Bitter Greens

Captivating marriage of history and folklore featuring characters true to their time periods, yet timeless in their dreams and desires.

2015 Judges, American Library Association

A lovely stew of sex, fairytales and, well, sex really. Forsyth does a masterly job in controlling her story of of lesbian nuns, witches and palace intrigues. Telling the story of Rapunzel and its attendant themes from several viewpoints, she has created a darkly compelling novel, which simply seethes with sex scenes.

Dianne Dempsey, The Age

Threads of history and folklore are richly intertwined to form this spellbinding story. Kate Forsyth has excelled herself with Bitter Greens. Compulsively unputtdownable.

Juliet Marillier

Surrender yourself to a master storyteller ... Bitter Greens is a complex, dazzling achievement.

Susan Vreeland

Kate Forsyth's love of language, history and storytelling is evident in Bitter Greens, a magnificent reworking of the fairytale Rapunzel.This is much more than a historical romance - it is a story that celebrates women throughout the ages who have refused to be bound by the trappings of their era. Forsyth has an extraordinary imagination and has created something deliciously new out of an old favourite.

Bec Kavanagh, Australian Bookseller + Publisher

Bitter Greens is one of those rare and delightful books that transcends genre, truly original in scope and invention and showing a writer in mature and full command of her material.

Jean Bedford, The Newtown Review of Books

This book, which follows three women – Charlotte-Rose, the witch or La Strega, and young Margherita, the girl who is imprisoned in a tower on the Rock of Manerba – is astonishing in its richness and detail. Interwoven with history, fantasy, breathtaking romance and magic, I became as bewitched as Petrosinella at the raw beauty of Bitter Greens. Kate Forsyth travelled to Paris, Gascony, Venice and the Italian Lakes in search of inspiration for this novel, and she found it. The depth and scope of the research she undertook to pen this tome is quite mind-boggling and it’s clear this author – who is currently completing a doctorate in fairytale retellings – has an abiding passion for history and magic – a delicious and palpable combination. Set over 200 years, this is a story of love at its outer reaches. It is a story of the power within – of woeful failure and glorious achievement. It is resplendent with human frailty, cruelty and beauty. If books were the notes of a violin, Bitter Greens would be the highest soaring note – the one that brings goosebumps to the skin and swells the heart with passion. Forsyth’s language and skill for visual and emotional evocation is truly divine – and her cast of characters – both real and imagined – is like manna from heaven. It is an indulgent pleasure to read her beautifully-crafted words, and to be swept into another time and place – so willingly.

Tania McCartney, Australian Women Online

Kate Forsyth has found a stash somewhere of just such live, enterprising threads. Her new book for adult readers, Bitter Greens, is a turf-to-tower-window braid of live, red-gold hair. It's a big, glorious read, full of love, lust, pain, politics, blood red and blue, and some of the best frocks and the worst fleas ever.

Margo Lanagan, Australian Women Writers

A must for all lovers of historical fiction - Philippa Gregory watch out!

Pamela Freeman

Skilfully weaving a delicious, disturbing braid of richly multi-coloured story, Kate Forsyth's Bitter Greens grippingly brings to life a world of magic, corruption, cruelty, and love, spanning two centuries and three very different main characters. Evoking the thrilling and terrifying atmosphere of the Sun-King's court through the eyes of clever, wild French writer Charlotte-Rose de la Force, whose noble birth does not protect her from the risks she takes daily, the novel also plunges the reader into the fascinating and sinister world of the Venetian courtesan Selena Leonelli and the sad, lonely life of her young prisoner, Margherita, shut up in a tower. Each of these very different women has been hurt by the past; each is striving to make a place for herself in a dangerous time; but it is the telling of the tale of Margherita, the youngest and sweetest, which will change everything for desperate Charlotte and cruel Selena, giving them both another chance, two hundred years apart...

Sophie Masson

The stories of Charlotte-Rose, Margherita and Selena are skilfully woven together to create a captivating blend of history and fantasy. Highly recommended for fans of Philippa Gregory and Juliet Marillier, Bitter Greens is a tale of romance and intrigue, seduction and superstition, obsession and betrayal and… I could keep going forever. This book really has a little bit of everything and more besides. It’s a fairytale for grown-ups, a lavish three-course meal for the imagination.

Sarah McDuling, Booktopia Blog

The language in Bitter Greens is decadent and fits perfectly with the passionate characters and lush settings. This is much more than a historical romance - it is a story that celebrates women throughout the ages who have refused to be bound by the trappings of their era. Forsyth has an extraordinary imagination and has created something deliciously new out of an old favourite.

Bec Kavanagh, Australian Bookseller & Publisher

A stunning read, beautifully written. It's entertaining on an adult level but also a delight for the child within, with its classic fairytale. Definitely a must for those cooler nights, rugged up on the couch with a hot chocolate!

Take 5 Magazine

I am hooked on the complexity and compelling tension of stories told within stories, as Forsyth has done in this novel.In Bitter Greens Kate Forsyth delivers a tale of beauty, strength and gravity. Her fierce respect for the art and power of storytelling shines through every page. You do not need to be a fan of the fantasy genre to enjoy this novel. Anyone who enjoys historical fiction will fall in love with Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens, a five star read.

Booklover Book Reviews

A sumptuous tale combining lust, witchcraft and history, this thick tome is never heavy-going. Rather, it's delightful escapism rich in detail.

Caroline Gardam, Daily Telegraph, Sydney

Bitter Greens is written lushly.

Christine Cremen, Sydney Morning Herald