What I've Read This Week

What I've Read This Week . . .

Aunt Celia by Jane Gillespie -- Austenesque Regency Romance 

Eighteen years after the conclusion of Emma finds Mr. Weston a widower once again. Mr. Weston and his only daughter Celia feel the loss of this most beloved mother and wife keenly. Feeling that Celia is in need of female companionship, Mr. Weston brings in a Mrs. Petteril to keep Celia company. Celia doesn't much like Mrs. Petteril and they do not spend much time in each other's company. Mrs. Petteril tries to be as subservient as possible to the Westons but has plans of her own. Her plans include securing the future for herself and her scheming son Henry, who is forced to retire to Surrey after some misadventures. When Frank Churchill decides to bring his family to Highbury, it's cause for much joy at Randalls. The Churchill clan includes eldest daughter Stella, 16; several younger children; Miss Bates and the boys' tutor, Mr. James Aske. Celia and Stella are delighted to see each other again and Frank hopes that Celia will exert a more sober influence over the silly, spoiled Stella. Celia spends much time at Donwell Abbey, where the Churchills are staying. Henry Petteril also spends a lot of time at Donwell and is delightful company. The young people find Mr. Aske a bit quiet and mysterious. When his secret comes out, only Celia is sympathetic. More secrets about the mysterious tutor are revealed, Stella inadvertently makes mischief and true love is revealed in this sequel to Emma. The plot of this story is very slow moving. It didn't capture my attention at all and I had to force myself to finish it. There are some surprises and twists that I didn't expect before it settles down into predictability. The characters do not really come to life and they are not very memorable. Frank Churchill has become a severe, authoritarian father and employer which seems a bit out of character. Jane Fairfax is a smiling, loving, somewhat mysterious mother and does not play a large role in the story. Only Miss Bates remains her same garrulous self and the author does a wonderful job recreating her speech patterns and the subjects she fixates on. She is quite my favorite character in the whole novel. I didn't quite like the romantic pairings. I found Celia's romance boring and Stella's too sudden. This book isn't exactly a must read for Janeites but if you loved Emma and want to know more about the minor characters, then I would suggest reading this book. If you're looking for passion or adventure, look elsewhere. 

Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell -- Historical Fiction 

This is a fictionalized biography of one of the world's greatest painters and his great love, Camille. Young Oscar, as Claude's family called him, was a hothead who wanted nothing to do with his father's nautical supply business. He wanted to make art. At first his dream was to be the most successful caricaturist in France until a challenge from a local man has Monet taking up a brush and paints to capture color and light. It's difficult for Monet to capture what he sees as the light is always changing, but he enjoys the challenge and defies his family to move to Paris in order to pursue his art. In art school he meets a bunch of other young rebels: Frederic Bastille, Camille Pissaro, Jean Renoir, and others who feel about painting as he does. Frederic is torn between duty and desire but if he complies, his family money will keep them all painting until they achieve success. Monet has an eye for beauty, especially pretty girls. A chance encounter at a train station of a lovely young girl longing to be free leads later to a love affair that defied the odds. The love young Camille Doncieux is a good girl from a good home. She's been to convent school and is supposed to marry a middle-aged man she doesn't love and follow in her older sister's footsteps. When Camille meets Monet in her uncle's bookshop, she is intrigued and agrees to model for the young painter. By their next meeting, they've fallen passionately in love and Camille is prepared to risk everything to be with Monet. Living with a poor, temperate artist isn't easy and sometimes Camille longs for the finer things in life. As Monet and the others struggle, Camille believes in them and encourages her beloved Claude. Camille, too, has dark hours and the couple are left wondering if they made the right choices. Claude, obsessed with painting, doesn't always seem to see his pretty wife or understand her needs until their darkest hours.

