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5.0étoiles sur 5
Excellent Historical, Aoû 29 2003
In the London cholera epidemic of 1849, MP Sir Charles Cooper is
worried for his youngest daughter, seventeen year old Harriet, and
resolves to send her away to the country until the danger has past.Harriet is pleased to get away from her father, but also worried that
he won't send her elder sister, Mary, with her. Isn't she in danger
from the cholera too? (More danger than either of them know, for Mary
has been helping a doctor treat the cholera patients in the poorest
parts of London.) Harriet enjoys her stay in the country with her cousins, and wonders
at the easy way the family has with each other, for there is a dark
secret at her London home, one she has no words for, because how can
a young lady speak of the unspeakable? Harriet plans a daring escape to New Zealand, following in the footsteps
of her cousin, for surely even her father's reach cannot get so far
as New Zealand? This book is excellent, with a little dash of history thrown in now and then, but without turning the novel into a history book. The main
emphasis is on the characters, and what characters they were. So
realisitic and evolved. I was on tenterhooks the whole time wondering
of Harriet could ever escape. At a time when women had no money of their own (unless they were lower
class and could work), they were owned first by their fathers and
then by their husbands, and were not even allowed to work, how could
a young girl escape her terrible fate? "Everything you say is yours, belongs to me, is provided by me,
everything, every breath that you take belongs to me. I am your
father. And as you well know you owe me absolute obedience." I devoured this book in two days, you just have to keep reading to
find out what happens next. With a wealth of historical detail and
well drawn characters, it's one you'd want to read again. Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Drowning Rapunzel and Silent Screams.
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