The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace

The Painted Bridge was one of those books that spoke to me as soon as I saw it on the shelf - a gorgeous evocative cover, a setting in Victorian England (one of my favourite reading/historical periods) and a topic area covering women's mental health and the treatment of women in asylums.
The book starts by introducing the reader to Lake House - "a private asylum for genteel women of a delicate nature" as the back cover blurb tells us. A resident of the asylum is having her photograph taken as a method of diagnosing and treating her particular  "illness" by a young and experimental doctor, Lucas St Clair. The reader is taken from this scene to one where the main character, Anna Palmer is first bought to the asylum - without her knowledge or consent - by her husband.
The book follows Anna's journey through the various treatment models used by the asylum and it's staff and her determination to prove her sanity and be released. Along the way many other characters are introduced, some in quite a lot of detail, and I felt this was one of the down falls of the book. There were so many different characters and back stories to take into consideration it was hard to know where your focus as a reader should lie.
Anna interacts with the other residents of the asylum and comes to know their stories for being there and she also begins a tentative friendship with the young daughter of the owner of the asylum which leads to one of the main adventure scenes of the book. We are also taken into Anna's childhood (much as a psychiatrist or therapist might take a client) and learn of the important events of her life including the death of her father and her marriage to a man who is not what he first seems.
The book is definitely a page turner - there is plenty to keep a reader interested and occupied but, as I have said above, Anna's story probably could have been a lot tighter without the distractions of so many others competing for the reader's attention.

The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue

It seems like I was one of the few people who didn't fall heavily for Donoghue's much loved and talked about book, Room - I thought it was clever in so many ways but despite the content it just failed to connect with me for some reason.
My latest Donoghue read is a completely different matter however - The Sealed Letter had me hooked from the start and I can see why it has been long listed for the 2012 Orange Prize.
The Sealed Letter is set in Victorian England and is based on the true story of divorce proceedings between an upper class couple of the time - Henry and Helen Codrington. Divorce cases were still extremely rare in these times (Donoghue writes in her author's note that in Britain between 1670 and 1852 there were fewer than two divorces a year with this rising to several hundred a year after the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857).
The story is told from the perspectives of the three main characters, Henry and Helen and Helen's close friend, Emily 'Fido' Faithful a young single woman firmly behind the feminist reform cause of the day who runs a successful printing press in London. Fido and Helen come back into contact with one another seemingly by chance when Helen and her family return from Malta where her husband has been stationed for several years with his position in the Navy. Fido quickly discovers that the Helen she thought she knew has developed into a woman in a compromising position - she has a lover whom her husband knows nothing about and she appeals to Fido to support her in what Fido believes to be an attempt to end the illicit affair.
The story covers the legal trial that takes place after Henry Codrington cottons on to what is going on under his nose and petitions for divorce from Helen - drawing Fido in as an unwilling and at times helpless witness. As a legal thriller I found this book to be extremely entertaining but it has so many more levels to it - the unequal relationships that occurred between men and women of the time and the powerless positions women could be placed in if they did not "toe the line" and clearly meet all of societies expectations of them was clearly demonstrated throughout the story. The characters themselves could be frustrating and very unlikeable but that intrigued me - and the fact that the story was based somewhat in fact and meticulous research just added to its authenticity for me - a fantastic read.

The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria was a DVD that I bought while we were in the UK and I was very excited to find it as it only just come out at the cinemas at the time we left Australia and I hadn't been able to get to see it before we left. I find with DVD's (unlike books!) I seem to wait ages after I have purchased them to actually sit down and watch them - so it was only last night that I finally broke open the packaging on this one.
The story of Queen Victoria is not one I am overly familiar with beyond the most well known facts but I have always been interested in the relationship she had with Prince Albert and the way she grieved his loss after his early death at the age of 42. I became more interested when we visited Muckross House in Killarney in Ireland on our recent trip - a beautiful house that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had spent a few nights in not long before his death.

The Young Victoria is a stunning visual movie - gorgeous locations, costumes and people! I felt that Emily Blunt played a vibrant, feisty Victoria and while some of her mannerisms may have come across as quite modern (similar to the response I had to Miss Austen Regrets) who is to say that that is not how she would have responded in certain situations - particularly in regards to her relationship with Albert.
The movie focuses on the period in Victoria's life just before she turns 18 and then afterwards when she becomes Queen. We see her relationship with Albert develop from one of suspicion (this is the man that her manipulative mother wants her to marry after all) to one of respect and love. The movie also covers aspects of the political and social setting at the time which I found gave a good context for the relationship between Victoria and Albert.

With my lack of historical knowledge of this particular person and time in history I am not sure if the movie is accurate in all that it portrays but I know that I enjoyed watching it very much.

I have now brought out a copy of a book I have had on my shelves for a while and am now inspired to read - Becoming Queen by Kate Williams.

Has anyone else read any other books about Queen Victoria (fiction or non-fiction) that they would recommend?

