| Title | : | The Making of a Marchioness |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1402169140 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781402169144 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 198 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1901 |
This book is followed by a sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Later, the two novels were combined into Emily Fox-Seton.
The Making of a Marchioness Reviews
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Part one: sweet love story, the commoner gets the prince sort of thing, Kate and William.
Part two: embarrassingly bad Gothic horror rubbish.
Subtotal, a book that deteriorates considerably until it finally ended and I could breathe a sigh of relief from such a dreadful potboiler.
Bonus one: It is short.
Bonus two: It was made into a tv movie, "The Making of a lady" which also starts off good then ditto.
Total: Save your money and buy a box of Milk Tray, eat all the chocolates you like the best and then, in one sitting, finish up all the rest of the them. Same effect.
(Brush your teeth. Strong minty toothpaste or mouthwash advised). -
Francis Hodgson Burnett is best known for her children's books, including
The Secret Garden and
Little Lord Fauntleroy. Like those stories, The Making of a Marchioness explores the world of the British upper classes.
On one level this is a fairy story--set in Edwardian England, just about at the turn of the century. Cinderella reappears in the form of Emily Fox-Seton, a young woman of gentle birth and training, but nearly destitute. Emily, a spinster at thirty-five, cobbles together a slender living by running errands and doing chores for wealthy, idle patrons. She is blessed with a simple, happy disposition, the ability to get things done through hard work and a kind of practical intelligence, and unfailing generosity and good cheer (she really is quite impossibly saintly). A patron who grew fond of her well-born slave left her a small legacy that yields about 20 pounds per year--enough to keep Emily in modest rooms in a bed-sitter in a dreary London neighborhood. Still Emily considers herself fortunate and the daughter of her landlady is, like Emily herself, a clever seamstress who helps her tenant look fairly smart on next to nothing.
When one of Emily's patrons, sharp-tongued, clever Lady Maria Bayne, plans her early August party at her estate in the country, she offers Emily a "treat"--the chance to spend the month at Mallowe arranging all the parties, planning the teas and gatherings and dinners, and running errands to town when the servants are too busy. Lady Maria has some matchmaking planned for her widowed, middle-aged cousin, the Marquis of Walderhurst. On offer are several young girls including an American on the make and Lady Agatha, a debutante with five younger sisters who faces exile at the family's desolate estate in County Clare if she doesn't find a suitable match by the end of The Season.
What comes across most sharply to modern readers is how deeply cruel that society was and how helpless most women were in the face of societal expectations, class distinctions and financial difficulties. Lady Agatha "knew she must make a marriage or fade out of existence in prosaic and narrowed dullness. Emily knew that there was no prospect for her of desirable marriage at all...To be able to maintain herself decently, to be given an occasional treat by her more fortunate friends..." was all she could hope for.
Yet Emily is far from bitter--she revels in the beauty of the countryside, the bird song in the morning, the dew on roses at dawn. We feel that exquisite freshness with her all the more acutely because it must be fleeting. Because, when she lets her guard down, Emily knows in her heart that for such as herself old age may well bring dire poverty, the workhouse, or worse, starvation.
What happens next is what readers of
Georgette Heyer might expect and I won't spoil the pleasure by giving away plot details. But unlike most Georgette Heyer romances
The Making of a Marchioness does not end with a proposal or even a wedding. Yes, we get both and it's quite as magical as we wish. But this is not a romance in any conventional sense of the word; it is a clear-eyed view of upper class British marriage as a social and business proposition and if mature love, or at least esteem, follows that is far more than most women could wish at the time.
The novella takes a darker more Gothic turn in the second half with the appearance of Alec Osborn, Lord Walderhurst's worthless heir, Alec's Anglo-Indian bride, Hester, and a rather sinister ayah turned ladies maid. The Osborns, too, are prisoners of the rigid class and racial distinctions that were the bane of Edwardian society, and their abusive marriage and failing hopes of inheriting Walderhurst's title are predictably but effectively drawn. I found the plot a bit overwrought and Emily's innocence rather improbable, but I couldn't stop turning the pages and there were a couple of heart-stopping moments before the end.
