The prose is quite dense in spots - not obscure vocabulary, but very VERY long sentences that could have been chopped up easily. The main characters aren't all that dynamic. Gideon really is an ass, going about his business of keeping Mary on the side while he courts secret Puritan Celeste Southern in order to get his house. Mary is pale and fragile and really very willing to be Gideon's doormat, except in those moments when she isn't, and her crusade to become literate is more pathetic than sweet.
Still....I kept reading and my interest didn't wane. I did like the character of Celeste, who is holier-than-thou and, at first glance, makes Lillian Gish seem like a screaming harlot. However, the scenes with her were great, sort of a portrait of the smug and justified hypocrisy of the Puritans and Cromwellians. She undertakes Gideon as a pet project of salvation, and utterly convinces herself that her pride in eventual victory is really just a tribute to God rather than her own personal vanity. She's insufferable, and her ending is no more than she deserves. She was the best-drawn character in the book, and I was glad that the final chapter was hers.
The atmosphere of the court was well-done without dwelling on the well-trod territory of Charles and his mistresses. Castlemaine makes a brief appearance, Charles is rather selfish and not the woobified martyr to love in recent HF, and Rochester isn't a fractious and naughty puppy, but a craven coward whose reputation-destroying viciousness Charles admittedly tolerates because he's amusing. It was a different take from other also-ran Restoration era novels, and so I enjoyed it. 4 stars.
Still....I kept reading and my interest didn't wane. I did like the character of Celeste, who is holier-than-thou and, at first glance, makes Lillian Gish seem like a screaming harlot. However, the scenes with her were great, sort of a portrait of the smug and justified hypocrisy of the Puritans and Cromwellians. She undertakes Gideon as a pet project of salvation, and utterly convinces herself that her pride in eventual victory is really just a tribute to God rather than her own personal vanity. She's insufferable, and her ending is no more than she deserves. She was the best-drawn character in the book, and I was glad that the final chapter was hers.
The atmosphere of the court was well-done without dwelling on the well-trod territory of Charles and his mistresses. Castlemaine makes a brief appearance, Charles is rather selfish and not the woobified martyr to love in recent HF, and Rochester isn't a fractious and naughty puppy, but a craven coward whose reputation-destroying viciousness Charles admittedly tolerates because he's amusing. It was a different take from other also-ran Restoration era novels, and so I enjoyed it. 4 stars.
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