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A review by alba_marie
Charlotte by Helen Moffett
4.0
{4.5 stars}
“[Anne de Burgh] lived in comfort and even splendour. For as long as she lived, the handsome roof over her head was secure. She need never fear deprivation or something worse …As much as anyone who lived under Lady Catherine’s way was able, she had only herself to please. Why would any woman fortunate enough to find herself in these circumstances expose herself to the risks, the haphazard lottery of marriage?”
Charlotte was a decent retelling (or rather expansion) of the Pride & Prejudice storylines. In this book, Charlotte has been married for 6-7 years. She has just buried her son, and travels to Pemberley to share her grief with Elizabeth, who has had yet another miscarriage. Through this visit, we see her relate her life and her reasons for marrying Mr Collins, becoming a wife, and later a mother, as well as grieving for her son. We also see her burgeoning friendship with Anne de Burgh, who in this book is awesome. There's no other way to say it. (In some ways, I almost wanted the book to be about Anne, or at least this version of Anne, rather than Charlotte, but the book was still fulfilling).
In the Afterward, Helen Moffat says has always been fascinated by the character of Charlotte Lucas, and she was inspired to write her tale on the basis of "What if Charlotte had overheard the rude and injurious things Mrs Bennet said about her to the Bingleys and Mr Darcy on the infamous Bennet visit to Netherfield Park after Jane falls ill?" It's not something I've ever really thought about, and truth be told, Charlotte has often felt a bit more like a plot device than anything else. Though I remember reading the book for the first time as a girl being at first bewildered by Charlotte's choices, and later starting understand, going as far as to say that I might have done the same thing in her place.
Charlotte grows into her new life and her new roles, and slowly is able to (finally!) take control of her own destiny, securing a future for her daughters Sarah and Laura, developing a meaningful friendship with Anne de Burgh, keeping her close friendship with Lizzy, as well as finding love and even appreciating sex ;)
This is my second P&P retelling of 2021 - the first was Janice Hadlow's brilliant The Other Bennet Sister, which focuses on Mary Bennet. Though her debut novel, Hadlow has an impressing way with words that successfully mirrors an original Austen book and I found her story utterly entrancing. Charlottewas good too - but slightly less stunning.
Let's talk about Anne. She was SO unexpected. She is a minor character in the original, a plot point, a mere hinderance to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. In here, she is a fully fledged - and awesome - woman with a life, fears and dreams. Though wealthy, she too must make difficult choices - to marry, and gain security, but lose all access to her own money? Or to become an old maid - alone, but in control of her fortune and life? She also does some unusual things that were a little out of place for the original P&P. At first I found it a little jarring, but by the end, it was refreshing.
One thing I find interesting - Charlotte is surprisingly 'woke' for the time period. In some ways, you can tell that this was written in the 21st century. Not that the things that happen in he book wouldn't have happened then - just that they might not have been recorded in a novel meant for the middle class Regency era women. Charlotte visits gypsy camp and doesn’t seem concerned, she is surprised at meeting a Jewish man, but is overall very welcoming towards him. She is aware of the limitations put on her as a woman and mentions this repeatedly (did women really discuss this? Or was it just accepted as "well, it is what it is..."). Anne dresses in men’s clothing and gallivants across the countryside and while Charlotte is surprised at that, she ultimately just kind of shrugs it off. Maybe eccentricity in the rich was something that people of the time just raised their eyebrows and shrugged off?
The last thing that bothered me a little in the first quarter of the book was that Charlotte had a steady internal monologue going but says very little of what she is thinking - which is a little strange then that people keep coming over to her and spilling their deepest fears/secrets/wishes - particularly Anne, Elizabeth, even the gypsy woman. She had so much to say - we heard it! - but no one else did. I think this may have been done on purpose though - she feels liberated in telling her story to Jakob the musician at Pemberley.
I loved the end when she stood up to Lady Catherine and was actually able to get one over on her! Similar to Elizabeth in P&P, Charlotte is able to get what she wants i.e. by exploiting a flaw in Lady Catherine's worldview (ie an heir to Pemberley).
Some comments about the audiobook: The voice used for Elizabeth really annoys me - she sounds like she’s about to laughable the time - even when she’s discussing serious matters like miscarriages and marriage and death. It’s weird and so un-Elizabeth-like. Also, Charlotte keeps calling her ‘Eliza” but in P&P, she was always “Lizzy” - maybe I'm wrong, but to me, Eliza doesn’t suit her!!
“[Anne de Burgh] lived in comfort and even splendour. For as long as she lived, the handsome roof over her head was secure. She need never fear deprivation or something worse …As much as anyone who lived under Lady Catherine’s way was able, she had only herself to please. Why would any woman fortunate enough to find herself in these circumstances expose herself to the risks, the haphazard lottery of marriage?”
