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A review by pgchuis
The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett
5.0
I had no idea, until I saw a review of this novel on someone's blog, that Burnett had even written novels for adults. I read her children's novels decades ago (when I was a child) and remember them as very Victorian and overly sentimental. "The Shuttle" on the other hand is not at all sentimental - and it was great.
The Vanderpoels, American millionaires, have two daughters and the eldest, Rosalie, marries Sir Nigel Anstruther and moves to England. They lose contact with her - it's not really a spoiler to say that Sir Nigel turns out to have only been after her money and is emotionally and physically abusive to her. Twelve years later, her much younger sister, Betty, who was always suspicious of Sir Nigel, sets out for England to get to the bottom of things. Betty is a fantastic character, who while pretty much perfect to start with, still manages to develop and grow as a character. Rosy is a bit pathetic and her poor son fades out of the story completely about half way through, but Sir Nigel is an excellent villain and Betty falls in love along the way.
If I had to criticize, I would say it is perhaps longer than it needed to be and there is more description of internal musing and less dialogue than is ideal. Still, the best book I have read for a while - I read the free Kindle edition, but have ordered a Persephone Books edition to keep.
The Vanderpoels, American millionaires, have two daughters and the eldest, Rosalie, marries Sir Nigel Anstruther and moves to England. They lose contact with her - it's not really a spoiler to say that Sir Nigel turns out to have only been after her money and is emotionally and physically abusive to her. Twelve years later, her much younger sister, Betty, who was always suspicious of Sir Nigel, sets out for England to get to the bottom of things. Betty is a fantastic character, who while pretty much perfect to start with, still manages to develop and grow as a character. Rosy is a bit pathetic and her poor son fades out of the story completely about half way through, but Sir Nigel is an excellent villain and Betty falls in love along the way.
If I had to criticize, I would say it is perhaps longer than it needed to be and there is more description of internal musing and less dialogue than is ideal. Still, the best book I have read for a while - I read the free Kindle edition, but have ordered a Persephone Books edition to keep.