Content rating PG: some disturbing Gothic plot elements and racial stereotyping. -
A very enjoyable short novel, written in late Victorian era. Emily Fox-Seton is such a thoroughly enjoyable young woman, so glad to believe the best of others. In some ways she is a type of Pollyanna character herself, but without being conscious of it or rubbing it in other people's faces. Recommended as a pleasant, light read.
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A very Victorian/Edwardian style of fiction. Professionally speaking, I can spot the passive heroine, the contrived plot (everybody conveniently falling ill and then recovering at the right moment!), and the clumsy murder attempts, doomed to failure. Surely the heroine cannot be as dumb as she is depicted as being; it is significant that all the characters and the narrator assure the reader at least once every chapter that Emily is not stupid, because she sure acts that way. And is it deliberate, that her husband James is such a dolt? Not an evil dolt, but as wooden-headed as they come, resolutely not the sharpest knife on the tea table. Emily is praised as good, and healthy (i.e., fertile) -- all the virtues that a woman really needs, the author seems to indicate. And it is true that brains were not admired, in Edwardian society!
However, if you are able to shed your modern hat and put on the mindset of the contemporary reader, this is an enjoyable book. It is like stepping into a time machine, with the dial set at 1892. Emily merely embodies the virtues of the period; everybody without exception extolls and admires the Edwardian values of unearned income, inherited status, and blooded aristocracy. Only the most intransigent 21st-century reader would yearn for some good Marxist-Leninist doctrine to rattle the bars of these one-percenters. And here I am, back to the modern day again! The fact is that this novel shows, magnificently, why the wildly-unequal English society of the period was so pernicious, and why some change was necessary. -
I started reading this romance novel by Frances Hodges Burnett on a whim. It caught my attention when I began watching a PBS show called The Making of a Lady, which I noticed in the opening credits is based on this book. If one looks on Project Gutenberg for a free copy, this story is published under the title
Emily Fox-Seton, which also contains the a second book that is Part Two of this story.
I watched about half of the PBS version before I had to stop and make dinner, but I do plan to finish it soon. In comparison, the book form wasn't terribly appealing to me, so I'm not going to continue on reading Part Two. Between the different formats, I thought the changes made in the TV version were an improvement. My apologies to any literary purists out there, but sometimes the movie or TV version, really is better than that book. -
I recommend not reading this with the expectation of a romance—as other reviewers noted, the tone shifts gradually as the novel progresses, and covers some dark themes. There’s also quite a bit of racism here.
Some other reviewers noted the classism in this book: how a certain order of society is presented as preordained and natural. But I found that, interestingly, the only people in this novel who seem to be pro-active and thinking and puzzling things out were the working class characters. The marquis, Lady Maria and even Emily, the actual protagonist, are mostly passive and often quite explicitly stated to not be very bright. -
I loved this book (I actually read "Emily Fox-Seton," which is the two parts of the story in one--the second part was originally published separately as "The Methods of Lady Walderhurst."
The first part is a Cinderella-like story in which well-born but poor Emily is struggling to keep to a certain respectable standard of living in late-19th-century London. In addition to being a rather unconventional love story, we get some insight into the state of marriage at this time and the British class system.
The second part is more melodramatic and Burnett's writing gets a bit thick in a few places, but I still enjoyed it a lot. We learn more about Emily and she is just such an appealing character. One could argue that the drama at the end of the book (I won't give anything away) wasn't strictly necessary, but it is well-written and does serve to develop the character of Lord Walderhurst. All in all, a very enjoyable read from a great story-teller. -
Bastant a favor d'aquestes novel·les de senyores que queden per prendre el te i parlen de vestits i de sobte, acaben fent més girs que una baldufa
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La formació d’una marquesa va ser publicada originàriament l’any 1901 i li va seguir una seqüela amb el nom de The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Posteriorment, els dos relats van publicar-se junts sota el nom del primer, The Making of a Marchioness. Ara Viena Edicions per al seu Club Victòria, publica una edició recopilatòria amb el títol La formació d’una marquesa amb la bona traducció de Marta Pera Cucurell. L’autora, Frances Hodgson Burnett, és coneguda principalment pel conte infantil El petit lord i també per la novel·la El jardí secret.
