Forever Amber

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Overview

Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare manages, by using her wits, beauty, and courage, to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in Restoration England—that of favorite mistress of the Merry Monarch, Charles II. From whores and highwaymen to courtiers and noblemen, from events such as the Great Plague and the Fire of London to the intimate passions of ordinary—and extraordinary—men and women, Amber experiences it all. But throughout her trials and escapades, she remains, in her heart, true to the one man she really loves, the one man she can never have. Frequently compared to Gone with the Wind, Forever Amber is the ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare manages, by using her wits, beauty, and courage, to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in Restoration England—that of favorite mistress of the Merry Monarch, Charles II. From whores and highwaymen to courtiers and noblemen, from events such as the Great Plague and the Fire of London to the intimate passions of ordinary—and extraordinary—men and women, Amber experiences it all. But throughout her trials and escapades, she remains, in her heart, true to the one man she really loves, the one man she can never have. Frequently compared to Gone with the Wind, Forever Amber is the other great historical romance, outselling every other American novel of the 1940s—despite being banned in Boston for its sheer sexiness. A book to read and reread, this edition brings back to print an unforgettable romance and a timeless masterpiece.

Editorial Reviews

Gale Research
"It wasn't such a daring book, " maintains Kathleen Winsor in defense of her first novel, Forever Amber. "I wrote only two sexy passages, and my publishers took both of them out. They put in ellipses instead. In those days, you could solve everything with an ellipse." Regardless of both her own opinion and her publisher's attempts to cool the passionate episodes, Forever Amber caused a nationwide scandal and was banned in Boston, Massachusetts, as an obscene and offensive book.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
As a feat of storytelling, Forever Amber is irresistible.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781556524042
  • Publisher: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 9/28/2000
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 976
  • Sales rank: 89,500
  • Series: Rediscovered Classics Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 2.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Kathleen Winsor has written a number of historical romances, including The Lovers and Robert and Arabella.

Read an Excerpt

I first read Forever Amber when I was a teenager and I remember that I could not put it down. In fact, I read it so quickly, I immediately re-read it, to be certain I hadn't missed anything important. At the time, all of my girlfriends had their noses buried in it, and like me they found it compulsive and compelling reading. I became a fan of the author and read all of her other novels as they were published over the years, from Star Money to Calais. But Forever Amber has remained a particular favorite of mine.When I was recently asked to write an introduction to this new edition I picked up the novel again, and once more I discovered it was a genuine page-turner that had lost nothing over the years. Time had not dimmed it, nor had the changing fashions in fiction diminished it. The book remains a smashing read, as compelling now as it was all those years ago. -Barbara Taylor Bradford

Foreward

When Forever Amber was first published in 1944 it created a sensation and catapulted its author to instant fame. The novel sold 100,000 copies in its first week, and Kathleen Winsor became a household name. Considered bawdy and immoral, the book was banned in Boston, and the Hays office pronounced that it was too impure for the movies in its present state. But in the end it sold over two million copies in hardcover, and it did become a movie starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde.

I first read Forever Amber when I was a teenager. I remember that I could not put it down. In fact, I read it so quickly that I immediately reread it to be certain I hadn’t missed anything important. At the time, all of my girlfriends had their noses buried in it. Like me, they found it compulsive and compelling reading. I became a fan of the author’s and read all her other novels as they were published over the years, from Star Money to Calais. But Forever Amber has remained a particular favorite.

When I was asked to write a foreword to this new edition, I picked up the novel again and once more discovered it was a genuine page-turner; it had lost nothing over the years. Time had not dimmed it, nor had the changing fashions in fiction diminished it. The book remains a smashing read, as compelling now as it was all those years ago

. What struck me most forcibly was the enormous amount of research the author had done—impeccable research that cannot be bettered, in my opinion, and certainly worthy of a historian.

Intrigued by the depth and enormity of the research, I inquired as to how the author had gone about it. I discovered that when Kathleen Winsor was married (in 1938) to her first husband, Robert Herwig, she became fascinated by the books he was then reading for his college theme on Charles II. She began to read them as well, and went on reading books about this period for the next five years. After that, she wrote the novel.

Forever Amber is set during the English Restoration, after Charles II returned to London from exile in Europe and the monarchy was restored. Every detail of life in that period--food, fashions, architecture, interior design, and politics--is covered in the fictional tale of Amber St. Clare. Winsor skillfully dissects the manners and mores of that age in every echelon of society, from peasants to princes of the blood. We see the pomp, ceremony, and magnificence of the court and how it coexisted with poverty, sickness, cruelty, and despair. We get more than a glimpse of such court beauties as Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, the King’s mistress; we meet Samuel Pepys, the diarist; Sir Peter Lely, the great portraitist; and Nell Gwynne, the orange seller and actress who became another mistress of the sexually driven king. The author pinpoints the excesses of the court--adultery, rape, rampant love affairs, illegitimate children, and abortions--and we recognize the everyday sensuality, greed, duplicity, and treachery of the era; in essence, we witness life as it was lived by rich and poor alike. We suffer through the Great Plague, during which we see Amber at her best, full of heart and compassion. And in consequence we are caught up in her life, and we root for her.

