| Title | : | The Shuttle |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1903155614 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781903155615 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 476 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1906 |
The book’s title refers to ships shuttling back and forth over the Atlantic (Frances Hodgson Burnett herself traveled between the two countries thirty-three times, something very unusual then).
The Shuttle Reviews
-
This book can be downloaded for free from
Project Gutenberg
On my first reading this book I gave it 3,5 stars. It forced reluctant admiration from me and even though I couldn't deny the EFFECT it had on me, I tried to resist it for some reason or other.
Just like a Darcy on 1st meeting Elizabeth Bennet, I tried to find faults with
The Shuttle and was quick to discover and point out its imperfections, even though deep down I knew that it had a hold over me.
So, of course I couldn't help, but return to it. I read the book
To Marry an English Lord, which was recommended by other reviewers.
I was OPEN for this book this time and I simply loved it, despite some imperfections (I still think that some 50 or 100 pages might have been dedicated to draw out the happy ending even more instead of dwelling on some other thing unnecessarily long)!
************************
Original thoughts:
After reading
The Making of a Marchioness I kind of expected some vivid and precise portrayal of characters by
Frances Hodgson Burnett, but she exceeded those high expectations.
Betty Vanderpoel & Fergus Mount Dunstan deserve a place in the Hall of Fame for Literary Couples. (Still wondering which actresses/actors might do them justice.)
***********************
It is the beginning of the 20th century (The novel was published in 1907.) and for some 30 years there has been an influx of American heiresses (Dollar Princesses) marrying British aristocrats. The first marriage to set the trend was that of Miss Jenny Jerome -later, the mother of Winston C.- to Lord Randolph Churchill, younger son of the Duke of Marlborough, in 1876.
The reason for these girls to try and marry into the British aristocracy was that they could not gain high enough social standing in America or rather, in New York, being the daughters of self-made men and not getting acceptance into the high and mighty circle of the exclusive 400. The situation is rather an ironic one: Americans being shunned by Americans and trying to use the British snobs to give those US snobs back home one in the eye.
A British title was seen as a shortcut to social acceptance, and there were plenty of willing aristocrats to trade with. Financially and socially seen this may have been a win-win situation. From a personal POV, things not always turned out quite that satisfactorily. Both the American and the British side were customers and merchandise at the same time and some of them felt cheated after the transaction was done.
Frances Hodgson Burnett (British-born, but emigrating to the US in her childhood) clearly felt that the American wives were the losers, because they did not know what they let themselves in for. It is an undeniable fact that especially in the beginning while their money was taken to repair dilapidated aristocratic homes, most of them got ostracised or at least scorned because of their origin and their social pretenses.
The cornerstone & starting point for this novel is a similar situation described above. Rosalie Vanderpoel, the innocent & kind, but not very bright daughter of the immensely rich Reuben Vanderpoel, is wooed and then wed by Sir Nigel Anstruthers with a dilapidated estate and a cruel and dissolute mind, both of which he is clever enough to hide from the American in-laws.
Once they are in England, on his estate and away from the prying eyes of the in-laws, Nigel and his mother systematically bully and intimidate the gentle ingenue into total misery and submission. This is all described in the novel in details which are horrifying as well as clearly prove that F.H.B. knew what she was writing about (her second husband tried to put her through the same kind of mental torture). Rosalie loses touch with her family through the manipulations & manoeuverings of her husband and is left to her fate by 12 long & terrible years.
(There was one single issue that stood out, though the author just glossed it over for the sake of the plot, but which still rubs me the wrong way: the character of Reuben Vanderpoel, Rosy's father.
)
After 12 years, Bettina Vanderpoel, younger daughter of Reuben, sets out from New York to England to try and find out what happened with her sister.
She arrives -thankfully Nigel is away- to the estate to find both it and Rosalie crumbling and she, with skill, cleverness and determination & lots of money, sets out to put everything to right.
She is definitely a new kind of heroine: strong, determined, intelligent, sharp, cool-headed, but tender-hearted ...and of course, beautiful. There is nothing helpless about her. Everything under her touch turns to gold. She's almost too perfect to be true, but because of the skillful portrayal, as well as the difficult situation she and her sister are in, this never becomes truly grating. She is a very interesting character and definitely deserves a place among the notable heroines of classic literature, next to Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, Margaret Hale, Becky Sharpe etc. (It is on purpose I list heroines with such different characters & with different fates.)
"Women have found out so much. Perhaps it is because the heroines of novels have informed them. Heroines and heroes always bring in the new fashions in character. I believe it is years since a heroine ‘burst into a flood of tears.’ It has been discovered, really, that nothing is to be gained by it."
"There is the Atlantic cable, you know. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why heroines have changed. When they could not escape from their persecutors except in a stage coach, and could not send telegrams, they were more or less in everyone’s hands. It is different now."
It is very satisfying to witness how she breathes life and new purpose into her wilting sister and into the decrepit estate & the village nearby.
The psychological war she fights with Nigel on his return is another fascinating thread of the overall narrative, though it gives you the creeps because of Nigel's extreme repulsiveness.
And of course with such an outstanding heroine, the question arises, if there are any worthy men that could be her match especially in England? It is with skill that the author finally introduces, step by step, the much-needed balance. Together with Betty, we get to know Lord Mount Dunstan, impoverished owner of a neighbouring estate that has seen better days and is in serious need of (American, any kind of) capital. His (now dead) father and older brother were dishonest scoundrels and gave the family a bad name. Fergus is a noble, strong & magnetic man, but also stubborn, proud and aloof, who holds other English nobles in contempt for marrying rich American girls.
"They don’t come and fight with us and get possession of us by force. They come and buy us. They buy our land and our homes, and our landowners, for that matter—when they don’t buy them, they send their women to marry them, confound it."
The development of their feelings and how they are drawn to each other is superbly done. It goes much deeper than the Victorian/Edwardian love stories of the time. I would say it has very strong elements of the metaphysical and in a rather positive way.
Also when typhoid fever breaks out on his estate the way he gives shelter to the sick in his house as well as his willingness to nurse them ads new layers to his character as well as an interesting turn to the plot.
"In Stornham village and in all others of the neighbourhood the feminine attitude towards Mount Dunstan had been one of strongly emotional admiration. The thwarted female longing for romance—the desire for drama and a hero had been fed by him. A fine, big young man, one that had been “spoke ill of” and regarded as an outcast, had suddenly turned the tables on fortune and made himself the central figure of the county, the talk of gentry in their grand houses, of cottage women on their doorsteps, and labourers stopping to speak to each other by the roadside. Magic stories had been told of him, beflowered with dramatic detail. No incident could have been related to his credit which would not have been believed and improved upon. Shut up in his village working among his people and unseen by outsiders, he had become a popular idol. Any scrap of news of him—any rumour, true or untrue, was seized upon and excitedly spread abroad."