L’Emily Fox-Seton és una dona d’uns trenta anys pobra i sola...
https://www.obrirunllibre.cat/la-form... -
This is the sort of work where, if you have any familiarity with romance novels, you know where this is going. Yet while a simple and basic level of enjoyment of the plot does not require a lot of thinking, this book is noteworthy at least in the way that it presents a certain set of qualities as being attractive and worthy of benign authorial providence, and it suggests at least some of the way that the author thought of herself and her own youth spent as a shabby genteel relative dependent on the goodwill of relatives and others and in search of a marriage that might help to solve the need for the author's constant exertions. Alas, while the book itself shows a suitably romantic ending for the two most noble and deserving of the young women who are involved (whether wittingly or unwittingly) in the competitive marriage stakes of the time, the author herself was not so fortunate in her own love life, making her join a long series of writers (including the incomparable Jane Austen) who were able to write sparkling romances but who were not fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the sort of transcendent romances that they wrote about.
This particular book is less than 200 pages long and it follows the adventures of one Emily Fox-Seton, who is a poor relation to much wealthier people, who lacks the sort of cleverness to make others feel insecure and is hard-working and gracious and appreciative (even over-appreciative) for any small favor of generosity that others show to her. Beginning with her having a small room of herself thanks to the generosity of one of her relatives, she finds herself in a place where her diligent labor and ease of getting along with others makes her popular with all of the much more selfish and clever people around her. About a quarter of the way through the novel the author places her in a competition among various young ladies, alternatively oppressed (Lady Agatha Slade), attractive and coy (Cora Brooke), and witty, who are all seeking the hand of the widower Marquis of Walderhurst, who feels he should marry but has no particular fondness for courtship or silliness. And, without spoiling the ending too much I hope, the two most deserving of the young women find themselves married and settled and avoiding the threat of homelessness or despair that threatens them.
What is far more interesting than the rather straightforward plot itself are the larger complications of the story. On the one hand, the author has provided her audience with a somewhat typical society romance where the noble young women are rewarded and the rest are not. Nobility in this case refers to character, not to intellect or attractiveness. Emily Fox-Seton does not consider herself to be particularly bright or particularly attractive, but her excessive diffidence blinds her to the attractiveness of her graciousness with others and her diligent and hard-working attitude. And the fate of Lady Agatha Slade, whose family's impecunious state threatens half a dozen daughters with a slow death of exile in rural Ireland where no suitable men are likely to ever be found for them, is a somewhat chilling one to reflect on as well. Young women who could not depend on the inherited wealth of generations did not have much time to impress potential husbands, and the fact that the Marquis of Walderhurst, clearly a middle-aged man, is viewed as being an appropriate husband for young women in their late teens and early twenties is a demonstration of cultural changes that make this plot seem less like a romantic happy ending and more like the beginning of a fascinating tale of the asymmetry of power in certain forms of courtship. But some of us wish we were so lucky as the Marquis. -
M'ha agradat molt com s'ha anat desensvolupant la trama. Red flag per tots els comentaris racistes i masclistes, si bé és cert que es va escriure a inicis del XX i això s'ha de tenir en compte. Ah! I el final bastant inesperat! Crec que seria un 4.5!
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Em flipa que es va escriure el 1902. És una història entretinguda, molt ben escrita, i amb algun gir de guió. Els personatges molt ben descrits. Lectura xuli.
