The Oracle Glass

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You never know quite how a favorite book is going to enter your life. Sometimes it's a friend's recommendation, or a book club selection, sometimes a fancy display in a bookstore or a slick promotion attracts your attention, or perhaps you were asked to participate in a blogger book tour. Sometimes it's as simple as grabbing an eye-catching cover out of the sale bin outside your local bookstore.
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I found Judith Merkle Riley's The Oracle Glass in a $2 bin outside the bookstore when I was looking to grab something to read on a plane. With it's gorgeous, and very red, cover it was bound to catch my eye ("bound" to catch my eye, get it?). When I flipped it over and saw that it was a story of witchcraft and decadence set in France during the reign of Louis XIV, with a feisty and independent young girl as the protagonist, and best of all based on a series of true scandals that had rocked 17th French society, I knew that this was the one that would be coming home with me. It didn't disappoint either. Riley is a gifted storyteller, creating such vivid portraits with her words that you can almost reach out and touch the sights and sounds of 17th century France. I've read this book over and over again, it's one of those comforting, familiar friends that I can just pick up whenever I crave some easy familiarity, sometimes starting from the beginning and proceeding through to the end, other times just jumping in mid-stream and letting the story carry me away.
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And of course with its ruby red cover it is also an obvious choice for a Ruby Tuesday post, don't you think?
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