Kathleen Winsor managed to make the Restoration Period vivid and real, and her fictional characters spring readily to life on the page. She also created a marvelous sense of time and place and atmosphere, and it is this that sets the tone of the novel.

Amber, beautiful and sexy, may well be immoral, but the court of Charles II is worse: bawdy, brutal, cruel, licentious, and wicked. On the other hand, when it comes to intimate sex scenes between Amber and her many and varied lovers, a great deal is left to the imagination of the reader. As perhaps it should be.

In a curious way, I think those critics of long ago were really reviewing the Restoration Period itself, and not the story Kathleen Winsor wrote. However, the book does indeed have an overwhelming sense of sexuality, which comes from both the writing and the many characters the author invented, most especially Amber. Born illegitimate, of aristocratic but unwed parents, she is brought up by a farmer and his wife as their niece. At the age of 16 she is captivated by a dashing cavalier passing through her village, and she goes off to London with him. She never looks back. Her adventurous life, her many loves, and her rising fortunes make for compelling reading.

I once described fiction as a monumental lie that has to have the absolute ring of truth if it is to succeed. And that ring of truth invariably comes from research, which in turn gives a novel its authenticity. It is this kind of authenticity plus good storytelling that made Forever Amber a bestseller 56 years ago.

Now it has become a classic, and that is as it should be.

—March 2000

Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 73 )

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  • Posted July 14, 2011

    Another request to make this a Nook Book!

    I'd love to read this on Nook, but can't find as an epub anywhere! Please make it available!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 27, 2011

    PLEASE MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON NOOK!

    I read the flyleaf in Barnes & Noble and truly want to read the book, but I don't want to lug around a huge book when I could read it on my Nook. Please, please, please make it available on Nook!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 13, 2010

    A Trip into the Past

    The heroism and ambition of Amber makes this book an automatic page turner and I found it very hard to put down. From just a dream and a longing to become more then a farm girl, she built her life and gained a title for herself in a time where ambition in females was extremely frowned on. Hands down one of the best books I've ever read!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 3, 2010

    Worth Reading

    I purchased this book because I loved the book Gone With The Wind, and I'd read if you liked that book you'd like this book.

    I enjoyed the characters in the book, and though I had a bit of a hard time relating to Amber (just as I did Scarlett in Gone with the Wind) much of time, she is very interesting and over comes the many hurdles life throws at her.

    All & all I liked the book & would recommend it to someone else.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 17, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    This story goes on forever. . .

    This book has wonderful stories of adventure, romance and intrigue. I enjoyed the historical fiction of King Charles' court and time era. The problem with the book is that the characters go on forever (the book is appropriately named) without an ending and I require a happy ending to really enjoy a book. Call me unrealistic, but that's one of many reasons I read.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 28, 2012

    Great Book

    I enjoyed this book when I read it years ago, and would love to read it again if they put it on NOOK. I'd like to see what I think of it now. I was fascinated to learn about the hideous underground prisons in England and to look at the Black Plague through the perspective of someone living during that time.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 19, 2011

    Addictive!

    I received this book about 10 years ago and loved it! I lost my copy of it and had to get a new one, and I still love it as much as I did back then. The book has plenty of twists and surprises... a must read for anyone who likes historical novels!

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  • Posted October 9, 2011

    My Best Book Ever

    I am not one of those sadoos who harp on and on about things, but when it comes to this book I do. I have loved it since I was in my teens and still love it now. I have read it about 20 times and get something new out of each read. It is a long story and the characters are varied and interesting. I particularly love Amber, and although she is heartless stupid and cruel, there is something endearing about her. There are so many plots and adventures in this book that it keeps me reading even though I know practically every word by memory. I must say that I was very disappointed in the film version. It didn't follow the book at all and left so much out. I truly believe they should film a re-make and keep all the plots and twists in. If made well, it would definitely rival Gone With the Wind, and Cleopatra. Not a book for men at all, but I would think most women would enjoy it if they cared to read it. I particularly liked the way Ms. Bradford makes you feel as though you are actually living in the times of King Charles 2nd, and the way she keeps her dialogue true to that era. She had obviously researched her work extremely well. You can almost smell those dirty streets and hear the sounds of old London. Love it, love it, that's all I can say

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  • Posted August 2, 2011

    Nook Color

    Please make this book available on the Nook Color.
    Thank you

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 10, 2009

    Beautiful Disapointment

    I have to say I absolutely loved this book...being honest with myself and fellow readers I didn't care so much for the in between stuff but more Bruce and Amber's romance in the story. The book had my attention from the moment she laid eyes on him, you could feel the passion they both had for each other. I loved every time he came back to her, and how she reserved her true love only for him. It made me cry, laugh, and extremely mad. I had a sensitive side with Amber, even through all the mess and embarrassment she put herself through. As for my heading I am a sucker for happy endings and although we do not know the exact outcome due to the ending, I really wish the book had turned the opposite direction. I wished there was a follow up book, maybe we could get what we wanted out of Bruce and Amber. I recommend this to anyone looking for a good romance read.