And then of course, there is the villain of the piece Sir Nigel Anstruthers. He is surely at least among the runners-up for the Literary Prize "Most manipulative and blood-chillingly obnoxious Bully of all times". OMG, that guy just knows how to put the psychological screws on anyone. His unpredictable outbursts of physical violence make it all the worse. He gave me the serious creeps. (Move over, Heathcliff, we are sooooooo over you!)
My mental image of him was that of a grey, vicious looking spider dripping with poison, stealthily weaving its web and gloating over every ensnared victim.
After the dramatic events at the end of the story, where Sir Nigel gets his final, well-deserved and very satisfying comeuppance at the hands of Lord Mount Dunstan and fate, the actual happy ending is too short and I felt a bit cheated because surely the readers should have deserved a bit more elaboration on the future of the characters, especially after I fought my way through all long and rambling passages, but all in all, it was worth it.
A very remarkable, or rather, extraordinary book for all of those who like classics, especially the unworthily forgotten ones. -
I had never even heard of this, and after absolutely loving every page I was left wondering why it is not a well-known, beloved classic, read over and over again by devoted fans and made into a new movie version every generation or so. I think part might be the book title, which is not very exciting and doesn’t give a hint of what the story is about.
And it’s a great story. Rosie and Betty are sisters and girls of Vanderbilt-level wealth who live in unimagined luxury in New York during the Gilded Age. They are very close. But Rosie is much older and as was the custom at the time, she marries an impoverished noble – her money in exchange for his title and status - and sails off to a new life in England. She leaves on one of the ships that serves to shuttle people back and forth and weave their lives together, imagery that appears throughout the book and is the inspiration for the lame title.
When Rosie stops all communication with the family, and they are rebuffed with every attempt to visit, they sadly assume that she has become too grand for them and wants to focus on her new life. But the reality is much darker, and it is the adult Betty who travels to England years later to find out the truth about her sister.
If you love wonderful characters, heroes and villains, humor and menace, and beautiful descriptions of England countryside, I guarantee you will love this book! -
There’s a lovely passage in Frances Hodgson-Burnett’s childhood memoir – ‘The One I Knew the Best of All’ – that recalls the joy of imagining what wondrous stories might be inside the books on the highest shelf that she couldn’t quite reach.
‘The Shuttle’ is exactly the right book for that child to have written when she became a grown up author. An author who understood the magic of the story; the very special kind of magic that captures children and makes them into life-long readers. This book has that magic in abundance, and I was utterly captivated, from the first page to the last.
‘The Shuttle’ is set early in the twentieth century, at a time when wealthy American heiresses married into the British nobility. They gained titles and social standing, and their husbands gained the funds that they desperately needed to maintain their family estates.
Rosalie Vanderpoel, the sweet and naïve elder daughter of a New York millionaire, married Sir Nigel Anstruther, and she had no idea that all he wanted was her fortune. She soon learned that the man she had married was cruel, selfish and dissolute, but, because he was her husband, because she was already sailing across that Atlantic, away from her family and everything that she had ever known, there was nothing she could do.
Her younger sister, Betty, was still a child when Rosy married, and she saw Sir Nigel with the clear-sightedness of a child. She was suspicious of her new brother-in-law, and when Rosy failed to keep in touch with her family Betty feared the worst, and she began to make a plan. When she grew up she would go to England and rescue her sister.
When Betty arrives in England, ten years later, she finds her sister a pale shadow of her former self, abandoned with her young son in a crumbling mansion at the centre of a neglected estate while her husband fritters her family money on a life of debauchery.
There is a great deal that needs to be done to put things right, and Betty is the woman to do it. She has the same clear-sightedness that she had as a child, she has the understanding of business of what makes people tick that she learned at her father’s kmee, and she appreciates both American initiative and British tradition.
You have to love and admire Betty; she has intelligence, she has enthusiasm, she has empathy, and she is ready to spend money and to do whatever has to be done. She begins in the garden, with the gardener, and as the garden responds to love and care, so does the estate and the village around it.
The transformation of Rosy and of the estate that her young son with inherit is always at the centre of the story and it’s wonderful, rich in description, rich in understanding of humanity, but there is far more going on here.
An American typewriter salesman on a bicycling tour of Britain has a small but significant part to play.
The neighbouring estate over belongs to another impoverished nobleman, who loves his house and the country around it, but who doesn’t know how to save it and is far to proud to ask for help.
And back in America a proud and anxious father waited for news of his daughters.
Oh, this is a wonderful story, a big, old-fashioned book that makes it so easy to just read and read and read.
I loved the wonderful cast of characters: Rosy was lovely, and I really did feel for her; Betty was wonderful, the very best kind of heroine; their father was exactly the right kind of father; Mount Dunstan, from the neighbouring estate appeared weak but proved to be the best kind of hero; and Sir Nigel was a villain worthy of booing and hissing …..
It’s not subtle, but it is so lovely. Think of it as a story for a grown-up reader still on touch with their inner reading child ….
I loved that it was rooted in real history, and that the story explored the strengths and weaknesses of the British and American ways, and how they can work together for the greater good of both.
I loved that the author drew so very well on her own experiences, of life on both sides of the Atlantic and of marital abuse, and on her love of family, home and garden.
I loved the house and the garden that were described so beautifully and so lovingly that they came to life. I could see them, I really could.
And there’s a robin – if you’ve read ‘The Secret Garden’ you’ll appreciate that.
I loved that this was the story of the most wonderful heroine – and that the damsel in distress was rescued not by a knight in shining armour, but by her little sister!
I was a little disappointed that the end of the story lurched into melodrama, but in the end it was right. It was the ending that I had expected from quite early in the story, but the route there proved to be nicely unpredictable, and I loved every step of the journey. -
This novel was written in the early 20th Century. It was popular then but long forgotten until Persephone Press published it again, bringing it today's readers. It has a very apt title. The "shuttle" refers to the rich American heiresses who could not make the best societal marriages because their family wealth came from new, rather than old money. To solve this problem they traveled to England and married poor but Aristocratic, husbands in need of money to finance their dilapidated estates, trading wealth for high society and a title.
