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Officiële naam: Borchardt, Alice O'Brien
Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten: O'Brien, Alice (birth)
Geboortedatum: 1939-10-06
Overlijdensdatum: 2007-07-24
Geslacht: female
Nationaliteit: USA
Geboorteplaats: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Plaats van overlijden: Houston, Texas, USA
Woonplaatsen: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Houston, Texas, USA
Richardson, Texas, USA
Beroepen: nurse
novelist
Relaties: Rice, Anne (sister)
Rice, Christopher (nephew)
Korte biografie: Alice O'Brien was born on 6 October 1939 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was one of five sister of Katherine "Kay" Allen and Howard O'Brien. The O'Brien family moved to Richardson, Texas, when Alice was a teenager. She began her nursing career in Houston, where she met and married her husband, Clifford Borchardt. After a 30-year career as a licensed vocational nurse, Borchardt faced staff reductions at the hospital where she worked. Alice's sister, the writer Anne Rice, encouraged her, helped her find an agent, and wrote introductions to several of her books. She wrote seven books. She passed away on 24 July 2007 in Houston, Texas.

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Beguiled door Alice Borchardt

This novel places you in the midst of an unsettled time in early Normandy. The Romans are noted by old ruins, the Bretons a neighboring kingdom, Pictish peoples live in the forests, Vikings sailing down the river. We begin with Owen and Elin defending their community from a Viking invasion. All characters are well developed, so we also get the point of view of Hakon, the Viking, who is desperate for a homeland where he can farm. Women are valued mainly for the control of lands they can bring, Elin being the exception--an independent forest witch with the skills of her people loved by Owen. While Owen is ruling class, we would not view his life as very luxurious: he'd prefer tending orchards to fighting. But this story focuses on the fighting that takes place over part of a year as he defends his lands, and the interpersonal relationships between the members of his community: the treachery of Rauching who appeals to them for aslyum, the compromises Elspeth is forced to make in order to save her children, the loneliness of Godwin and Ivor who have spent their lives fighting, the interplay of two different traditional beliefs with early christianity.
The story is beautifully told with well-crafted descriptions of both beauty and gore, but about halfway through I began to wonder if there was ever going to be an end to a new disaster, how many times could a man be wounded or knocked out and still get up to fight some more. Perhaps I should have taken a longer pause in the reading, for enjoyment, rather than trying to reach the ending. The last few pages were a summing up of the lives, letting us see how people were able to reach a harmonious compromise. It bothered me that it was mediated by the christian priest's influence in spreading love and forgiveness, tho Owen's experience of love/unity was more a result of his psychedelic contact with an overarching spirit.… (meer)

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juniperSun | 4 andere besprekingen | Mar 8, 2024 |

The Dragon Queen (Tales of Guinevere, Book 1) door Alice Borchardt

Good premise, terribly boring and long winded writing style. I really enjoyed her other books, just not this series which is a shame because it looked really good.

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justgeekingby | 7 andere besprekingen | Jun 6, 2023 |

(Cuentos de Guinevere 01) La reina dragón door Alice Borchardt

Arturo se dio la vuelta y vino resueltamente hacia nosotros. Estaba espléndido, y nunca olvidaré que en ese momento comencé a amarlo. Y ya nunca dejé de hacerlo. Nunca nadie me ha provocado tanta pena, dolor y alegría como él. Ni siquiera por mis hijos he sentido el amor que le profeso todavía ahora. Y creo que aunque hubiera sabido lo que nos deparaba el futuro (preocupaciones, tormentos, batallas y penas), aun así levaría entregado mi corazón tal como hice entonces.

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Natt90 | 7 andere besprekingen | Feb 12, 2023 |

The Dragon Queen (Tales of Guinevere, Book 1) door Alice Borchardt

Another in the Mists of Avalon-inspired Arthurian retelling pile, but top of the pile, I'd say. Pity the series never finished...

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ibazel | 7 andere besprekingen | Oct 5, 2022 |

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