Charlotte was a decent retelling (or rather expansion) of the Pride & Prejudice storylines. In this book, Charlotte has been married for 6-7 years. She has just buried her son, and travels to Pemberley to share her grief with Elizabeth, who has had yet another miscarriage. Through this visit, we see her relate her life and her reasons for marrying Mr Collins, becoming a wife, and later a mother, as well as grieving for her son. We also see her burgeoning friendship with Anne de Burgh, who in this book is awesome. There's no other way to say it. (In some ways, I almost wanted the book to be about Anne, or at least this version of Anne, rather than Charlotte, but the book was still fulfilling).
In the Afterward, Helen Moffat says has always been fascinated by the character of Charlotte Lucas, and she was inspired to write her tale on the basis of "What if Charlotte had overheard the rude and injurious things Mrs Bennet said about her to the Bingleys and Mr Darcy on the infamous Bennet visit to Netherfield Park after Jane falls ill?" It's not something I've ever really thought about, and truth be told, Charlotte has often felt a bit more like a plot device than anything else. Though I remember reading the book for the first time as a girl being at first bewildered by Charlotte's choices, and later starting understand, going as far as to say that I might have done the same thing in her place.
Charlotte grows into her new life and her new roles, and slowly is able to (finally!) take control of her own destiny, securing a future for her daughters Sarah and Laura, developing a meaningful friendship with Anne de Burgh, keeping her close friendship with Lizzy, as well as finding love and even appreciating sex ;)
This is my second P&P retelling of 2021 - the first was Janice Hadlow's brilliant The Other Bennet Sister, which focuses on Mary Bennet. Though her debut novel, Hadlow has an impressing way with words that successfully mirrors an original Austen book and I found her story utterly entrancing. Charlottewas good too - but slightly less stunning.
Let's talk about Anne. She was SO unexpected. She is a minor character in the original, a plot point, a mere hinderance to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. In here, she is a fully fledged - and awesome - woman with a life, fears and dreams. Though wealthy, she too must make difficult choices - to marry, and gain security, but lose all access to her own money? Or to become an old maid - alone, but in control of her fortune and life? She also does some unusual things that were a little out of place for the original P&P. At first I found it a little jarring, but by the end, it was refreshing
Spoiler
such as dressing in men's clothes and riding out at night, befriending the gypsies, running away several times while in France, and choosing to foster/adopt Charlotte's son as heir of Rosings. I admit, the one thing I wanted was for Charlotte to be Anne's companion for her next trip abroad, and I don't think that happened, or at least it wasn't super clear. But I'd like to think they did go abroad, maybe with the kids they are sort of co-parenting.One thing I find interesting - Charlotte is surprisingly 'woke' for the time period. In some ways, you can tell that this was written in the 21st century. Not that the things that happen in he book wouldn't have happened then - just that they might not have been recorded in a novel meant for the middle class Regency era women. Charlotte visits gypsy camp and doesn’t seem concerned, she is surprised at meeting a Jewish man, but is overall very welcoming towards him. She is aware of the limitations put on her as a woman and mentions this repeatedly (did women really discuss this? Or was it just accepted as "well, it is what it is..."). Anne dresses in men’s clothing and gallivants across the countryside and while Charlotte is surprised at that, she ultimately just kind of shrugs it off. Maybe eccentricity in the rich was something that people of the time just raised their eyebrows and shrugged off?
Spoiler
the sex scene at the end would also fall into this category. Of course it happened but would never have appeared in a like book from this time!The last thing that bothered me a little in the first quarter of the book was that Charlotte had a steady internal monologue going but says very little of what she is thinking - which is a little strange then that people keep coming over to her and spilling their deepest fears/secrets/wishes - particularly Anne, Elizabeth, even the gypsy woman. She had so much to say - we heard it! - but no one else did. I think this may have been done on purpose though - she feels liberated in telling her story to Jakob the musician at Pemberley.
I loved the end when she stood up to Lady Catherine and was actually able to get one over on her! Similar to Elizabeth in P&P, Charlotte is able to get what she wants i.e.
Spoiler
staying in the Rosings parish instead of taking over LongbournSome comments about the audiobook: The voice used for Elizabeth really annoys me - she sounds like she’s about to laughable the time - even when she’s discussing serious matters like miscarriages and marriage and death. It’s weird and so un-Elizabeth-like. Also, Charlotte keeps calling her ‘Eliza” but in P&P, she was always “Lizzy” - maybe I'm wrong, but to me, Eliza doesn’t suit her!!