous charm. The three students become firm friends, exploring everything Oxford has to offer, from riotous parties … Oxford has to offer, from riotous parties to sailing the river Thames on sunny afternoons.
But their innocent fun get complicated when Lily starts falling for both men. Harry is generous and kind, reliable and trustworthy. Max embodies the spirit of the sixties: adventurous, rebellious, and a little bit dangerous . . .
As university ends and Lily struggles to make her mark on the vibrant fashion scene, she must make a decision that could have devastating consequences for all of their futures. A moving story forged in the bonds of friendship, The Girl in Red Velvet is a novel that proves there’s more than one way to love someone.
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Jane Risdon
Girl in Red Velvet is the first and only book I have read by Margaret James and so it was exciting to receive a signed copy from ReviewSpot.co.uk for me to read, and, if I wanted to, review.
I always feel totally unqualified to review works by other authors. I read a great deal of course, but to unpick another writer’s work is daunting to say the least – added to which I am a crime writer and have no previous experience of reading romantic fiction.
Girl in Red Velvet is set in 1960’s Oxford and although I lived in the county for many years, I didn’t live there at the time this novel is set so I was seeing the city through new eyes which was so interesting.
Lily Denham is the young woman at the centre of a love-triangle. She goes up to Oxford University and on her first day meets charming friends Harry Gale and Max Farley. They strike up an intense friendship – they call her The Red Queen – and the novel follows the fortunes of the three as they study, graduate, and earn their living in the big wide world which opens up to them following university.
University life is as I imagined it would be. Lots of parties and intrigues and, if Lily and her friends are anything to go by, lots of sex and alcohol. Romance is in the air and you can almost taste the atmosphere as these friends punt up the river on sunny afternoons, hang out in coffee shops or have afternoon tea with Fuller’s walnut cake – I can remember eating that – and visiting pubs such as The Golden Cross in Cornmarket, generally having a great time. Studying seems to have been an after-thought, but Max is able to pass exams without studying too hard whilst Lily and Harry have to swot.
There are plenty of references to life in the 1960s when everything was beginning to change socially and in the work place. I enjoyed the images painted by Margaret as she mentioned the food and beverages consumed, fashions and music, the wonderful Indian wedding Lily attended and how her future career was influenced by the beautiful fabrics and designs she experienced, eventually sending her to India seeking fabrics for her new business.
The descriptions of her time in India are quite heady. The smells, the noise, and the bustle are all captured and leap off the page transporting the reader with her as she rides in a taxi with her contact, Sita Banerjee, experiencing India at a time when Hippies were looking for the answers to life and the universe with Gurus and holy men.
I won’t give anything away but the intensity of the feelings the three friends share does not diminish once they’ve left university and we follow their lives through the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Max disappears abroad, having adventures as a travel writer. Harry is more of a plodder, the reliable one whose career stretches ahead of him – all planned out and predictable. Lily becomes a businesswoman and is the thread which binds them. There’s a connection even when they are not in touch for ages.
Eventually there is a marriage and children – I won’t say with whom – and all the complications that arise when three people fall in love with each other and inevitably along the way someone has to lose out.
An enjoyable read with lots of atmosphere and little touches which bring the city of Oxford alive during the 1960s and which gives a glimpse of life for women heading into the 1970s and beyond, when anything and everything was possible.