I enjoyed this novel, with it's Gothic touches, about a phenomenon with which the author was very familiar. Frances Hodgson Burnett lived in New York for several years so knew well what could go right or wrong in these marriages. The Shuttle tells a dramatic story of what could go terribly wrong with these bartered marriages. We have one British aristocratic villain, one meek and too trusting American fiancé who becomes a wife to the villainous Brit. 10 years pass and a very different American heiress arrives on the scene in England to find out what has happened to her older sister from whom she and her family have heard nothing in all the years of her marriage. This is Betty who is the opposite of her frightened and meek sister. She is "the most beautiful and kindhearted creature on earth," as well as emotionally strong, clever and brave with a polite but snappy answer to every possible dilemma she meets in her attempts to save her sister. She is bankrolled by her rich father so anything is possible. We meet other fantastic characters within the setting of this story, an old English village with crumbling but still gorgeous estates and gardens. Burnett's descriptions of these estates are beautifully drawn. I could see them all and felt like I was right there, walking in the overgrown and mossy gardens. Altogether, Burnett has woven a wonderfully atmospheric, entertaining and engaging story.
My only issue with this book is that it could have used some paring down. It was unnecessarily long. For readers of The Secret Garden you will be happy to find the appearance of a Robin in this story. -
I am giving this a semi-solid three stars, not a solid three stars. 😐 I was prepared to give it a solid three stars for the first 350 pages but then I could not understand why she let the story drag on and on and on and on interminably (you get the idea?). I enjoyed the ending…I just think the 512 pages (small print) was too long, for my liking. As opposed to A Little Princess which I went bonkers over. 🙃
When I was done I was reflecting if there was ever a character in a book which did not have one shred, one iota of decency of the like of Sir Nigel Anstruthers. I am sure all of you have a character or two in some books that you have read in which you have loathed the character. Who might they be? Enquiring minds want to know. 🧐
Burnett had a sentence here and a sentence there at the beginning of the book (first 100 pages) which proved to be important in the end, and which kept me going to finish the book. The ending, surprisingly to me, was unexpected. That says something for Frances Hodgson Burnett…she definitely gave me time to decipher the plot over the first 475 pages or so and then came the denouement. Took me off my high horse.
It was pretty cool that I was reading from a first edition of the book, or pretty close to it — October 1907 from Grosset & Dunlap Publishers. I got it from my local library…I’m surprised that they had this old tome. On the flyleaf was the signature of the prior owner, a Clara M. Behr dated Apr. 15, 1911. Nice.
I think one has to look the other way at times when reading this when it comes to how Burnett writes about Native Americans in the United States, or about males and their supreme knowledge over females when it comes to business, or the fixation on the beauty of one of the main protagonists in the book, Betty, and that this contributed to her goodness (rather I would say she was beautiful in physical appearance and a very good person. However I am writing this when it is the waning days of 2020 and I have had the benefit of all those extra years and everything I have been exposed to up to today to re-fashion my way of thinking.
In closing I would say that Burnett created characters that I loved (Betty and her older sister, Lady Anstruthers (Rosy), wife of Sir Nigel) or respected (Reverend Penzance, Mount Dunstan) or hated (just one person: Sir Nigel Anstruthers).
Word that I had to look up: contumacity (rebellious; stubbornly disobedient). According to the Oxford English Dictionary this is a rare variant of ‘comtumacy’. No wonder I had to look up the word!
Well, also a last point to be made is the title of the book, The Shuttle.
• I think it had a double meaning and Burnett cleverly laid it out in the very first sentence of the chapter of the book: “No man knew when the Shuttle began it slow and heavy weaving from shore to shore, that it was held and guided by the great hand of Fate.”
• The book involved the passage of people from the United States to England in the early 20th century when English men of title and owning castles they could not afford enticed women of the United States to come over to England and gain a title before their name (‘Lady’), in exchange for their money, so the landed gentry could continue to live the privileged lives they were accustomed to.
• The book also involved the weaving of people’s lives that perhaps initially was not apparent in the early process of weaving but over time they became inextricably bound together, sometimes for the bad and sometimes, thank goodness, for the good.
Reviews (from blogsites…all are quite positive):
•
https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/20... This is extremely interesting because there was a number of comments made to the review (just as in Goodreads sometimes) and among the interesting comments it is revealed that the Persephone edition is abridged and a character in the original is not in the abridged version (but which character was not named as far as I can tell)
•
https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/l...
•
http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogs...
•
https://novelinsights.wordpress.com/2...
Final last point: I still need to read "The Secret Garden"!!! -
I chose to read this book for an author birthday challenge because, in 2014, I had read
To Marry an English Lord: Or How Anglomania Really Got Started and had become interested in the period of history when many wealthy young American women had married British aristocrats, purportedly because the women wanted the title and the men needed the wealth. I had hoped that this fictional perspective of the period, published in 1907, might be a good complement to the non-fiction work.
To my surprise, the story began with a scathing and dreary commentary on the cruel treatment of some of these young women by their noble husbands, underscoring the disdain and isolation suffered by the American brides - hated for being American, tolerated because of the badly-needed wealth they brought to England. It hardly seemed possible that this work had come from the pen of the author of the charming and hopeful children's classic,
The Secret Garden. Although at times I wondered whether or not to continue, I did persevere.
The story includes a large and varied cast of characters - some lovable, some admirable, some despicable. This reader eagerly followed the lives of the two daughters of a wealthy New York businessman. The elder, child-like, and timid sister marries the sly and crafty Lord Anstruthers, crosses the Atlantic in a steamer ("the shuttle"), and over time is forced by her wily and ruthless husband to discontinue contact with her own family. Twelve years after the marriage, the younger sister - by that time sophisticated, well-educated, astute, and wise - travels to England to renew the relationship with her older sister. She discovers a shocking situation and takes it upon herself to rectify many aspects of it.
This is a complex and captivating tale of human weakness and strength (regardless of gender) - of pride, loyalty, deception, and madness. Through the many twists and turns of the plot and the sensitive and detailed descriptions of people and places, the reader is drawn into the lives, the minds, and the hearts of the characters - sharing their pain, anger, hope, and joy. It appears that the reader is also offered a glimpse into the mind and heart of the author. She suggests the gravity of the dilemma of the Anglo-American marriage by imbuing two of the characters with an aura of the archetypal, even referring to them as "Life" and "The Primeval Force" (American and English?), surely a testament to her belief in the historical significance of these unions.
