title: The Mirror (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
author:  Lynn Freed 
description: "[LYNN] FREED DELIVERS A TOUR DE FORCE IN THIS DIARY OF AN AMBITIOUS, HEADSTRONG, SEXUALLY INDEPENDENT . . . WOMAN."<br />Publishers Weekly (starred review)<br /><br />"A BRACING, EMPOWERING STORY . . . The Mirror begins in 1920, when Agnes La Grange escapes a life of servants work and lower-class drudgery to move to Durban, South Africa. She finds work . . . in a wealthy Jewish household, and is soon given a full-length mirror, the gateway into her new life. Gazing into this mirror Agnes discovers her own physical beauty and passions. . . . Freeds graceful writing . . . hypnotically draws the reader into Agnes mind and body."<br />Detroit News &amp; Free Press<br /><br />"LIKE SO MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS, THE MIRROR MAKES US LAUGH WHILE PACKING, FINALLY, A PUNCH."<br />The New York Times Book Review<b><i><br /><br /></i></b>"IN AGNES LA GRANGE, FREED HAS CREATED AN ALLURING AND UNCOMPROMISING PROTAGONIST."<br /><i>The Washington Post Book World</i><br /><br /><br />"<i>THE MIRROR</i> IS AN ELEGANT AND UNUSUAL NOVEL, pitch-perfect from first word to last, beautifully crafted, and stunningly honest in its illumination of what women <i>really </i>want. Like Marguerite Duras <i>The Lover </i>and Marilynne Robinsons <i>Housekeeping</i>, it shines unexpected light into corners we all experience, but seldom discuss."<br />Andrea Barrett, Author of <i>Ship Fever</i>, Winner of the National Book Award<br /><br />"A POETICALLY ROBUST TALE . . . <b><br /></b>Candor, passion, and love of life put Agnes on par with [Chaucers] Wife of Bath, while Freed adds the treats of succulent place and period flavor, even 20 black-and-white photographs of the very places where Agnes walked, slept, loved, and lived. A pleasure."<br /><i>Kirkus Reviews</i> (starred review)<br /><br />"Lynn Freed has the remarkable ability to move her readers even as she compels them to think. <i>The Mirror</i>s<i> </i>heroine, Agnes La Grange, is the sort of woman we all long to be: strong yet warm, intelligent yet independent, passionate yet nevertheless fierce in her requirements for love. The story of the consequences of those requirements creates a lesson in the nature of love itself."<br />Linda Gray Sexton<br /> Author of <i>Searching for Mercy Street</i>:<br /> <i>My Journey Back to My Mother Anne Sexton<br /></i><br /><i>"The Mirror</i> wonderfully carries off that hardest of all literary effectsit feels effortless and therefore absolutely real, as if Freed just sat down by the fire one night and told the tale of a woman shed once known. . . . Freeds language brings Agness world so vividly to life."<br /><i>Elle Magazine<br /></i><br />"Heres a good book to settle down with on a chilly winter afternoon. Start it right after lunch, and youll be done in time for dinnerclosing the book with the distinct impression that you have just wiled away several hours in the company of one of the most headstrong yet endearing women youve ever encountered."<br /><i>Orlando Sentinel<br /></i><br />"What a remarkable gift Lynn Freed has given us in this beautifully crafted story. <i>The Mirror</i> is sheer pleasure to read."<br /><i>Arizona Daily Star<br /></i><br />"A thoroughly satisfying tale to savor . . . Freeds latest novel exhibits the splendidly controlled prose of a master at once maintaining a remarkable level of tension in combination with surprising displays of humor. Her powerfully realized tale tells the story of a bold young womans quest for a life fully lived."<br /><i>Booklist </i><b><br /></b><br />"AGNES IS MOLL FLANDERS WITHOUT EXCUSES<b><br /></b>an enchanting and infuriating heroine, both admirable and wrongheaded in her commitment to honesty and her pursuit of adventure."<br /><i>Entertainment Weekly<br /></i><br />"Lynn Freed is the absolute master of one of the great themes of contemporary lifea womans ascent toward strength and self-definition. Funny thing is, her narratives are timeless and universal and transcending, and <i>The Mirror </i>is probably the most clear-eyed novel youll read this year. This is want I want from a book, from a writer, and from a passionate heart."<br />Bob Shacochis<br /><br />"In prose as precise and alluring as a spray of diamonds, <i>The Mirror </i>traces a remarkable womans saga. Its a sexy, compelling, highly original retelling of Pygmalion, only in Lynn Freeds extraordinary novel, the narrator is both clay and sculptor, muse and visionary, a true heroine of her own making."<br />Jill Ciment<br /> Author of <i>Half a Life<br /></i><br />"A woman in full possession of her powers is a thrilling sight, and the powerful woman at the center of <i>The Mirror </i>conducts her life on her own unequivocal terms. The results are surprising and erotic, rendered in brisk, mordant prose by a writer with no interest in half measures."<br />Amy Hempel<br /><br />"Sparse and hard-eyed, shrewd without being cynical, <i>The Mirror </i>is an engaging tale, masterfully told."<br />Irini Spanidou<br /> Author of <i>Gods Snake<br /></i>
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  # A Manor of Taking It
  
  
  ## The Clarion Abbey Series
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Hadley Harlin
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Henwin Press LTD
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Hadley Harlin
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
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  # Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [A Manor of Taking It](part0003.html#2RHM0-8f41965a73e147baa0f4a4addf663142)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Untitled](part0004.html#3Q280-8f41965a73e147baa0f4a4addf663142)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. [Brontë](part0006_split_000.html#5N3C0-8f41965a73e147baa0f4a4addf663142)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2\. [B