ISBN 1903155142
A more or less grown up read by the writer of The Secret Garden
This is a lovely book. In all the ways a books can be lovely. The only way it could be lovelier is if it was the worlds first nice smelling scratch and sniff book.
I read this book in its latest incarnation as a Persephone Book.
(If you don't know Persephone are a brilliant publishing house that specialise in reprinting literary gems that ladies will love to read. Each title is bound in lovely silver soft cover with a distinctive print on the inside.)
The story itself is a Worthy Cinderella tale that segues into a wonderfully melodramatic thriller. I love it because even though it is sort of a romance it is more a book abot women and the triumph of character over adversity. Also the best thing in it is the female friendships - which hardly ever get written about in a convincing manner in modern books.
This satisfies on pretty much all levels for me and has serious re-readability.
This satisfies on pretty much all levels for me and has serious re-readability.
Plot: Turn of the 19/20th C Cinderella with a basket of fish instead of a glass slipper. Also a slice of life after Happily Ever After ....
Characters: Caricatures - but it kind of works as they are a reflection of the strangely mannered world of the British upper and middle classes.
What to love: Emily Fox-Seton is a very lovable heroine and her triumph over adversity through sheer (strangely not nauseating) sweetness of nature is refreshing. The ascerbic Lady Maria brightens up things immeasurably.
What to loathe: The unthinkingly racist, classist and sexist nature of pretty much everything in it. This really is a book of it's time. Do not read it expecting it to be modern and fair in outlook. It is a product of Empire...
Buy, Borrow or Bin: Buy
If this book was a drink it would be: A ladylike cup of tea in bone china served with lavender biscuits.
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