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Serialized in the British Cornhill Magazine in 1901, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Making of a Marchioness, together with its sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst, were published together as Emily Fox-Seton (the name of the heroine) that same year, and seem to have been linked this way ever since. My edition of the novel, found on the shelves of my public library, is part of The Doughty Library - a Stein and Day series intended to reprint Victorian and Edwardian novels that had undeservedly fallen out of print - and despite the introduction of Marghanita Laski, who claims that the sequel is not included here, it appears to contain both stories. I double-checked the free ebook available from
manybooks.net, in order to verify this. I find this confusion rather odd, but just in case anyone else is looking at this edition, yes, it does contain both.
In any case, I enjoyed reading this one quite a bit, although I have to say I liked the earlier story - in which impoverished gentlewoman Emily Fox-Seton, invited by one of her wealthy patron-employers to a house-party, ends up becoming the most unexpected matrimonial object of the Marquis of Walderhurst - far better than the sequel, in which the new Marchioness' life is threatened by the unscrupulous heir to her husband's title and estates. The whole thing is rampantly sentimental, with an unbelievably saintly heroine, melodramatic villains, and a final death-bed realization. It is also, unfortunately, unconsciously racist, despite the author's reference to
Uncle Tom's Cabin (meant to indicate the heroine's broad-minded views), in its depiction of Ameerah, the Osborns' Indian servant. That said, The Making of a Marchioness is an excellent period piece, and is best enjoyed as such. It has significant flaws, and will not be for everyone, but those who enjoy this particular kind of Edwardian fiction, with one foot still in the Victorian world, will enjoy it immensely. -
I haven't read this since I was a teenager and while the idea of a perfectly open and naturally aristocratic nature raising a woman from genteel poverty to titled riches makes the first half fairly readable, the harping on Emily's perfect normality and confiding childlike nature really cloys. The thing one likes about Mary Lennox and Sara Crewe, in her childre's books, is that they are NOT perfect paragons. I would much rather have read a book about the semi-evil Anglo-Indian wife of the heir.
Plus, there is all kinds of creepy racialist talk about physiognomy that gives me the wiggins. -
Great little story about being a good and selfless women. I guess there is a part two. I haven't read that. Landed this first edition copy from an old out of print bookstore I found on a recent business trip with my hubby.
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Emily Fox-Seton is a well-bred but penniless woman who is employed as a personal assistant to Lady Maria Bayne. Sweet, well-intentioned and exceedingly helpful, Emily catches the eye of Lady Maria’s cousin, the Marquis of Walderhurst. Flouting the conventions of society, he marries lowly Emily, but soon afterwards travels to India on business. Emily is left behind to adapt to her challenging new role as marchioness, and to play hostess to the marquis’s cousin, Alec Osborn. This scheming rogue has an agenda of his own, for should Emily fail to produce an heir, Alec is in line to inherit all of Lord Walderhurst’s wealth and property.
Having abandoned his post in the army, Alec moves into a house on the Walderhurst estate, along with his Indian wife, Hester, and her companion, Ameerah. Emily is grateful for their company and apparent support, and takes great joy in befriending and helping them. She is too kind-hearted and naïve to see their jealousy and ill-feeling towards her. And so the story takes a slightly sinister turn…
This story was originally published in 1901, and it reflects the beliefs of that time. The author clearly illustrates the differences between the classes, right down to their speech patterns. Burnett skirts around pregnancy and childbirth as though they were taboo subjects; you have to almost read between the lines to realise which of the characters is pregnant. Most startling is the way she describes the Indian people and their behaviour. Were the book published today, it would probably be banned for its racist mind-set. Readers should remember the era in which the story was written, and try not to be offended.
Each scene is described well, helping the reader to form a mental picture. But Burnett is very condescending towards her characters, almost as though she is looking down her nose at them, shaking her head, and heaving an indulgent sigh. Although only 34 years of age, Emily is described as old and therefore ‘unlikely to marry’. She’s possibly pretty, but definitely BIG, and not very clever. These traits are mentioned so frequently that I started to feel quite defensive of poor Emily. According to Burnett, most of the characters in the story lack imagination and/or intelligence.
