Helpful Score: 1
This book tells the story of Veda, a young woman made deaf after an illness. She is the daughter of a tailor in Victorian England, and since society feels marriage will probably not be an option for her due to her disability, she is very content to work with her father since she loves the trade as much as he does. However, she ends up attracting the attentions of three men in her life. Her tutor, Mr. Nicholls, helps her learn how to communicate with the world, but will Veda respond to the feelings he has for her? Her father's right-hand man, Mr. Balducci appears to admire her skills as a tailor and seeks to make her a lady of great standing. Harry Breadalbane (or Lord Ormelie) is the son of an older woman Veda becomes friends with (she walks with a limp but carries herself with dignity and grace, which Veda finds herself drawn to both before and after she loses her hearing) and Veda is drawn to the stories about Harry, even if she's barely met him. However, this book is not just about the romance, rather these relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or imagined, help Veda come to terms with who she is as a person. This story is about a young woman making her way in a world that doesn't have much tolerance for someone who is different. She learns how to read lips to understand what's going on around her and "passes" for a hearing person when she can so that she can fit into society. However, she also finds that due to her deafness, she is also able to live a life that a hearing woman wouldn't be able to (she can work in a career that she loves, she can flaunt certain social norms when she feels the need because she'll never truly fit in anyway so she can bend rules here and there). The author certainly did a lot of research of Victorian fashion (very detailed descriptions and the occasional pictures are sprinkled throughout the text). There are parts of the book that do seem to get bogged down from either long descriptions or stagnant parts in the action, but overall it moves for a large book (though the ending did feel rushed after all of the build up to it). It actually feels like a few books in one because a few different stories seem to emerge during Veda's life and could almost be read as separate books (not quite, but you could almost get that feeling). Anyway, I really did enjoy this book! :-)