A quick look at a short biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett reveals that, while she was born in England and ultimately returned there in adulthood, she moved with her family to the USA at the age of 15 and, as an adult, frequently travelled on board "The Shuttle" between the US, England, and Europe. Burnett lived through the historical period in which this novel is set and was twice married and twice divorced. She owned property in England and the US, was a fixture in social and literary circles in both countries, and perhaps had first-hand experience of the challenges implicit in the Anglo-American marriage. Consequently, the reader must wonder if perhaps this work is Burnett's attempt to reconcile the quandary by suggesting (or hoping) that the Anglo-American marriage, although rife with challenge, was mutually beneficial (and perhaps divinely ordained) - with the potential both to rekindle the English pride in their land and heritage and to enable the American people to reconnect with their ancestral roots.
The topic is far too complex for any conclusions to be drawn so easily. At any rate, it is evident that Burnett knew of which she spoke when she penned this tale. I shudder to think that the events of this book are based on real life, and remain hopeful that Burnett used a good deal of imagination and artistic license throughout. A good read nonetheless - a very good read! -
The best part of this book was the story of a smart and determined young woman who travels overseas to rescue her sister from the husband who broke her spirit with deliberate, methodical cruelty. The best (and most surprising) writing in this book is the examination of his cruelty and exposure of the methods of psychological warfare that are used to subjugate one’s partner. It was surprising, because this novel was written in the first decade of the 20th century, long before terms such as “gaslighting” were in common use. I believe the author was exorcising some demons from her own life, as it was written during her turbulent second marriage, to a man who reportedly was very controlling and attempted to wrest control of her own independent wealth.
I enjoyed the writing. It is endlessly quotable.
But this novel is not perfect. It has all the challenges of reading 100+ year old literature, the narrative wanders all over the place, it contains some very odd themes with its love-fest of capitalism and comparisons of American industrialist energy to waning English aristocracy, and the last quarter of the story devolves into standard bullshit Romance tropes.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it very much.
I read this for the 2017 Booklikes-opoly game, for square 15: “Additional Task: Read a book where someone gets married, with jewelry on the cover, or where any character is a millionaire/billionaire!” The story, on its surface, is of multimillionaire American heiresses of a business empire who marry into impoverished English aristocracy. -
This review was written for the first time I read this novel...I've enjoyed it just as much on successive readings!
Who knew that Frances Hodgson Burnett had written books besides The Secret Garden and A Little Princess? I had never heard of The Shuttle, but after this I will certainly be trying some of her other works of fiction. The characters were drawn extremely well and leave very strong impressions. It's a story full of romance and drama, and despite what sounds like a depressing storyline (girl goes to rescue her sister from an abusive husband), there is actually quite a bit of hope and positivity in it. I read through it very quickly and would highly recommend it! -
This is a story of two American heiresses and two English Lords up against it during the time of American robber barons when a marriage between them could bring advantages to all and knitted bonds between the two countries. If you enjoyed watching Downton Abbey, you might well enjoy this book, too.
Surprisingly to me, I absolutely loved this book! Perhaps I like romantic sentimentality too much, although I never thought of myself as a romantic sentimentalist. Burnett may have made her villain too vile and her heroine too beautiful of body, mind and spirit for some, but the story had me hooked completely through to the end.
Could anyone but a young Liz Taylor ever play the role of Bettina? Who else could bring such intelligence, beauty and passion to the role?
I have been fan of The Secret Garden since I was a girl, now it seems I am a fan of Burnett and will have to seek out her other novels. -
I was looking forward to reading this after having heard good things about it on the Persephone group on Librarything. I wasn't disappointed. This is an engrossing, page turner. Frances Hodgson Burnett hightlighted the sad plight of many large houses at this time, which being entailed couldn't be sold, but whose owners where so impoverished they were unable to properly maintain them. Her love of the English countryside is obvious in her decriptions of it and the enthusiam of her American charcters for it. Sir Nigel Anstruthers is just about the vilest character I have come up aginst in a book in some time, and you feel Betty's rage and frustration, while rather fearing for her saftey. A book you cannot help but become fully involved in.
-
I wasn’t sure what to expect from ‘The Shuttle’, because Persephone Books editions look lovely but have no blurb. It turned out to be an involving family drama and social commentary in three acts. Act I: a rich American girl marries an impoverished aristocrat, who turns out to be horribly abusive. Act II: after many years, her younger sister comes to visit in the abusive husband’s absence. Act III: husband and sister become locked in a battle of wills. Inevitably, the most fascinating and appealing character is the younger sister, Betty. It can be tiresome in novels when a beautiful and rich paragon of a young woman causes everyone to fall in love with her. In the case of Betty Venderpoel, it works because she is relentlessly practical and capable. In fact, she reminded me of
Cold Comfort Farm’s inimitable Flora Poste (a heroine of mine). Betty's initiative, resilience, and refusal to be intimidated by bullying are all admirable. While she is not oblivious to the limitations of being a woman, she deploys her intelligence and resources brilliantly. The dialogue between her and the odious Nigel is the highlight of the book. I also liked her comments about not wanting to be a man, merely wanting the same opportunities that men get.
Betty’s actions and the plot in general throw interesting light on the dynamics of American and English high society in Edwardian times. Transatlantic travel was becoming more accessible and Frances Hodgson Burnett began the novel to comment on marriages between rich American women and English men. Although the narrative obviously sides with the plucky US women against the villainous Brit Nigel, I found the Americans’ acceptance of British class dynamics striking. Nigel’s neglect of his estate (deliberate) and his neighbour’s (inevitable due to lack of money) are both presented as bad - they should be doing their duty as feudal lords. The text references the collapse of the feudal system, yet it is notable that the American characters only interact with old aristocratic families rather than Britain’s nouveau riche. It almost seems like the Americans are so charmed by the aesthetics of rural estates that the history behind them goes unquestioned. Betty seems very happy to bring some American money and energy to being Lord of the Manor. Yet it’s not as conservative a book as that. The independence of US women is deliberately contrasted with their more limited sphere in England. Betty does subtly change perceptions here and there, for example persuading an old aristo not to disdain a man just because his father and brother were rogues. The prevailing theme is American spirit and money reinvigorating the picturesque yet moribund English countryside, without necessarily transforming it.
An involving plot combined with a thoughtful context lift the narrative above melodrama and make for a compelling read. Betty carries the whole thing along; I’d happily read more novels in which she outwits awful men. Indeed, I think I should look for more Frances Hodgson Burnett. Prior to ‘The Shuttle’, I’d only read her childen’s books. -
Reading this book, I couldn't stop feeling that it is some kind of a lesson or a summary of the life. I felt that Frances Hodgson Burnett told me about the life and times she knew in the way that would teach me something. Definitely, it isn't just a novel nor just a story. I think it is a great book for a young people, for those who are on the threshold of adulthood.
