A review by ceallaighsbooks
The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh by Molly Greeley

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“The story, of the longed-for princess who lay protected for so long in her enchanted sleep, was as familiar as my own. As my eyes closed at last, I saw the princess so very clearly—unnaturally still and silent on her narrow bed until the moment the enchantment broke. As I watched from behind my lids, the princess blinked, sloughed off the covering of cobwebs, and rose, looking astonished, from her bed.”

TITLE—The Heiress
AUTHOR—Molly Greeley
PUBLISHED—2021
PUBLISHER—William Morrow (HarperCollins imprint)

GENRE—historical fiction; retelling
SETTING—Georgian England
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—childhood illness, opium addiction, fairy tales, f/f romance, personal agency, possible off-the-page Autism, some gothic imagery, ghosts & hallucinations, sentient house vibes, female/queer agency in Georgian England, retelling-ish vibes, mother-daughter relationship, queer themes

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—Anne is the most relatable born-into-wealth privileged character I have ever read. Really enjoyed her character development.

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Snakes of ivy had begun a slow, strangling climb up the base of the poplar. They looped around the bulbous trunk and crept on tough hairy feet along the twisting branches. They moved, of course, far too slowly for human eyes to observe the actual motion, and yet I was able to track their progress over months and years of Sundays. My breast filled with affection for the ivy: its rustling three-pronged leaves, its apparent stillness and inexorable creep. And at the same time, I was sometimes punched by sympathy for the tree, for, just as inexorably, it was being smothered.”

My thoughts:
This book was very heavy seeing as how it treated drug (opium) addiction in a child 😰 but I thought it was very gently, thoughtfully, and genuinely handled. The characters were all quite vivid and very complex with no one feeling too tropey and even the insufferable Lady Catherine de Bourgh was interestingly portrayed in spite of her horribleness.

I loved Anne. She reminded me a lot of Anne Walker from GENTLEMAN JACK but was also different in a lot of ways. She felt very complex, sympathetic, and believable in light of her experiences and the time period in which the book was set.

I also loved the writing style. It had a definite modern (& almost gothic) literary feel to it while still capturing the very intentional tone of Austen’s original work along with some of the original wit (as much as could be reasonably applied in what was granted a more serious book). Tbh this book had no business being as beautifully written as it was. At times I completely forgot I was reading genre fiction.

And finally I just want to say that the deeper philosophy behind this book—the emphasis on the personhood of non-humans, the exploration of what personal agency can look like for a woman in Georgian England, love & sex, the complex nature of human personality & relationships—was all so well-handled and I really appreciate how effortlessly Greeley incorporated these themes into what was essentially just a fun piece of genre fiction. Her work is an excellent example of how you don’t need to have problematic stuff in your book just because you’re writing historical/genre fiction. Hats off to her for that. Will definitely be seeking out more of her books!

I would recommend this book to fans of Jane Austen and/or historical fiction, especially when they feature queer / gothic themes.

“…and then Eliza’s thigh pushed between both of mine, dragging my shift against my skin, startling me into an entirely new knowledge of myself. And shiver every Feather with Desire.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // child abuse, very graphic: opium addiction (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—
  • PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, by Jane Austen
  • THE CLERGYMAN’S WIFE, by Molly Greeley (Charlotte Lucas’s story)—TBR
  • MARVELOUS, by Molly Greeley (A Beauty & the Beast origin story)—TBR
  • ALICE IN WONDERLAND, by Lewis Carroll
  • AFTER ALICE, by Gregory Maguire
  • GENTLEMAN JACK (2019 TV show)
  • Anne Lister’s diaries
  • WHITE IS FOR WITCHING, by Helen Oyeyemi (sentient house, emaciating illness, also Ore was from Kent)
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