As a huge fan of the Impressionists, I was eager to read this book. I adored Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party and an endorsement from her on the cover made me want to read this book too. The story fell a little short of expectations. It's defined as a love story for the ages but it ends up being about two very selfish people who never really get to know each other. We're told early on that Camille had dark secrets and her sister accuses Monet of killing Camille by making her a part of his bohemian life. I kept turning the pages until the secrets were revealed and I felt a bit let down. Some of the secrets are not very shocking and it's fairly obvious to the modern reader what Camille's biggest secret is but it's not something that would have been understood at that time so I suppose it would have been shocking at the time to realize  SPOILER in white text : one's wife was mentally ill. The big shock for me was that SPOILER ALERT (in white text follows) Frederic and Camille slept together and that Monet slept with Alice. Actually I sort of suspected something like that would happen with him given the Bohemian lifestyle but it marred the love story for me. Camille's death was also a bit of a let down given all the previous hints. What also marred the story was Monet's constant moodiness and stubbornness. I admire him for sticking to his passion because if not, the world would have have seen some of the most famous and well-loved paintings of all time. However, I felt Monet's stubbornness was at times really frustrating, especially from the point-of-view of a woman. I am not a wife or a mother but I can empathize with Camille and felt angry at Monet at times for not compromising! At least Renoir was painting portraits of children for money. The tone of the voice of this novel is very modern and the writing is somewhat simplistic and mostly uninspiring except for a few passages here and there. I would have preferred a more nineteenth century voice. I also disliked the semi-graphic love scenes. You may skip them if you wish. Only the first time with Camille was necessary to describe their feelings and one other time later in the novel. What I did love about this novel is getting to know Monet and learning some of the creative process that went into his most famous paintings and the interactions between the artists. I would have preferred more of that. This book is OK but not great. I would recommend Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland instead. She is better able to get inside the heads of the characters and make the come alive to capture an important moment in time.

What I've Read This Week

What I've Read This Week . . .

Brightsea by Jane Gillespie -- Sequel to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
This book revisits the Steele sisters from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Remember them, the nieces of the kindly Mrs. Jenkins, whose daughter is married to Elinor and Marianne's relative. Lucy Steele was secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars but switched her allegiance to Robert when she learned he was to inherit and Edward to be a poor clergyman. It's not nine years lady and Lucy's sister Nancy is 40 years old and still silly, wanting in sense and on the lookout for a husband. Lucy is more disagreeable than ever with the cares and concerns of a profligate husband and a young family. Nancy bounces around from relative to relative ringing up massive debts until finally, Mr. Palmer decides he's had enough of her and recommends her to an acquaintance of his as a companion for a young lady just out of the school room. Nancy is reluctant to take employment (the horror!) but decides a house with servants and money to spend in a town by the sea outweighs the negative connotations of being a paid companion. Instead of the lively and gay young lady Nancy is expecting, Louisa is sober and bookish, she doesn't know how to dance and wants to learn Latin! While Louisa is busy studying Latin with the handsome young clergyman, Nancy spends money and flirts with the other visitors to Brightsea, in particular, a Mr. Forgan. Louisa begins to enjoy Brightsea society and the attentions of Mr. Forgan but her grandmother's old nurse warns her that Mr. Forgan is not what he should be and Louisa must decide what to do about Mr. Forgan. Lucy and her children pay a visit to needle Nancy and help move the action along and all concludes as it should. I read this book before but didn't remember until I had started reading. It didn't hold my interest very easily. The plot was rather slow moving until the end when it wrapped up in a quick summary of what happens next. Nancy is still disagreeable and Louisa is kind of a bland heroine. If you're looking for romance, or even as much romance as Jane Austen, this book isn't for you. The romance is quiet and blooms slowly and we're told what happens rather than seeing the action. If you loved to hate the Steele sisters and wonder what happens to them, then you'll enjoy this quick and imaginative sequel.


A Country Flirtation by Valerie King -- Regency Romance
After turning down 8 offers of marriage because she could not love the gentleman, Miss Constance Pamblerley is now nine and twenty and a confirmed spinster. She isn't bothered by that though and is happy being the mistress of Lady Brook Cottage and the surrounding estate. She has her hands full caring for her invalid mother and four younger sisters and soon she has two more charges on her hands when a treacherous bend in the road causes a young man to wreck his curricle in Lady Brook's yard. The young man can not recall his identity and is under doctor's orders to remain at Lady Brook until he does. Constance's younger sisters dote on "Mr. Albion" or "Alby" as they call him and Constance fears they are in danger of falling in love with a penniless man, which will not do. Constance has little time to consider whether Alby is faking his illness because soon, Alby's (real name Charles Kidmarsh) guardian, Lord Ramsdell comes crashing his curricle into Lady Brook's yard. Lord Ramsdell's accident causes a broken arm and a fever and Constance spends most of her time nursing the Viscount. When Lord Ramsdell awakens from his fever, he falls instantly in love with his nurse and she soon follows. They become close confidants and friends as well as flirting and kissing partners. Constance tells herself that it's only a summer country flirtation and that it doesn't mean anything but her heart has other ideas. Meanwhile, Alby/Charles thrives under the Pamberley sisters' care. He grows from a coddled boy into a man with chores and vigorous exercise. He also falls in love with the youngest sister, Augusta, and she helps him gather the courage to face his future. This is a silly, lighthearted romance. The characters continually behave out-of-bounds for that time period and the whole plot is unrealistic. I liked Charles and his coming-of-age story but I felt that Lord Ramsedell, whose name isn't revealed until Chapter 12, wasn't fleshed out enough to be a proper hero. I admired Constance in the way she managed her estate and took care of her sisters and mother, but this Cinderella story was a bit too much of a fairy tale for me. Hopeless romantics rejoice because this book is for you; hardcore historians, not so much.

