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A review by holtfan
A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett
4.0
Pause for a moment. Note the author.
Now to think to yourself, the author who wrote that sappy [b:Little Lord Fauntleroy|275247|Little Lord Fauntleroy|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386745618s/275247.jpg|1085162] novel and brought us the darling but perfect Sara Crew in [b:A Little Princess|3008|A Little Princess|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327868556s/3008.jpg|1313599] also wrote this book.
You're shocked, aren't you? I know. Me too. I kept double-checking in case I missed something.
You'd never guess it from her frothy children's novels, but Frances Hodgson Burnett was a badass. (Also, she apparently named some poor son of hers Vivian, but that's something to explore another day.)
Where to start to with A Lady of Quality? It isn't what you expect. Despite the increasingly moralistic tone of the characters as the book progresses, this isn't a moralizing story. People do evil, or at least not-so-nice things, and it kinda gets swept under the rug. Only one truly evil person seems to exist and even he shows as more pathetic than despicable.
Oh, I suppose this story has its share of extreme melodrama and heaving bosoms and and saintly side characters. The important point is that the main character isn't a saint. She's mean and twisted initially. Burnett redeems her, but not by sacrificing her to wasting disease or anything like that, which is what I kept expecting. She gets a romance for the ages.
Though the book builds towards her final, saving romance, it doesn't revolve around it. Different kinds of love push this book along, from a sister's devotion to a Father's self-centeredness. It really is fascinating.
I'm intrigued and will definitely need to find more by Burnett!
Now to think to yourself, the author who wrote that sappy [b:Little Lord Fauntleroy|275247|Little Lord Fauntleroy|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386745618s/275247.jpg|1085162] novel and brought us the darling but perfect Sara Crew in [b:A Little Princess|3008|A Little Princess|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327868556s/3008.jpg|1313599] also wrote this book.
You're shocked, aren't you? I know. Me too. I kept double-checking in case I missed something.
You'd never guess it from her frothy children's novels, but Frances Hodgson Burnett was a badass. (Also, she apparently named some poor son of hers Vivian, but that's something to explore another day.)
Where to start to with A Lady of Quality? It isn't what you expect. Despite the increasingly moralistic tone of the characters as the book progresses, this isn't a moralizing story. People do evil, or at least not-so-nice things, and it kinda gets swept under the rug. Only one truly evil person seems to exist and even he shows as more pathetic than despicable.
Oh, I suppose this story has its share of extreme melodrama and heaving bosoms and and saintly side characters. The important point is that the main character isn't a saint. She's mean and twisted initially. Burnett redeems her, but not by sacrificing her to wasting disease or anything like that, which is what I kept expecting. She gets a romance for the ages.
Though the book builds towards her final, saving romance, it doesn't revolve around it. Different kinds of love push this book along, from a sister's devotion to a Father's self-centeredness. It really is fascinating.
I'm intrigued and will definitely need to find more by Burnett!