At 108 pages, this isn’t a long read, but I found it a little rambling in places. The conclusion of the story, however, is reached very quickly and tied up in a neat, happy little bow in the space of a couple of pages. For me, the ending was predictable and unsatisfying. Burnett could have injected a more menacing aspect to the story, but it seems she lacked the courage to do so. Perhaps she felt constrained by the conventions of her day.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, and I liked Emily and her marquis. From a writer’s point of view, I found it interesting to observe Edwardian written English, which is very different to our own. -
A Victorian, slightly gothic, melodrama with all of the plot necessities of villain, indifferent prince and saintly but (as frequently described: unintelligent) heroine. Nothing hugely special or captivating, nothing especially jarring aside from the usual issues with Victorian sensibilities and attitudes towards race, women and other religions and cultures. The usual suspects. I must be in a more than usual lethargic mood (actually I know I am, pulling up after a couple of visits to the local ICU after being really sick for a number of weeks). Please take it as read that none of the above are acceptable or unacknowledged by this review. For my opinions on such feel free to peruse my many other reviews where I hope I have made my viewpoints quite clear. I will only say, for this book, that I can only assume that the author’s need to make an income outweighed her need to write a book that would have soul and meaning and bring joy to her readers in the way her novels ‘A Little Princess’ and ‘A Secret Garden’ continue to.
Most likely this story was written at the especial request of some religious ‘women’s’ tome of the sort, calculated to never upset the sensibilities of the men overseeing the upbringings of said women, or the social order of the women in their lives, by giving them ideas above their intellect or station. I glimpsed a number of times when I believe the author was deliberately pulling snarky fun at these notions, but it was subtly and sarcastically done and unlikely to have been noticed by persons who prescribed this sort of moral tale for the edification of their ‘beautiful but dumb’ and therefore morally acceptable female relations. Actually my personal opinion is that the author very cleverly managed to portray the ‘big, dumb, stupid, but well meaning heroine as the only character with true acumen and survival skills that demonstrated a highly evolved (if well concealed) intelligence; one that surpassed that of all the other more supposedly intellectual characters and made her come out on top in every situation. -
I saw a BBC moive titled, "The Making of a Lady" which was just awesome! Then I discovered that it was based on a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett the author of The Little Princess and The Secret Garden, two of my favorite childhood books. So, I immediately found it on Amazon, downloaded it in one click and started reading.
The story was different, of course, from the movie. Really the movie had the bones of the plot, but mixed it around a great deal. I liked both for different reasons. The novel was rich with characterization and the mood and feeling of the time. The movie was thrillingly romantic.
Emily Fox-Seaton is a penniless gentlewoman making her way in London by doing odds and ends service jobs for the fine ladies of London. Emily is just too good and the Lady Maria invites her to the country where she unknowing draws the attention of Lady Maria's cousin, the Marquis of Walderhurst and finds herself married to him and growing to love him before he is whisked off to do his duty in India. Unfortunately that leaves her exposed to the machinations of the man who would inherit the Marquis' wealth and name should he die without an heir.
I was annoyed at times with Emily. She was too good, all the time, but then like the other characters in the novel, I grew to love her, her kindness, her innocence, and her beauty. In the movie she never seemed to grow, to become the lady of the title, but in the novel her goodness enriches her love , which in turn enriches her.
If you love classics like Rebecca by Dauphne du Maurier and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, you will so enjoy Emily, the 'Marchioness of Walderhurst. -
I am shocked that I had never heard of this book until just a few weeks ago. (Thank you Aunt Gayle!) What a delightful read! Previously I had only read the author's books for children, and, like many people, I didn't even know about her novels for adults until now.
The book was originally published in two parts: the first is a "Cinderella Story" of sorts, and the second is a drama/suspense/romance. It's filled with interesting characters, and moments that will make you smile and/or sigh, bite your nails, and keep you turning pages. And, like most books of the time, there is nothing offensive. Hallelujah!
Actually, I'm quite surprised that BBC hasn't made this into a mini-series. It's perfectly suited to it!
