Thursday 9 August 2012

Read in 2012 - 22: A Lady Of Quality

You guessed it - another free title from the Kindle store that found its way onto my Kindle in spring:
"A Lady Of Quality" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
If, like me, you loved the author's "Secret Garden" as a child, you will be surprised by this book; it was published in 1896 and, unlike her most famous books, not aimed at children.

Meet Clorinda Wildairs, born in 1690 to an uncaring brute of a father and an unloved mother who dies right after giving birth to her, almost taking her with her.
Clorinda grows up without any female to turn to for guidance; the only "education" she receives is from her father's servants, who succumb to the little monster's every whim, and teach her how to swear, ride and drink at a very tender age.
Nothing is tender about Clorinda, though; she is physically as big and strong as mentally, and only when she is already six years old, her first encounter with her father finally makes him acknowledge her.

As she grows up, she becomes more of a ladette every day, much to her father's and his drinking and riding companions' amusement; but at some point in her teenage years, she decides she wants to escape this way of life, and knowing full well that the only way is through marrying well, she improves herself to the point of becoming the most sought-after beauty of her time.

This improvement seems really too good to be true, and deep down, Clorinda's character changes little - at first. She still has her iron will, matched by an iron hand with which she rules over her household. But then, the inevitable happens:
She falls in love...
...and of course, that changes everything, and Clorinda turns into something that can hardly be described as human anymore.

All those lovely qualities now present in her are so unlikely, making her a super-heroine and not a credible human character anymore.
Her new, super-holy and super-happy life is endangered by someone revisiting her from her past, but she deals with that in a manner that the author clearly intended to be surprising, with a "mystery" twist to it that is revealed only at the very end of the book, but to be honest, nothing about it was really surprising or mysterious.

I did stick with the book and not break off midway through (as I was tempted to do a few times), because I confess I wanted to know whether Clorinda was going to be found out or not. F. H. Burnett clearly wanted to give this book the impression of an authentic account, written shortly after the events had taken place in the late 1600s and early 1700, and used a style and language she obviously thought would have been used in those days, 200 years before her lifetime. I don't know how successful she was in emulating the writing style of the Queen Anne period, but it does get a bit much when nearly every sentence starts with " 'Twas so that..." and people ask each other "what dost thou mean?" and so on.

My overall verdict of this book was: too much of everything. Too much "old fashioned" style, too much of the bad at first and then the good in the heroine, too much dramatic emotion, expressed in too much of a dramatic language to make the characters feel life-like.
What a contrast to "A Fair Barbarian", which I reviewed here; just goes to show that one can not rely on liking a book simply because one likes other works by the same author.

11 comments:

  1. Probably not my sort of book but your statement that one can not rely on liking a book simply because one likes other works by the same author is one I wholeheartedly agree with.

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    1. I can hardly imagine this one to be anyone's kind of book, Graham!

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  2. Hello Meike:
    Although one does tend to find an author who appeals and to stick with them, you are absolutely right that what they write does not always please or satisfy to the same extent.

    This does not sound to be a book in which we should have any interest but we can well remember, with fondness, 'The Secret Garden' from our childhoods.

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    1. "The Secret Garden" certainly deserves the high place it has among children's classic literature! Have you had the occasion to read the sequel, "Misselthwaite" by Susan Moody? I read it some years ago and can't remember it very well (which does not really speak for the book, does it!), and it has received mixed reviews.

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    2. No, we did not know of it but will, perhaps, try to find it and give it a go!

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  3. I might actually enjoy this book... I've been also reading loads of free things on my Kindle and am currently immersed in "Little Women." Funny, I actually bought "The Secret Garden" last night...

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    1. "Little Women" is lovely, I think! I have read several others of Louisa May Alcott's books, one of them is called "Work" and it has quite impressed me.
      Give "The Lady Of Quality" a try, if you like - it will be interesting to compare notes and see if you enjoy it more than I did :-)

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  4. The Secret Garden is one of my all time favourite children's books. I must try this one, Meike.

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    1. I predict disappointment, Frances. "A Lady Of Quality" can not be compared to "The Secret Garden". Have you read its sequel (mentioned above in my reply to Jane and Lance's comment)?

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  5. The Secret Garden is one of my favorites too. As a child, that is the book that was puzzling to me because of the drawing of the English robin, I just thought the artist didn't know what a robin looked like! I know it is supposed to be a children's book but I re-read it recently and it makes me see what good taste I had even as a kid!

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    1. Dear Kay, I have re-read many books I loved as a child, and found that I still love them now, and some well-known children's books I have only read when I was long past childhood myself. I think they are mostly well worth a reader's time, no matter what age!

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