pickA well written cozy mystery, based loosely on real events. Set in Victorian England, it feels well-researched. Multiple story lines and secrets kept me guessing until the end. I‘m looking forward to reading more of this series.
#HauntedShelf #BookRecommendation Team #HexesandCrows @Catsandbooks
Prompt: Morally Dubious
#HauntedShelf #BookScavengerHunt Team #HexesandCrows @Catsandbooks
Prompt: Desolate
On my Kindle TBR…
Pianist Nell sets out to earn the money to attend the Royal Academy by playing piano in a popular Soho music hall. But she must #disguise herself as a man to do so. She steps into a night-time world of secrets and dangers…
#WickedWhispers
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickSince this book wasn‘t listed, I chose the prequel as my review spot. Alice Coldbreath does it again! A wonderfully thoughtful look at a second chance romance. 💕
pickGot behind but finally finished this after the #hashtagbrigade and I must say, I loved this book. It's from 1863 & is the first mainstream novel w a "fallen woman" heroine so you know this thing is devastating, BUT I got the point and always think it's cool when someone from the mid-nineteenth century writes a female character that goes against the grain.
pickRUTH? pub. 1853
MADAME BOVARY? pub. 1856
ANNA KARENINA? pub. 1873
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES? pub. 1891
All four are about women adulterers (referred to as “whores/harlots/wicked women“ in some of these novels, thanks to the societies they lived in). Gaskell paved the way for the other (perhaps) more famous novels. Her writing? Exquisite. Ruth's story? Tragic. Do I want to read more Gaskell? Absolutely.
pickMrs. Gaskell broke my heart with this one! I was wondering why I liked this so much when Tess of the D‘Urbervilles just pissed me off. Both are trying to show the humanity in a “fallen” woman. I think Tess just gets really bleak while Ruth‘s life has good things in it (like Leonard), and the only characters who really condemn Ruth are generally unsympathetic.
pickI‘m in the minority of the #HashtagBrigade to say I liked the novel. Gaskell, whose husband was a Unitarian minister and lived near the factories and mills of England, sets as her MC a “fallen” woman and her path to redemption. This was a bit controversial at its initial publication, and it certainly is darker and more rooted in faith and redemption than her other novels. But, I get the sense that she is shaming her Victorian audience ⬇️⬇️⬇️
