1
of
1
Bitter Greens
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 7,923 ratings, 1,395 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK
Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock
Sorry, we're currently out of stock of Bitter Greens. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Latest News
The Book Hero Team's July Reads
July was another busy month at Book Hero especially with all the excitement of attending...
Kiritapu Allan visits Book Hero
We were lucky enough to have Kiritapu Allan visit the team at Book Hero while...
Introducing The Art and Craft of Stephen King
I've been a fan of the horror genre since I was young, I remember making...
Reading Before Voting
As we head towards our general election on 7 November, I've realised I'm a lot...
Story to Screen - 04/07/26
Welcome to this week's 'Story to Screen Report', where Sacha rounds up the biggest news...
See more
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Bitter Greens is the winner of the 2015 American Libraries Association prize for Historical Fiction.
"A lovely stew of sex, fairytales and, well, sex really." β The Age.
An exquisite rendering of the story behind the Rapunzel fairy tale, Bitter Greens follows Charlotte-Rose de la Force, who has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. She finds comfort in the company of an old nun, SΕur Seraphina, who reveals the tale of a young girl sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens a hundred years earlier.
When Margherita's father steals a handful of parsley, wintercress, and rapunzel from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is faced with the threat of having both hands cut off unless he and his wife surrender their little girl.
Selena, known as the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tizianoβfirst painted by him in 1512 and consistently inspiring him until his death sixty-four years laterβcommands a formidable presence. Called La Strega Bella, she stands at the heart of Renaissance life in Venice, a world suffused with beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition.
Locked away in a tower and growing into womanhood, Margherita clings to hope, singing in the belief that...
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth is widely praised for its rich blend of historical fiction and fairy tale retelling. The book weaves together the stories of a young girl imprisoned in a tower, her rescuer, and the woman behind the fairy tale, set against Renaissance Venice and Revolutionary France. Reviews often commend the novel's intricate narrative structure, vivid historical detail, and compelling characters.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781741668483
Publisher: Random House Australia
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 March 2013
Country: Australia
Imprint: Vintage (Australia)
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 37.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 400g
Pages: 576
About the Author
Kate Forsyth is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty books, including The Witches of Eileanan and Rhiannon's Ride fantasy series for adults. She completed a doctorate in fairytale retellings and the novels that have come out of this fascination include the winner of the 2015 American Libraries Association Prize for Historical Fiction, Bitter Greens, The Wild Girl and the forthcoming The Beast s Garden. Her books have been published in fourteen different countries, including Japan, Poland, Spain, Russia and Turkey. Kate has also written series for children of all ages and the contemporary novel Dancing on Knives.
Also by Kate Forsyth
View all-
Psykhe
Psykhe is the perfect winter read. GUARDIAN This romance is lush and forbidden, pushing and folding the peaks and troughs of the narrative to its final conclusion. ARTSHUB The story of Psyche and Eros has been told for more than two-and-a-half thousand years. Kate Forsyth infuses it with new vigour as a life-affirming celebration of female strength, sexual desire, and...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Forbidden Land: Book 4, The Witches of Eileanan
The Witches of Eileanan, Book Four. A magical ride through another chapter of Eileanan's rich and turbulent history. Finn the Cat is bored with life as a banprionnsa. To make things worse, her cousin Brangaine has come to live with them and is everything a banprionnsa should beβbeautiful, gracious, and always perfectly behaved. Luckily for Brangaine, a caravan of jongleurs...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Alchemy
When a bestselling author and a much-esteemed painter meet at a party, they soon cook up the idea to collaborate and make a book about the life cycle of a woman... Two brilliant artists get together and plan a dramatic book in words and images about the twists and turns in the life cycle of a woman. From birth onwards,...Paperback$5000Elsewhere:$5500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Blue Rose
Moving between Imperial China and the 'Terror' of the French Revolution and inspired by the true story of the quest for a blood-red rose. Viviane de Faitaud has grown up alone at the Chateau de Belisima-sur-le-Lac in Brittany. Her father, the Marquis, lives at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles. After a hailstorm destroys the chateau's orchards, gardens, and...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Beast's Garden
Ava fell in love the night the Nazis first showed their true nature to the world. The Beast's Garden is a retelling of the Grimms' Beauty and The Beast, set in Nazi Germany. It's August 1939 in Germany, and Ava's world is in turmoil. To save her father, she must marry a young Nazi officer, Leo von LΓΆwenstein, who works...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Wild Girl
One of the great untold love stories - how the Grimm brothers discovered their famous fairy tales - filled with drama and passion, and taking place during the Napoleonic Wars. Growing up next door to the Grimm brothers in Hesse-Cassel, a small German kingdom, Dortchen Wild told Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in the famous fairy...Paperback$2300Elsewhere:$2499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Beauty in Thorns
A reimagining of Sleeping Beauty set amongst the passions and tragedies of the Pre-Raphaelite circle of artists and poets. The Pre-Raphaelites were determined to liberate art and love from the shackles of convention. Ned Burne-Jones had never had a painting lesson and his family wanted him to be a parson. Only young Georgie Macdonaldβthe daughter of a Methodist ministerβunderstood. She...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Psykhe