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  • Posted July 6, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Sometimes being rich and powerful just isn't enough

    Set in the mid to late 1600s, Forever Amber follows the ambitions of a young girl. Born in the countryside and raised by a yeoman farmer and his wife, Amber believes she is destined for better things. When a handsome Lord Carlton visits her small hamlet, she takes the oppurtunity to leave town with him. From there she becomes everything from a mistress to an actress to a countess, living a very full---but not very rewarding--life.

    I loved this book. It's long, but so filled with an interesting plot and sub-plots that I had a hard time putting it down. Apparently it was banned in some places when it first came out in 1944; but by today's standards it's quite tame. You can't help but feel sorry for Amber at times; this book really hits home the point that everything that glitters isn't gold.

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  • Posted March 29, 2009

    Love it!

    Favorite book ive ever read. ever.

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  • Posted March 16, 2009

    Forever Amber is historical romance to be read and then read again.

    I was 17 years old when I first read Forever Amber and it has stayed with me over the past few decades as one of my favorite historical romances and the one book that kept me reading even now into the wee hours of the night. I just purchased it again so that I may reread and keep in my library. If you are looking for something to read while on vacation or a cold rainy day - curl up and get lost in the pages.

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  • Posted December 27, 2008

    Wonderful!

    This is one of the best books I have ever read! The characters, the plot, the drama, everything was just delicious! I read the book in under a week, a book that size with two toddlers, a job and house chores...yes, it's that good!

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  • Posted November 17, 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    Deliciously entertaining!

    Do not be fooled by the length of Forever Amber. The story line is so good that you will want to keep on reading until the very end. I finished this book within a week and I am still amazed by it. The characters feel so real I almost didn't want the story to end. I now understand why this book was so scandalous when it first came out. I just loved Amber's character. She stopped at nothing for money and power, only to realize in the end that that's not all there is to life. A definite read!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 6, 2008

    A Compelling Read...

    Like many others have posted, my mother read this book many years ago and named me after its heroine - Amber St. Clare. Now 25, some would say that I have lived up to my namesake - determined, passionate, cunning. I loved this book just as much as my mother did. It has stood the test of time very well.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 21, 2008

    A quick history lesson in a fun read!

    I have greatly enjoyed Forever Amber, which takes you through major happening of the 17th century (from the great fire of London to the Plague to the fashion of the era.) This book is recommended to anyone who loves the history of England mixed with a story of love and lust.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 19, 2008

    Just Great!!!

    I was a little scared to read this book because of the length, but once I began to read it, I loved it! it's fast paced after a certain point and I love Amber's character for the fact that she's a survivor. Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 21, 2006

    Was a great, lovestrucked book!!!!

    I loved this book!!! i read it in about 3 days. I couldn't put it down!!! I loved all the characters, but sometimes i hated the way they treated eachother!!! Bruce and Amber we're so in love so why did they treat eachother with so much agony!!! I did not like the ending I was expecting the ending to be a so passionate, loving ending. But it took the wrong turn..It was a downfall to the book. The reason i kept reading this book is to see what will happen to Amber and Bruce...but i do recommend it, but don't exspect a nonshocking ending!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 8, 2006

    a fascinating glimpse into the past

    An excellent read--especially if you are interested in the cultural and social mores of Restoration England. Winsor has a real gift for characterization, mood and setting. Yes, Amber is often a despicable person, but at other times, she is all too pathetic and human. She is not some insipid, vapid creature that you forget soon after putting the book down. In truth, Winsor's use of dramatic irony at the novel's end is nothing short of genius. The ending is painful, true, but how could this supremely selfish, extraordinary, callous, facinating woman have an easy fate? Life is brutal, especially to those who live it well and with courage. Winsor also paints the filthy, dark, teeming streets of London in glorious detail. It's been at least 20 years since I read this book, but I've never forgotten the chilling scenes of madness, depravity and death during the Winsor's descriptive passages of the Bubonic Plague and the Great Fire of London. Nor have I forgotten the tenderness and selflessness displayed by both Bruce and Amber as each courageously nurses the other back to health in a world gone mad. It is sad that Amber, with all her wealth, beauty, and power discovers true happiness while tending Bruce's every need when he is stricken with the Plague. Most poignant is when she experiences her first real, womanly joy while gently combing the hair of her plague-sticken lover, who wakes up from a coma, then kisses her hand in gratitude for saving his life. Read the book.

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