If you plan to read it, make sure you get the version containing both parts. -
Another adult Burnett. I like the first part better, Emily looks such a nice, capable woman that could take care her own life, thank you very much. The romance (or the inexistence of it) was touching but not puke inducing. In the second part she seemed to be abandoning her self-reliance and became this adoring sugar sweet wife. I suppose this is real and valid thing to happen even now. It's so easy and comfortable to slip into it. I know I would gladly do it. It sounds as if I don't approve of stay at home houswifes, it's not that.. I might even call it envy, heh, not such a feminist am I? I would need to think more about it...
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I had no idea that the Author of "The Little Princess" and "Secret Garden" actually wrote more than this (well, correction. I knew about "Little Lord Fauntleroy" but never read it but saw some TV movie of it.) This book is WONDERFUL!! It has shades (maybe more than shades) of "Little Princess" but is for adults. The main character is one of those you know is too good to be real but makes you want to strive to be like her. I cried several times and was satisfied at that end. I will probably read it again because I read it so hungrily that I may have gone through it too quickly to get what I ought to out of it.
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Slight spoiler:
The Making of a Marchioness kind of reminds me of a fairy tale, a 19th century fairy tale. There is the handsome, nice, naive heroine, the wealthy male suitor, and the evil influences. I got a bit distracted with all the references to the goodness and the niceness of Emily and her general outlook on life (a bit too saccharine for my taste) but that aside it's a pleasant read for the most part and like a fairy tale, good triumphs over evil. -
This is a light and sweet little book. It is a version of a Cinderella story, with a less romantic view. I will always love her Secret Garden and A Little Princess best, but this was a fun character story.
Re read for something light. Still a gentle character who is under appreciated until the end of next book. She is surrounded by selfish people who nevertheless love her. -
Emily is an assistant to the rich high-class ladies in London, making her living by planning parties, running errands, and doing little things that no one else wants to do. She lives in a small apartment where she is good friends with her landlady, Mrs. Cupp. Emily is hired to help entertain at a country manor and organize the yearly fête for the village children. She befriends one of the guests, Lady Agatha, and encourages her to attract the attention of the most eligible rich bachelor at the manor, Lord Walderhurst. But his lordship seems unimpressed with any of the single ladies present, until he reveals his true feelings to the one woman who has caught his fancy.
I do enjoy this author's writing style and the charm of the setting, but I didn't really like this plot. It was pretty obvious who Lord Walderhurst was going to end up with, and I didn't like the way the romance unfolded.
I also didn't really like the characters. They are all rather shallow and drab. Emily is so perfect and so self-sacrificing that it got on my nerves. I wanted to like her, but she is so completely angelic that she doesn't seem like a real person.
Lord Walderhurst is practically a non-entity. He has almost no dialogue, no personality, no charisma. He is taciturn and aloof with everyone. He admits that he is a selfish person, and he is looking for a wife who is unselfish. He is supposed to be the hero of the story, but I just hated him.
The supporting characters are made of cardboard. They have no depth at all. They serve their purpose to set the stage for Emily's story and then they fade quietly into the background with no more substance than a stage prop.
However, I still enjoyed this story because I do love the charming writing style. It kept my attention and I read it all in one sitting! I would probably reread this book someday, because it just sweeps you away into this beautiful Victorian setting of grace and glamour. -
If I could mark it less than one star I would. Miss Fox-Seton is worse even than Elsie Dinsmore!
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Breezy sweetness at the beginning with a chipper heroine who narrowly avoids being overly Pollyanna-ish, I really did like her in the beginning. (I stopped liking her in the end, all the talk about her not being clever made me annoyed....as did the religious bits...& her sudden inability to do anything for herself after she had been so capable in the beginning of the book.)
This is a good book when you're feeling sad & blue, perhaps a tad under the weather, & it's raining. There's a coziness to the descriptions that made me feel like snuggling deeper under the covers.
It's good buuuuut..... Sexist? Check. Racist? Check. The Imperial Might of England sticking in your throat like a particularly painful fishbone? Check.
