Have you ever wondered what happened after Pride and Prejudice ends, who was happy, who got married, who made waves in the world?
There is a good chance that even if you have, you have never given a thought to Charlotte Collins, and what became of her.
But this book is here to remind us that Charlotte was a strong, determined woman - as strong and determined as Lizzy Bennett in fact.
The author of Charlotte did a phenomenal job of recreating the Regency world of Jane Austen, and the writing is so detailed and meticulous. I am honestly astounded by her historical style, and the small things which add up to a pretty fair imitation of Austen's writing.
Now that view takes me up to two thirds of the way in. Unfortunately I do not give her final chunk of the book the same praise. (SPOILER WARNING)
Although initially I enjoyed Charlotte and Jacob's friendship, and even somewhat enjoyed their obvious attraction as a natural and interesting storyline for a reasonably young mother who had married out of sensible obligation rather than out of love or any version of romance. Their flirtation (although somewhat questionable in it's likelihood for a modest character like Charlotte to carry out with her young daughters and Lizzy watching all the time) seemed fairly natural and not horrifically inappropriate. However, when that took a turn and they chose to act on their feelings, I no longer found it reasonable or sweet.
I'm really not a prude, but their relationship was not only morally reprehensible by regency standards (particularly those applied to a vicar's family) but would have been seen as wrong by many, I venture to say most modern viewpoints as well.
Secondly to that, it carried the attitude I hate most in romance fiction, and particularly associate with the tragically lacking book, The Bridges of Madison County. This totally false and unbelievable attitude is that of the modest wife and mother, who on cheating on her faithful husband not only feels zero guilt afterwards, but also feels gratified and comforted by the memory throughout the years. I don't believe that for a millisecond. The character of Charlotte which we came to know throughout the book up until that point fits with that attitude like chalk and cheese. No way is that how she would react.
Anyhow, rant over. All that to say that I was unfortunately very disappointed with the conclusion of the story, and felt that it ran screaming away from the lovely and realistic regency story from the start of this book.
This is certainly not a book for the Jane Austen purist, but I would recommend it to anyone who loves the Regency era, and wants a fresh, feminist look at one of history's most popular novels, so long as they don't mind some romance-novel nonsense being in the mix.
There is a good chance that even if you have, you have never given a thought to Charlotte Collins, and what became of her.
But this book is here to remind us that Charlotte was a strong, determined woman - as strong and determined as Lizzy Bennett in fact.
The author of Charlotte did a phenomenal job of recreating the Regency world of Jane Austen, and the writing is so detailed and meticulous. I am honestly astounded by her historical style, and the small things which add up to a pretty fair imitation of Austen's writing.
Now that view takes me up to two thirds of the way in. Unfortunately I do not give her final chunk of the book the same praise. (SPOILER WARNING)
Although initially I enjoyed Charlotte and Jacob's friendship, and even somewhat enjoyed their obvious attraction as a natural and interesting storyline for a reasonably young mother who had married out of sensible obligation rather than out of love or any version of romance. Their flirtation (although somewhat questionable in it's likelihood for a modest character like Charlotte to carry out with her young daughters and Lizzy watching all the time) seemed fairly natural and not horrifically inappropriate. However, when that took a turn and they chose to act on their feelings, I no longer found it reasonable or sweet.
I'm really not a prude, but their relationship was not only morally reprehensible by regency standards (particularly those applied to a vicar's family) but would have been seen as wrong by many, I venture to say most modern viewpoints as well.
Secondly to that, it carried the attitude I hate most in romance fiction, and particularly associate with the tragically lacking book, The Bridges of Madison County. This totally false and unbelievable attitude is that of the modest wife and mother, who on cheating on her faithful husband not only feels zero guilt afterwards, but also feels gratified and comforted by the memory throughout the years. I don't believe that for a millisecond. The character of Charlotte which we came to know throughout the book up until that point fits with that attitude like chalk and cheese. No way is that how she would react.
Anyhow, rant over. All that to say that I was unfortunately very disappointed with the conclusion of the story, and felt that it ran screaming away from the lovely and realistic regency story from the start of this book.
This is certainly not a book for the Jane Austen purist, but I would recommend it to anyone who loves the Regency era, and wants a fresh, feminist look at one of history's most popular novels, so long as they don't mind some romance-novel nonsense being in the mix.