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

I actually finished Fingersmith a while ago now but I have been waiting for inspiration so that I could write a post and a review that did justice to the book. Unfortunately inspiration is sadly lacking in my life at the moment - work and other "duties" feel like they have taken over - so I thought I should at least get a post together on this one before all of my thoughts slowly leave me (one of my faults - no matter how much I love a book I quickly forget all of the details about it and only a vague feeling will remain).

After reading and loving Affinity earlier this year and previously loving The Night Watch everyone kept telling me that I had to read Fingersmith - I am so glad I listened.

I was totally captivated by the story of orphan Sue Trinder, living in the London of 1862 with a group of petty thieves (fingersmiths) who form her family. Sue moves to the country early in the novel to work as a ladies maid for Maud Lilly - a job that forms part of a plot to seduce the young lady in question and steal her considerable wealth.

The storyline and characters in this novel are so much richer than I can describe without giving too much away. There is a real depth to every character portrayed in this book - but especially Sue and even Maud as we learn more about her from her own perspective later in the book.

This was an amazing novel - one that I would like to read again (knowing what I now know about how the story turns out). I can't wait to read the new Sarah Waters novel now!

The Journal of Dora Damage - Belinda Starling

I had previously read about The Journal of Dora Damage over at Danielle's Blog quite some time ago and I remember thinking then that this was a book I would be interested in - just can't get enough of books set in Victorian England/London! So, it has taken me a while but I have finally gotten around to reading this one - and am very glad that I have.

Dora Damage is a young woman married to a book-binder, living in a poorer, working class area of London in the 1860's. As the novel begins we see that Dora's world is consumed by the care of her husband, her house and especially her young daughter Lucinda who has regular seizures - an illness that for that time period was considered worthy of institutionalisation.

Dora's world changes when her husband Peter becomes so affected by his rheumatism that he is unable to work any longer. In order to ensure that they don't go without food, and so they are able to repay their numerous debts, Dora begins to take on book-binding work from some pretty unsavoury characters and she becomes the book binder herself. Dora finds herself drawn to the work - she is particularly good at it - and even though the nature of the work she is binding (expensive pornography for the upper classes) causes her some moral dilemmas she relishes her new role as worker for money.

The book is particularly detailed in relation to the book binding trade and even the nature of the housework that Dora is required to complete. I would normally find this quite intrusive and boring but it only helped to connect me more to Dora and her way of life - I felt her connection to the book binding work and the immense satisfaction she received for completing the various tasks involved in completing a book.

The nature of the difference between the expected roles of women and men in this era is clearly displayed. Dora is shunned by her community for taking on this work and it is assumed by many that she is selling more than just her work as a book binder. The book contains many reflections by Dora on her awareness of these differences between the sexes:

Finishing is the way the book presents itself to the world and gets noticed; the forwarding is more like the women's work, for one never notices it unless it has been shoddily done. (p. 82)

If I stopped to think too carefully I would probably say that at times the plot of the book felt a little contrived and forced - some events that happened made me stop and think "would this have actually happened?" but overall this did not detract from the reading. I was totally engaged with Dora and what would happen to her - I wanted her to triumph in the end!

Thetruly sad thing about this book is that the author, Belinda Starling, died suddenly soon after completing the book at the age of 34. A true tragedy for her family and the reading public who will not be able to enjoy any more of her great writing.

Girl in a Blue Dress - Gaynor Arnold

I bought Girl in a Blue Dress when I was in Sydney a few weeks ago - every bookshop I walked in had it displayed rather prominently so I was "forced" to at least take a look. The cover did entice me - I enjoy reading books about female characters by female authors so this book did fit that description - and I find the cover pretty and sensual - the picture of the lower part of the face of a young girl with what I would imagine was a pretty revealing blue dress for the Victorian era - it was drawing me in (I think the UK and US covers might be different to the Australian one though??).
Before I purchase a book I always read the publishers blurb (not always reliable I know but I need something to go by) and I also like to read the blurb about the author - it was actually the latter that made me finally purchase this book. Gaynor Arnold is actually a social worker by day and a writer by night - exactly what I would like to be! I have the social worker by day thing covered - just need to get working on my night time persona. If I can connect with an author in some way through their limited description on the back cover I will almost always take the risk and buy the book - I have been known to purchase a book simply because the author was born in the same year as me!
I have to say I did purchase the book for another reason - it's connection with the Charles Dickens story. Having just finished Wanting by Richard Flanagan I have been searching out books related to the life of this writer. As I said in my review for Wanting I have never really read much about Dickens himself or the life he led so I am wanting to discover more about this "character" - even if it is only a fictional account.
Which leads me to Girl in a Blue Dress - a novel based on the marriage of Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine through the use of fictional characters that embody their persona's and situations - Alfred and Dorothea Gibson.
The book is told from the perspective of Dorothea as she reflects on her life with "The One and Only" following his death:

My husband's funeral is today. And I'm sitting here alone in my upstairs room while half London follows him to his grave (p. 1)

As I have said, I am not all that familiar with the real story of Dickens and his marriage, and Arnold makes it quite clear in her Afterward that even though the marriage of Charles Dickens was the inspiration for the book it is a work of fiction and she has changed many things about the story. Arnold goes on to say; "In spite of these alterations, I have always attempted to keep true to the essential natures of the two main protagonists as I have come to understand them". I would love to hear from any of you who have a deeper knowledge of the life of Dickens than I have and who have read this book - is it close to the real story do you think?