The story (plot) itself is also interesting and engaging. There are many different characters, there is a drama. Most of all there is hope. I think, that "hope and future" are two words which intertwine the story. There are really touching sentences.
When I am awake, she is as much a part of my existence as my breath itself
I have not one word or look to remember
But I have a few (rather insignificant) remarks.
The character of Betty is too perfect as for me. I mean, I like her, I like almost every character of this novel but some part of me couldn't stop to protest that such people couldn't exist. She is so wise and she develops and learns in so smart and cautious way that it looks almost impossibly.
I haven't read a book which would have had so many times the word "parallel" and "picturesque" (or picturesquely, picuresqueness and so on). Hodgson Burnett had to liked them very much ;-)
Sometimes, the narration, descriptions are too much informative, as for me. There is for example so many descriptions of Betty that I was almost bored a few times.
I have read some books about relationship between USA and UK (especially at the turn of the century), for example
To Marry an English Lord: Or How Anglomania Really Got Started, so it wasn't new to me. I think that Gail MacColl described it better, but her book is a non-fiction, The Shuttle is a fiction.
So, generally I agree with
Jane and
Sandy (I recommend to read their reviews about The Shuttle). But I like
A Fair Barbarian more. This novella is more subtle although it tells about the same: the differences between American and British culture. -
...There are moments in this novel when it feels as if we have returned to the secret garden, as adults, and are allowed to step amongst the ruins of a wonderfully, dilapidated garden that is crying out for a make over.
In fact, the whole book could be read as such. Not only do we find a garden that needs a make-over, but there is an entire English village and its inmates that have been completely neglected. along with its local artistocracy, Mount Dunstan and Lady Anstruthers who are veritible Miss Havishams, creeking and web-ridden in their various forgotten mansions, decaying and stagnant in a gothic nightmare-reality.
Into this air-less, lost landscape, comes the beautiful Bettina Vanderpoel, a wealthy American heiress, who is searching for her older sister Roaslie, who a dozen years before married Sir Nigel Anstruthers, a tyrannous English aristocrat who only wed Rosalie for the great wealth she would bring to his English estate. Of course he was a cad and ruthlessly crushed and brutalised her spirit, leaving her a mere shadow of her former self. He spent her money and left her to rot in his decaying mansion, with only their young, ailing, son for company. To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog:
http://mybookaffair.blogspot.com/2012... -
A remarkable Librivox read by tabithat. It took me about a chapter to get really involved, and once I did, there was no stopping.
Of course, one might say that Rosalie was too much of a ninny, that Bettina was a tad too perfect, but never mind that, Sir Nigel was the absolute villain, and The Shuttle to me was a real page-turner.
I wholeheartedly recommend it. -
Un romanzo che mette alla berlina quella che era la consuetudine dell'epoca (fine '800, primi del '900) dei matrimoni tra le principesse del dollaro americane e nobili squattrinati inglesi, che varcavano l'oceano per trovare un'ereditiera bella, ricca e che mangia picca [poco, come si dice dalle mie parti], che gli cedesse tutti i suoi dollari per fingere di ristrutturare la tenuta di famiglia (ma in realtà per darsi alla bella vita, magari con donne meno morigerate di loro), spesso usando la violenza per mantenerle al loro posto, perché non sia mai che sfidino l'autorità maschile!
Sir Nigel Anstruthers è il peggior esempio di uomo inglese la bella Rosalie Vanderpoel potesse trovare. Il baronetto non si capacita del fatto che in America il patrimonio della moglie non passi automaticamente al marito con il matrimonio. E via via che passa il tempo diventa sempre più crudele, con minacce e batoste alla povera Rosalie, che in pochi anni si trasforma in una larva di donna, isolata dai suoi cari, perché il suo aguzzino non le permette di ricevere la posta, né fa partire la sua, per cui da entrambe le parti si crede a un distacco voluto.
Per fortuna, però, Bettina Vanderpoel - un esempio di eroina dei suoi tempi, che ha studiato, ha un grande senso pratico e un grande amore per la sorella - non è convinta che il distacco sia stato voluto da Rosalie, e così decide di farle visita a sorpresa, approfittando del fatto che il cognato sia via (in Costa Azzurra a spassarsela con una ballerina!)
“Oggigiorno sono parecchie le ragazze in grado di fare molto,” disse. “Le donne hanno scoperto così tante cose. Forse è perché le hanno ispirate le protagoniste dei romanzi. Gli eroi e le eroine lanciano sempre nuove mode nei comportamenti. Credo che siano anni che un’eroina non ‘scoppia in un mare di lacrime’. Si è scoperto che in fondo non si ottiene nulla a fare così. Qualsiasi cosa possa trovare a Stornham Court, non piangerò né resterò con le mani in mano. Sai che c’è il cablogramma. Forse è uno dei motivi per cui le eroine sono cambiate. Quando non potevano scappare dai loro persecutori se non in diligenza, e non potevano mandare telegrammi, in pratica erano nelle mani di chiunque. Ora è diverso. Grazie, papà, sei molto buono a credere in me.”
In pochissimo tempo, Bettina ribalterà la vita della sorella e del povero nipote Ughtred, nato deforme a causa dei colpi presi da Rosalie da parte del marito mentre era incinta.
E incontrerà anche un uomo che è l'esatto opposto del cognato, Lord Mount Dunstan, che ha attraversato l'Atlantico per fare l'allevatore di pecore e non per cercarsi una ricca ereditiera da sposare, anche se la sua tenuta è in condizioni ancor peggiori di quella di Sir Nigel; che mai sposerebbe un'americana per la sua dote e che, pur ammirando e stimando moltissimo Bettina, non la corteggerebbe mai per non dare l'impressione sbagliata. -
In the 19th century, it became fashionable for American heiresses to marry titled Englishmen, but the marriages didn't always work out. At the beginning of this novel, sweet and innocent Rosalie Vanderpoel is courted by Sir Nigel Anstruthers, who has come to New York seeking an injection of cash for his rundown estate. He whisks Rosy off to England, where he bullies her and isolates her from her family. Twelve years later, her newly grown up sister Bettina sets out to rescue her.
Frances Hodgson Burnett was in a good position to write a novel like this one, having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, travelling frequently between them on the "shuttle" of liners that carried young hopefuls in both directions. She was married twice, once to an American and once to an Englishman, and although both marriages ended in divorce, the second seems to have been worst. Her bitterness shows at the beginning of the book, but as the story goes on, she introduces several good Englishmen to balance out Sir Nigel.
