"I meant to fall on my knees before her; I took a step which she heard."
It is fine to love your cousin - but not to Love your cousin; if you catch my meaning. This is a strange tale translated from the French and it is on just about every must-read list there is.
There are moments of beautiful prose but ultimately I was a little unmoved. Everyone loves someone they shouldn't, life is hard, people suffer and then there's death: now if that synopsis has you gravitating towards this, well... more power to you.
I think sometimes these kinds of stories appeal more to someone younger, particularly when I flash back to my early teens and my fixation with Flowers in the Attic (like just about every other girl I knew at that time). This shares the overblown emotional weight of the teenage years, mixed with escaping the pull of hormones through a combination of religion and guilt. Sexual awakening is a frightening prospect, this is why boy bands remain so popular.
What this slim novella does show is the propensity for children to rebel against their parents by becoming their opposite. Alissa's religious zealotry begins in reaction to her mother's sinful behaviour and is not the path to a happy, healthy life.
4/5 - Courtly love is a drag.
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