Changing Seasons by Jessie Watson -- Regency Romance
When Charlotte Middleton discovers that her fiance and best friend Rupert Frost has been keeping company with a lightskirt, Charlotte is angry and embarrassed enough to break off the engagement. She and Rupert exchange heated words and threats they don't mean. In a fit of pique, Rupert enlists in the army and Charlotte marries a dull local man. Nine years later, with the wars over, Rupert has begun to think about how lonely he is. His correspondence with the uncle of a fallen comrade leads Rupert to the small English country village of Edenshade, where Charlotte resides. Charlotte is now a widow of means, happy performing charitable works and socializing with the neighbors. Rupert's return stirs up old feelings and she isn't sure she's ready to confront them or whether Rupert's attentions mean anything more than friendship. As the seasons change, Rupert, Charlotte and the people of Edenshade are consumed with the summer flower show/content, the biggest event in the area. The spring and summer bring new friends and new romances and the idea of marriage to mind. This is a nice, quiet story in the manner of Jane Austen. The small town locals are quirky and charming and Rupert quickly becomes part of life in Edenshade. While Rupert and Charlotte are kind of bland characters, I appreciate their quiet romance and their close friendship without all the adjectives in the dictionary describing their feelings. Much of the novel is taken up with gardening and the flower show. There are a lot of characters, which I found hard to keep track of but I liked meeting them and seeing life in this small town as an insider rather than an outsider. This is a nice novel for Jane Austen fanatics who prefer stories about country families to heady romance.

What I've Read This Week

What I've Read This Week . . .

Brightsea by Jane Gillespie -- Jane Austen spinoff

A companion to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, this book is about Miss Nancy Steele, sister to Lucy Ferrars (nee Steele). Nancy is 40 and unmarried and bounces from relative to relative, sponging off them and earning their contempt because of her ill-bred manners and selfishness. Nancy is offered the position of chaperone to a young lady of quality at a seaside resort. She's delighted with the opportunity to be independent and earn some spending money and thinks the job will be easy. She doesn't count on the fact that her charge, Louisa, is bookish and headstrong. Louisa wants nothing more to continue her studies but Nancy insists on living a high society lifestyle. They reach a compromise and adventures and romantic entanglements ensue. The writing is true to Jane Austen's style but I really couldn't like Nancy or Louisa and the rushed ending didn't make me like the book anymore. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It's worth a read if you're a fan of Sense & Sensibility and wondering what happened to Nancy.

Dartwood's Daughters by Rebecca Baldwin -- Regency Romance

Light comedy of manners modeled after Pride and Prejudice. Amy and Eve Dartwood are identical twins of more than 20 summers and had never been separated until 18 months ago when the impetuous Eve went with Papa to dig up antiquities in Naples. Eve had a grand time in Naples visiting with royals and falling in love with a handsome poet, but her "twin sense" tells her that her sister is unhappy so she races home. When she discovers that their formidable aunt has bullied Amy into accepting the hand of the loathsome Lord Barras, Eve decides it's up to her to rescue her twin. Mayhem and madness ensue. Though the plot was entirely predictable and I disliked Amy and both the men, the plot is funny and I really enjoyed it.


Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George - YA fairy tale
A retelling of the fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Long ago, Queen Maude made a bargain with the mysterious and evil King Under Stone and now her daughters are paying the price by dancing at a midnight ball in the King Under Stone's underground lair. Their father, the King of Westfalin, discovers the princesses' worn dancing slippers and invites all the princes of Ionia to come and figure out the mystery. Each prince leaves without solving the mystery. Young soldier turned Under Gardner, Galen, is determined to rescue Princess Rose and her sisters from their terrible fate. This thrilling story kept me turning the pages until it was done. Each of the princesses has a distinct personality and none of them want to sit around and wait for someone to rescue them and none of them want to get married any time soon. The story is well-written and includes darker elements of a Grimm's fairy tale along with humor and romance. A great read! (Plus that dress on the cover is gorgeous!)