I enjoyed this much more than I expected. Towards the end it descends into melodrama as the author struggles to rescue her characters from the impasse that the plot has landed them in - had it not been for that, I would have given 5 stars. -
As the twentieth century begins, a sweet young pliable American heiress marries Sir Nigel Anstruthers, an impoverished English gentleman. To her ill-luck, he proves to be a manipulative bully, and he makes her life miserable. A dozen years later, the heiress's younger sister Betty, who has more wits and pluck than most, arrives to rescue her sister.
Betty is an intoxicating character: cool and self-possessed, smart, perceptive, unfailingly kind, and inquisitive. When she's first introduced she's a square-faced little brat glaring at her sister's fiance. Years of expensive boarding schools and business trips with her father help transform her into a heroine. When she first descends upon her sister's village, it seems there is nothing beyond her talents. She instantly charms the villagers with her good sense and kind gifts, charms the gentry with her manners and beauty, and cheers up her downtrodden sister&nephew. By chance, Betty meets Lord Mount Dunstan, who is as sensible and active as she is, but alas, has no money to keep up his ancient family estate. We're told they're clearly made for each other (although Mount Dunstan is a mere shadow puppet compared to Betty's intense and deep characterization, and his continual whinings about having no money irked me), and it seems that the only plot to the novel will be whether Mount Dunstan will get over his pride and ask Betty to marry him.
But then! Sir Nigel Anstruthers reappears upon the scene. And damn, he is a nasty piece of work. At first, it seems that Betty will easily beat him--but as time goes on, Nigel's sly comments and male gender serve him well, and Betty's reputation grows precarious. Nigel is actually dangerously good at gaslighting and turning people against each other, and began to grow quiet worried.
This is an interesting book, because you can see the gleamings of feminism and class consciousness peaking through here and there, but Burnett always pulls back. For instance, this book was written & set long before the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1923 made it possible for British women to divorce their husbands for anything less than proven adultery AND incest/bigamy/sodomy. Husbands could cheat on their spouses without fear of reprisal, and treat their wives as they pleased, generally--I remember a case where a judge ruled that a husband literally starving his wife wasn't abuse, because after all, if she wanted him to start feeding her she could just stop annoying him. In the event of a divorce (at this time, a very expensive and drawn out affair that required, iirc, 3 trials!), custody of children would always be awarded to their father. And of course, just trying to get a divorce was scandalous (see:
The Age of Innocence). So in this story, Betty and Rosalie don't even talk about starting divorce proceedings against Nigel--it's not really an option for them. Betty's tactic is just to make Rosalie's home a comfortable one by lending her money, and hope that Nigel will stay away. It was really painful to read how few options or hope even a very resourceful, wealthy, popular, beautiful and fictional lady has in this era. But at no point does Burnett actually advocate for change, whether in society or in the law--her otherwise voluable characters remain silent in this regard. So too does Burnett pull back from examining whether it's fair that some people have millions while people literally freeze to death feet away from them. Her heroes spend a lot of time bemoaning the (virtuous) poor's poverty and providing charity, but the idea that perhaps fair wages should be mandated, or old age pensions provided to all, is never considered by anyone. The whole relationship between rich and poor in this book is like libertarianism mixed up with Victorian sentiment.
In the end, this was an odd mix of fantasy (from the very character of Betty, who is delightfully too good to be true, to the spiritualism that saves Mount Dunstan's life), gothic horror (Nigel and his treatment of his wife and son), and romance. -
The Shuttle could have easily gotten four stars from me. The beginning is strong, and the ending is compelling. The middle, however, gets a bit laborious with condescending vignettes in which characters from backgrounds of wealth or nobility feel ever so edified in interacting with characters from more humble backgrounds. The story could have been a bit more economically crafted.
The protagonist, Betty Vanderpoel, seems to have virtually no flaws. She's repeatedly referred to as having "genius," and her extraordinary beauty is described perhaps a bit more than necessary, so though she's an interesting character, she's not quite plausible. Throughout the story money seems to be an easy answer to a multitude of problems, which also detracts a bit from general plausibility.
That said, there's a lot about The Shuttle that makes it worth reading (though if you end up skimming a passage here and there, well, no one has to know ;-)). If you grew up reading The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, you'll probably enjoy the similar story world. Also, it shares a common theme with Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers, i.e. marriages between well-to-do New Yorkers and English nobility of the turn of the 20th century, so if you liked The Buccaneers, you might be interested in Burnett's treatment of the subject. -
Another Persephone hit!
I've long been interested in the wave of US millionaires marrying Brit aristocracy, and have read and enjoyed biographies of Vanderbilts, Catons and Randolphs - and as a dedicated Downton fan, I'm also looking forward to Fellowe's upcoming drama on the Gilded Age.
... all of which is a long winded way of saying I thoroughly.enjoyed this book. I downloaded it to read on holiday and it was a total page-turner complete with baddies, goodies and romance. If that makes it sound trashy, it really isn't - it's just a cracking good story.
I did think that things tied up a tiny bit fast, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed. -
Loved the plot, but the sentence construction made it a slow read.
-
The Shuttle has been one of those instances in which I wanted to like a book, but couldn’t. I bought it online from Persephone Books in London; they reprint “forgotten” books, usually by women writers from the 20th century, and aesthetically speaking, they’re beautiful: the editions are just the right size, the letters have a beautiful font, and each one has a different endpaper and bookmark related to the story. Persephone Books is also great at writing gripping synopses; that’s why I was disappointed.
I was expecting well-written characters; The Shuttle has nothing of the sort. The protagonist, Betty Vanderpoel, is perfect in every way. Her beauty is so often described that at some points I resisted the urge to throw the book out of a window (but only because it’s gorgeous). Personality-wise, she’s intelligent and enterprising, which would be interesting if she had any weakness or internal struggle to contend with.
Then there’s Betty’s older sister, Rosalie, whose wedding to an English aristocrat, Sir Nigel Anstruthers, triggers the plot. She’s naïve and... that’s it. In terms of characterization, Rosalie is as extreme as Betty. She has a personality trait or two that are constantly exploited and possesses no layers or subtlety whatsoever, as real humans do.
After twelve years of marriage to a complete monster, Rosalie is reduced to a shadow of the girl she used to be. Betty’s arrival lifts her spirits and that of her son’s (who has a humpback and is called Ughtred. Can you be more obvious? She might as well have named him Quasimodo.)
