2018 Victorian romance. Helena is desperate to escape from her family;
Justin is a scarred ex-soldier living in isolation in Devon and has
advertised for a wife…
As with The Siren of Sussex there's a sense of fun here. It's a
dual viewpoint, and both characters have secrets, so there's a certain
amount of hedging about the truth in early chapters; but once the
situation starts to become clear, there's a serious story of the
position of women in the 1850s. (And I didn't spot any glaring
historical errors, though I was carried along by the story enough that
I wasn't looking for them.)
At the same time we get a pleasingly Gothic setting in rural Devon,
love at first sight but enough genuine doubts that I found I could
believe in the sudden abandonment that produces a little final-act
tension (even if it could be solved with an honest conversation), and
a properly wicked uncle.
I preferred the earlier gothic-Devon parts to the later London parts,
perhaps because I've read a lot of romances set in long-19th-century
London and rather fewer with convincing rural settings – and because
in London our principals don't really do much, relying largely on
being seen and the machinations of others. I understand that Matthews
wants to tie this plot to a particular historical newspaper article,
but while I won't deny Helena's courage in relating things she's
suffered for the public to be shocked by, I prefer my protagonists to
be a bit more active as the architects of their own success.
Probably best read all in one go, so that the strong first half can
carry you over the weaknesses of the second.
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