Psykhe is the perfect winter read. GUARDIAN This romance is lush and forbidden, pushing and folding the peaks and troughs of the narrative to its final conclusion. ARTSHUB Kate Forsyth infuses the story of Psyche and Eros with new vigour as a life-affirming celebration of female strength, sexual desire, and empowerment. It is not wise to anger the gods... or...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Dragonclaw: Book 1, The Witches of Eileanan
The Witches of Eileanan, Book One. A gripping story of witches, enchantment, magical creatures and dragons. Since the Day of Reckoning, witches and magic have been outlawed on Eileanan. The great towers, once centres of learning, are now abandoned ruins. The penalty for practising witchcraft is death. Yet the Lodestar still calls to the Rìgh, king of Eileanan, making him...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Cursed Towers: book 3, The witcheas of Eileanan
The Witches of Eileanan, Book Three. Another spellbinding episode in this enchanting series. Lachlan the Winged now holds the Lodestar and is Rìgh of Eileanan. But his battle to gain the throne is only the first of many that he and Eileanan must face. The half-breed Maya, who wrought such terrible persecution upon Eileanan's witches and fairy creatures, has disappeared....Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Pool of Two Moons: Book two, the Witches of Eileanan
The Witches of Eileanan, Book Two. At the Day of Reckoning, witchcraft was outlawed in Eileanan. Behind the persecution is the beautiful and mysterious Banrìgh. Not all the witches were killed on the Day of Reckoning. The wood witch Meghan leads the half-blackbird, half-man Bacaiche and the Scarred Warrior Iseult through the countryside to the safety of the Veiled Forest,...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Fathomless Caves: Book 6, The Witches of Eileanan
The Witches of Eileanan, Book Six. The explosive final instalment in this bestselling series. Before his death, the blind prophet Jorge had foreseen the conjuring of a tidal wave by the sea-dwelling Fairgean, Eileanan's bitterest enemies. Driven by ancient hatreds, the Fairgean have called upon dreadful powers to aid them in their quest to totally annihilate all those who dwell...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
More from Historical Fiction
View all-
The Parisian Chapter
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library and The Librarians of Rue de Picardie comes a charming and cinematic novel following a young woman from Montana who lands a job in the American Library in Paris, where she discovers the power of storytelling and writes her own Parisian chapter.'Stirring and rich with detail' New York Times...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseInferno
AD 60. Nero Claudius Caesar is Emperor. He is feared for his temper. He is known to be intoxicated by the power he wields. And why not? The Roman Empire stretches from the wilds of Britain to the deserts of Parthia. Nero is god of all he surveys. Yet dangerous traitors lie close at hand. Generals commanding legions. Senators whispering...Paperback$3100Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Circle of Days
From the master of epic fiction comes the deeply human story of one of the world's greatest mysteries: the building of Stonehenge. A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his...Hardback$4499Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Soldier's Daughter
The heart-stopping new blockbuster by the bestselling author of The Fallen Woman. Violet Nash has grown up in the shadows of her father Charlie's shattered dreams. It's been years since he walked away from the battlefields of France, a WWI hero but his heart in tatters, only to see it broken all over again in the worst way possible. In...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Lost Bookshop
Evie Woods' stunning new novel The Story Collector is available now. The Echo of Old Books meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets. βThe thing about books,β she said βis that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.β On a quiet street in...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
All the Diamonds in Paris
Kristin Harmel is firmly in the top echelon of WW2 storytellers - HEATHER MORRIS A master storyteller - SANTA MONTEFIORE The best at sweeping historical drama - KELLY HARMS A dazzling diamond of a novel - HAZEL GAYNOR * Paris, 1942: Anabel Martinet is a jewel thief, descended from a family that has spent centuries stealing from the unkind and...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Listeners
βBy turns a beautiful love story, a fascinating glimpse into the horrors of history and a haunting tale of loyalty and courage. A marvel of storytellingβ CHRIS WHITAKER, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark The Avallon Hotel offers unrivalled luxury in the wild Appalachian Mountains, its curative sweetwater washing away the troubles of high society. June 'Hoss'...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Song of Achilles
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a brilliantly crafted retelling of the ancient Greek epic of Achilles and Patroclus, transforming the classical myth into a profoundly moving love story. Set against the richly depicted backdrop of Greece during the heroically tumultuous age, the narrative follows Patroclus, an awkward and exiled young prince, who is taken to the court...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mythos
Mythos by Stephen Fry is a compelling retelling of the classic Greek myths, reimagined with a wit and elegance that only Fry can deliver. This volume transports the reader to a world where mortals intertwine with the divine, and the timeless tales unfold in a spellbinding narrative that captures the imagination. From the cosmogonyβthe birth of the cosmosβto the exploits...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah is a classic storyteller and The Four Winds sees her at the top of her game - Matt Haig Powerful and compelling - Delia Owens, number one international bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing A story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope. I loved this book so much! - Christy Lefteri, bestselling author of The...Paperback$2000Elsewhere:$2499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Lost Apothecary
Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary's fate is jeopardised when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Limestone Road
From the deserts of Egypt to the rolling hills of South Australia, The Limestone Road is a captivating novel about one soldier's courageous journey home. In the summer of 1944, returning soldiers Canning Christie and his father Michael arrive in South Australia from the desert sands of North Africa. Canning carries the trauma of war and a fractured memory of...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