The depiction of domestic abuse is one of the reasons I gave this book two stars out of five; it was brutal and honest, and the author never blamed the victim. However, the unbearable purple prose ruined my reading experience; the long sentences, repetitions, and countless adjectives were sometimes difficult to follow, until you realized it was saying a very simple thing or served no purpose at all.
The plot is straightforward, and I was intrigued by it even when everything else exasperated me; I wanted to know what was going to happen next. That’s the other reason for the rating. But once again, I was disappointed. -
3,5 stelle effettive.
Romance scritto all'inizio del 900, ma ambientato qualche decennio prima.
Il libro si legge in un amen; storia scontata ma non banale. Limiti: la lunghezza ed un finale un po' raffazzonato.
Bella figura femminile (la sorella intraprendente). -
I picked this book because the author was one of my childhood favourites so what did I think of this, an adult novel?
Well although it was long at well over 500 pages most of the time the story flowed along although I have to confess there were times when the lengthy descriptions so common at this time wore me down but there were plenty of surprises, maybe not so much plot wise but I found the attitudes given the time that this was written in 1907 far more forward thinking than I expected.
The story opens in New York with Sir Nigel Anstruthers meeting the young and fairly insubstantial, in build and character, Rosalie Vanderpoel. Rosalie is an heiress of magnitude and Nigel Anstruthers was seeking just such a young woman to marry with the aim of using her wealth for the upkeep of Stornham Court. Nigel meets the parents, the younger sister Bettina and the couple soon tie the knot. As Sir and Lady Anstruthers they set sail for the UK and then by train to Kent where Stornham Court is far more dilapidated than Rosalie expected. But since by that time her husband has failed to keep his brutish nature under wraps she is already on edge. Meeting the dowager does nothing to improve her feelings and it soon becomes apparent that she is trapped.
Many years later her younger sister Betty comes to find her. In the intervening years the house has fallen into even more severe disrepair as all the money has been spent on Sir Anstruther’s own entertainment. Rosalie is in just as bad shape, having also fallen into disrepair, her one surviving son who has a deformity being the only meaning in her life. Betty is shocked but a strong-willed and ‘business-like’ young woman who takes the house and her sister in hand.
With echoes of what would become the healing nature of plants and flowers in the Secret Garden within this book as one of Betty’s first actions is to hire a Head Gardener to oversee the many younger men to bring the garden to life. There are walks round the garden, descriptions of various flowers and a sense that this beauty breathes life into her sister’s soul.
There is also the inevitable romance playing out alongside the younger sister’s careful plan to extricate her sister from her awful marriage. This is a very modern woman who while approaching life somewhat differently given the slightly less rigid American lifestyle to that expected in an English village must surely have spoken to the Edwardian women who read this book at the time of publication. That along with a cautionary tale to those in America not to be taken in by a title alone. There is much said about what constitutes a married woman’s property what separating would mean for a woman not only in terms of her standing in society but that she would lose custody of her child. I couldn’t help but wonder what those women who were living under just such a regime took from this story.
There are dramatic scenes before the climax of the book which definitely allude to the particular power a man has over a woman, even a strong and clever woman, which while not in any way explicit was quite unexpected.
So in conclusion this was a good choice as one of my Classic Club reads as there was much to enjoy within these pages that include travelling salesmen, hop pickers and magic wands aplenty in the form of a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money. I did mark it down by one star because it was a little bit of a slog in places but in all honestly I don’t think I’ll forget the many and varied characters I met during this read. -
I've been working my way through best selling books from 1900s and so far this has been my favorite. Whereas women in other books I've read from this period have been weak willed or oppressed or simpering, Betty was strong minded and respected. She didn't make endless bad decisions (like Lily in House of Mirth) or require rescuing by a man (like pretty much every other book I've read in this time period). You felt the entire time that she was going to do the right things and do them well, at least outside her love life. It was a relief after feeling the helplessness of all those other characters.
The time period in the book is vividly described. It shows how American and English cultures were both coming together and clashing. The author explains much of the slang that must have been new and/or foreign then, but are outdated now so it was helpful to have them defined.
The story is an adult version of her children's stories. Riches to rags to riches with determination overcoming all obstacles. The villain is only villainous. The heroine is only heroic. The parents are absurd. Nearly everyone is a caricature, but it's a good read nonetheless. -
I made it to 54% and can't motivate myself to go further. While I very much enjoyed the first part of the book, about American bride Rosie Vanderpoel and her awful British husband and MIL, once the book switched to her younger sister Bettina, things started going downhill for me. Bettina is beautiful, brilliant, charming, etc, and not a single character she encounters fails to tell her so and basically fall in love with her. Ugh. The men have silly conversations with each other essentially about how awesome Bettina is and how they're in love with her. I just couldn't take it any longer!
Besides which, Burnett gets wordy and ponderous and makes one blush for her earnestness, or else pens comedic portions (typewriter guy) which are so dorky and dated that one suffers dumb chills. Yikes.
All that said, I adore The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. How much more charming is a heroine with a flaw or two! -
I loved this book.
The interactions between the American and the English were really interesting.
And the clever and sensible heroine was a breath of fresh air. -
Era da tempo che 'corteggiavo' questo romanzo. Nel 2011 ho letto The Secret Garden e l'anno successivo A Little Princess. Poi mi sono un po' persa, ma non per mancanza di buona volontà. Sono stata a lungo indecisa se acquistare l'edizione Persephone di The Shuttle (costosetta, ma bellissima
http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/the-...) oppure sfruttare la versione gratuita di Gutenberg Project (
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/506). Alla fine ha vinto l'edizione gratuita. Quello che non sapevo è che l'edizione Persephone è abridged ovvero ridotta, infatti conta una sessantina circa di pagine in meno. Se l'avessi saputo prima mi sarei anche scandalizzata, ma a posteriori posso affermare che probabilmente sforbiciare un po' è stata una gran bella idea (ovviamente bisognerebbe leggerlo, ma mi fido parecchio della casa editrice in questione)
The Shuttle è un romanzo per adulti e, come ho letto non ricordo più in quale blog, è la riprova del fatto che la Burnett scriveva consistentemente meglio i suoi romanzi per ragazzi rispetto a quelli per adulti. L'autrice del blog in questione suggeriva che forse la necessità di mantenere uno stile semplice e comprensibile anche per dei ragazzini inibiva le ripetizioni e le lungaggini a cui dava invece libero sfogo negli altri suo romanzi. Basti sapere che mi ci sono volute più di 100 pagine per entrare nella storia, e comunque qua e là ho saltato paragrafi che ripetevano le trite e al giorno d'oggi anche poco interessanti considerazioni sulla differenza tra gli inglesi e gli americani.