I did not find my lack of knowledge about Dickens a hindrance when reading this book at all - in fact, I think it probably helped me to engage with the story more for what it was as opposed to always thinking "that's not right" or "that never happened".

Arnold tells a brilliant story (and apparently the judges for the Man Booker Prize made this comment when they longlisted the book for the award in 2008) - I was engaged with Dorothea and her telling of her story from the very beginning. Why is the wife not attending the funeral of her husband? Why is she hidden away in a room while the rest of London grieves openly? You are caught from the very beginning.

Dorothea begins to reflect on her life with Alfred as the funeral goes on without her, she tells of their initial meeting and the passionate courting that occurred without the permission of her parents. Once married the passion seems to be exchanged for reality, work and pregnancy. Alfred becomes absorbed in and consumed by his writing and Dorothea gives birth to 8 children in fairly quick succession:

Sometimes I did not think Alfred liked me so well as a woman. He did not like to see me retch, or sweat, or toil up the stairs with my gown kirtled up and panting with shortness of breath. He would look away and laugh, talking of my interesting condition as if I had grown stout of my own accord, as an act of contrariness; as if he had nothing to do with it (p. 94)

The picture painted of Alfred Gibson is not a pretty one - he appears as selfish, self-absorbed, cruel and arrogant. His treatment of his wife (admittedly as told by the wife herself) is horrific - even though no physical violence is ever portrayed the verbal abuse, isolation, betrayal and character assassination that Dorothea endures through the words of Alfred renders her a lonely character cut of from her sisters, her friends and most importantly her children.

Despite this Dorothea remains firm in her love and admiration for Alfred - something which I did struggle with throughout the book. I had to keep in mind the era in which the novel was set and the expectations of woman, particularly married women, of this time. There is a slight change in Dorothea towards the end of the novel where she does make a claim for the rights of woman when speaking to a close friend:

"Yet all the same how can it be proper for a woman to be married twenty years, then cast aside on a pittance? How can we lose the right to see the very children we have raised? Why do we need to go cap in hand for every bit of money that we need? If woman made the laws, wouldn't things be different? (p. 404)

The author's writing style is also based in a strong narrative - you do feel as though Dorothea is in front of you having a conversation about the life she has led with her husband. However, the books seems quite long in places - at times I found Dorothea's reflection repetitive and overly sentimental - but the author does not indulge in these passages for too long before changing the scene so in this way I was always kept interested and engaged.

Apparently it took Arnold 5 years to write Girl in a Blue Dress - I hope she seriously thinks about putting social work on the back burner for a while so that we can read her next novel sooner rather than later.

Affinity - Sarah Waters

See - I promised I was reading books by authors other than Alexander McCall Smith! And Affinity by Sarah Waters is probably as far as I could have got from McCall Smith in many ways!

I first read about this book over at A Work In Progress - Danielle's review made the book sound very enticing so I collected it soon after reading her review from my local library. I have read The Night Watch by the same author when it was first released some time ago and I absolutely loved it so I had no hesitation in going back to her work - even though Affinity sounded like a very different novel.

Affinity is set during the 1870's in London - the book alternates between scenes in upper class houses of the time and the Millbank prison for women.

Margaret Prior, an upper middle class unmarried lady begins to visit the female inmates of the prison after a suicide attempt following the death of her beloved father. Margaret struggles with the confronting nature of the visits at first but soon begins to see some similarities between herself and the prisoners - even though they would first appear to come from worlds away from one another. Margaret begins to develop a close relationship with one of the prisoners, Selina Dawes, a young spiritualist who has been imprisoned for assault and fraud after a seance sitting she was facilitating ended in the death of one woman and the "deep disturbance" of another.

The book alternates between the voices of Margaret and Selina where they give accounts of the events currently taking place as well as the events leading up to Selina being arrested, tried and sent to prison.

While the book focuses on Margaret and Selina I also felt it was saying a lot about the lives of women in general in the time in which it was set. At one stage Margaret makes the comment; "Why do gentlemen's voices carry so clearly, when women's are so easily stifled?".

The writing is evocative and enticing - I felt like I was walking through Victorian London, particularly the scenes set in the prison which felt disturbingly real at times. The story was teased out with just the right pacing I felt - I didn't want to put the book down but at the same time I didn't want it to end.

The ending of the book was fantastic - I did not see it coming at all!

I am looking out for other books by Sarah Waters now and am keen to pick up another book like Affinity so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.