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A review by catherine_t
Charlotte by Helen Moffett
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins, whom Elizabeth Bennet famously rejects despite all the entreaties of her mother. The reader gets a glimpse of their married life when Lizzy goes on a visit to Hunsford with Charlotte's father and sister Maria. But that glimpse was not enough for Helen Moffett. The result is Charlotte, in which Moffett imagines Charlotte Collins' life outside of Elizabeth's point of view.
The book opens with Charlotte and her husband losing their youngest child, Tom, to hydrocephalus at the age of 3. The Collinses have been married for seven years at this point, and have two daughters as well. But the loss of their son is devastating, as indeed the loss of any child is. As Charlotte lives with her grief, she finds an unexpected ally in Anne de Bourgh, daughter of the formidable Lady Catherine, a character Moffett develops greatly beyond the pale silent creature Austen gives us. Then comes an invitation from Pemberley: Mr. Darcy has business that must take him away for several weeks, and he would like Charlotte and her daughters to keep Elizabeth company. Charlotte accepts with alacrity.
Charlotte and her girls are not the only visitors at Pemberley. When they arrive, they meet Jacob Rosenstein, a musician and composer who has come to repair Georgiana Darcy's instruments, and Charlotte begins to realize that there is something beyond her limited Kentish horizons.
Though I am a dyed-in-the-wool Janeite, I haven't read much Jane Austen "fan fiction", for want of a better term, though what I have read I have mostly enjoyed. Charlotte definitely falls into this category. I can't say I've ever really speculated on what became of Charlotte Lucas when she became Mrs. Collins, but Moffett has expanded on what Austen gives us in a thoroughly authentic way (though I much doubt Jane would have written the fantastically erotic scene between Charlotte and Jacob). She gives an inner life to a character that Austen used to comment on the circumstances of single women in her own time, and she does it very well. Definitely recommended for Austen fans.
The book opens with Charlotte and her husband losing their youngest child, Tom, to hydrocephalus at the age of 3. The Collinses have been married for seven years at this point, and have two daughters as well. But the loss of their son is devastating, as indeed the loss of any child is. As Charlotte lives with her grief, she finds an unexpected ally in Anne de Bourgh, daughter of the formidable Lady Catherine, a character Moffett develops greatly beyond the pale silent creature Austen gives us. Then comes an invitation from Pemberley: Mr. Darcy has business that must take him away for several weeks, and he would like Charlotte and her daughters to keep Elizabeth company. Charlotte accepts with alacrity.
Charlotte and her girls are not the only visitors at Pemberley. When they arrive, they meet Jacob Rosenstein, a musician and composer who has come to repair Georgiana Darcy's instruments, and Charlotte begins to realize that there is something beyond her limited Kentish horizons.
Though I am a dyed-in-the-wool Janeite, I haven't read much Jane Austen "fan fiction", for want of a better term, though what I have read I have mostly enjoyed. Charlotte definitely falls into this category. I can't say I've ever really speculated on what became of Charlotte Lucas when she became Mrs. Collins, but Moffett has expanded on what Austen gives us in a thoroughly authentic way (though I much doubt Jane would have written the fantastically erotic scene between Charlotte and Jacob). She gives an inner life to a character that Austen used to comment on the circumstances of single women in her own time, and she does it very well. Definitely recommended for Austen fans.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Grief, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage and Religious bigotry