Il romanzo affronta infatti la tematica dei nobili ma poveri inglesi che a inizio secolo scorso sbarcavano in America alla ricerca di giovani ereditiere con il pallino del titolo nobiliare. Nel nostro caso il perfido Sir Nigel tiene a bada il suo caratteraccio depravato quanto basta per accaparrarsi l'amore della giovane, bella, dolcissima Rosie Vanderpoel. La luna di miele finisce esattamente nel momento in cui la nave che li porterà in Inghilterra si stacca dal molo. Per Rosie inizia una vita di infelicità e soprusi, illuminata solo dall'esistenza del figlio (Ughtred: il nome è terribile ma ancora più terribile la sua sorte, essendo nato già menomato a causa delle violenza del padre sulla madre incinta) in quanto il marito la isola da amici e parenti. Dodici anni dopo Bettina, la sorella minore di Rosie, decide di essere adulta e forte abbastanza per andare in Inghilterra a trovare la sorella, senza annunciarsi. E' decisa a scoprire se davvero Rosie li ha dimenticati o se, come è convinta, è il marito Nigel a imporle il suo isolamento...
Vale quindi la pena di leggere questo romanzo? Secondo me sì. Magari scegliete l'edizione ridotta! Nonostante il tono un po' troppo didascalico, un'eroina troppo perfetta, le lungaggini, le ripetizioni , la trama prevedibile e la mancanza di coraggio nelle questioni di classe e di genere, che vengono abilmente circumnavigate (questo possiamo anche perdonarlo alla Burnett, che scriveva all'inizio dello scorso secolo) la lettura vale la pena. Soffrirete un po', però vi affezionerete ai personaggi (specialmente G. Selden e il signor Penzance) e il vostro sangue ribollirà di fronte ai soprusi che una donna doveva subire nel primo Novecento. Da non dimenticare la storia d'amore ma soprattutto l'amore per un'Inghilterra rurale che l'autrice conosceva sicuramente molto bene. E, last but not least, la convinzione dell'autrice che il pensiero positivo abbia degli effetti sulla realtà (così come il pensiero negativo). -
Sir Nigel Anstruthers comes to New York in search of an heiress, as he no longer has enough money to keep up his estate, Stornham Court. He marries the pretty and cosseted Rosalie Vanderpoel, the daughter of an American millionaire. But on their return to England, Nigel and his mother control and isolate Rosalie from her family. Many years later, Rosalie's now-grown-up sister Bettina, who has spent a decade wondering why Rosy has lost contact with the family, arrives at Stornham Court to investigate. She discovers Rosalie and her son Ughtred, physically and emotionally fragile, living in the ruined estate. Bettina, who is both beautiful and made of considerably stronger stuff than her sister, begins to restore both Rosalie's health and spirits and the building and grounds of Stornham Court in Nigel's absence. Bettina, as an attractive heiress, attracts the attention of the local gentry and re-integrates her sister into society, while also gaining the respect of the villagers by her insistence that repairs be done by local workers.
Bettina also makes the acquaintance of another impoverished English nobleman, Lord Mount Dunstan, who has considerably more pride and spirit than Sir Nigel and has no intention of marrying an American heiress to restore his estate, but who is not well-respected in the neighborhood due to his disreputable late father and brother. Mount Dunstan regains the respect of the neighborhood due to a chance encounter with an American typewriter salesman on holiday, G. Seldon, and because he opens his estate to workers afflicted by typhoid fever. When Sir Nigel returns home to discover Rosalie and Ughtred in improved health and spirits, the estate nearly restored, and Betty responsible for it all, he tries to conceal his ill-will but has never been particularly good at self-control. In a final confrontation, Nigel attempts to bully Bettina into leaving Rosalie at Stornham Court, this time with more of her father's money, but she hides from him and eventually returns with Mount Dunstan, who she had believed dead of typhus. Mount Dunstan whips Sir Nigel "like a dog," and the latter eventually suffers a fit and dies, while Bettina and Mount Dunstan overcome their pride and confess their love for each other.
The title of the book refers to ships passing back and forth across the Atlantic and creating alliances between England and America like the weaving of a shuttle: "As Americans discovered Europe, that continent discovered America. American beauties began to appear in English drawing-rooms and Continental salons... What could be more a matter of course than that American women, being aided by adoring fathers sumptuously to ship themselves to other lands, should begin to rule these lands also?"Burnett made the transatlantic voyage thirty-three times, which was a lot for the era.
Marriages between English aristocrats and American heiresses were common and of considerable public interest at the time. Some of the best known of these alliances was between Jennie Jerome and Lord Randolph Churchill, who were the parents of Winston Churchill, and between Consuelo Vanderbilt and the 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895. Burnett would have read the gossip around the marriage of the Marlboroughs and other sources, such as Titled Americans: A list of American ladies who have married foreigners of rank, which included: ‘A carefully compiled List of Peers Who are Supposed to be eager to lay their coronets, and incidentally their hearts, at the feet of the all-conquering American Girl.’ -
I would have rated this 3.5 stars if I could. I stayed up til 1 in the morning to finish the book, so it deserves more than 3 stars but I did struggle with some aspects of the writing and the story. Burnett writes about a time when titled, landed gentry were seeking American heiresses to marry in order to save their estates. The story ultimately follows the life of Bettina, the younger sister of Rosy who has made such a union. Soon after the marriage the family stops hearing from Rosy and Bettina is determined to find out what has happened to her sister, once she is old enough.
There is a lot of commentary regarding the differences between Americans and British, which I tired of at times. Burnett, also, writes very long sentences. So much so, that I found I would have to re-read many of them to just understand what she was trying to ultimately say. Her sentences could be as long a one paragraph at times.
The main character, Bettina, does share in common the same temperament as the little heroines in her more famous books "The Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden". She is persistently positive in her outlook on life, she is unspoiled by wealth, she is full of life and determination, and is generous to all she comes in contact with. Many lives are changed or bettered for having associated with her. The story is unlike her others and this was written for adults and so there is adult themes as to adultery, domestic violence, greed, scandal, and romance.
Overall, I really did enjoy the novel and it's characters. I will recommend it to those of my friends to don't mind commentary and wordy, flowery descriptions. I did enjoy reading this novel, criticisms aside, and I may have to buy myself a hard copy of the book.
