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A review by morgandhu
Spring Flowering by Farah Mendlesohn
4.0
Farah Mendlesohn is best known for her literary criticism, much of it in the areas of fantasy, science fiction, and children’s literature. To these scholarly credits she must now add the accolade of a writer of delightful queer historical romance.
Spring Flowering is the story of Ann Gray, a 27-year-old parson’s daughter who finds herself on the brink of a life of her own following the death of her father. Leaving the parsonage where she grew up for the new world of Birmingham, where her uncle owns and operates a fancy metalwork business, Ann is surrounded by new people, new sights, and new ideas.
But welcome though she is in her uncle’s lively establishment, Ann is not fully content. Accustomed to managing her father’s household after her mother’s death, Ann is now a supernumerary in her aunt’s home. Her cousin Louisa, with whom she has the most in common, has begun to work in the family business - something that Ann had encouraged her uncle to consider, for it was clearly something Louisa longed to do, yet it has left her without a companion. She finds no interest in the courtship offered by Mr. Morden, the young curate who took over her father’s parish. And Jane, the bosom friend of her youth, with whom she had shared a passionate friendship, is now married.
Thus, Ann finds herself both intrigued and somewhat distracted by by the stylish, somewhat older Mrs. King, a widow who has entered into a business partnership with her uncle - especially when Mrs. King offers her the position of governess to her two sons, who are to be educated along with her own cousin, her uncle’s young son and heir, as they will be the next generation of partners in the family business. The offer is exciting, and yet, when Ann goes to visit Jane for a few weeks, it is Louisa whom she finds herself missing most.
The story unfolds slowly and gently, with a keen eye fir the rhythms of family, business and social life that is both entertaining and rewarding.
Behind the story of Ann’s slow flowering, Mendlesohn presents a detailed picture of merchant class life in the early 19th century. I find myself reading about Uncle James and his factory and trade outlet, and thinking that this is what I didn’t see in Jane Austen’s stories - this is something like the life, for instance, that Elizabeth Bennett’s beloved Aunt and Uncle would have lived in London, at a time when family and business were still interwoven. We see hints of the coming industrial age, as successful family-centred trades slowly increase in scope becoming concentrated capital projects. Craftsmen are on the verge of being replaced by labourers at machine lines, even while social changes are bringing about such progressive trends as greater freedom for women and abolition of the slave trade.
Mendlesohn handles the queer aspects of the romance with a deft touch, and it is pleasant to read a lesbian historical romance in which no one seems distressed that Ann does not warm to men, that she has had one ‘particular friendship’ already in her life, and that she is being delicately courted by a woman known to have had such ‘particular friendships’ herself.
To quote the final line in the book, “It all felt very satisfying indeed!”
Spring Flowering is the story of Ann Gray, a 27-year-old parson’s daughter who finds herself on the brink of a life of her own following the death of her father. Leaving the parsonage where she grew up for the new world of Birmingham, where her uncle owns and operates a fancy metalwork business, Ann is surrounded by new people, new sights, and new ideas.
But welcome though she is in her uncle’s lively establishment, Ann is not fully content. Accustomed to managing her father’s household after her mother’s death, Ann is now a supernumerary in her aunt’s home. Her cousin Louisa, with whom she has the most in common, has begun to work in the family business - something that Ann had encouraged her uncle to consider, for it was clearly something Louisa longed to do, yet it has left her without a companion. She finds no interest in the courtship offered by Mr. Morden, the young curate who took over her father’s parish. And Jane, the bosom friend of her youth, with whom she had shared a passionate friendship, is now married.
Thus, Ann finds herself both intrigued and somewhat distracted by by the stylish, somewhat older Mrs. King, a widow who has entered into a business partnership with her uncle - especially when Mrs. King offers her the position of governess to her two sons, who are to be educated along with her own cousin, her uncle’s young son and heir, as they will be the next generation of partners in the family business. The offer is exciting, and yet, when Ann goes to visit Jane for a few weeks, it is Louisa whom she finds herself missing most.
The story unfolds slowly and gently, with a keen eye fir the rhythms of family, business and social life that is both entertaining and rewarding.
Behind the story of Ann’s slow flowering, Mendlesohn presents a detailed picture of merchant class life in the early 19th century. I find myself reading about Uncle James and his factory and trade outlet, and thinking that this is what I didn’t see in Jane Austen’s stories - this is something like the life, for instance, that Elizabeth Bennett’s beloved Aunt and Uncle would have lived in London, at a time when family and business were still interwoven. We see hints of the coming industrial age, as successful family-centred trades slowly increase in scope becoming concentrated capital projects. Craftsmen are on the verge of being replaced by labourers at machine lines, even while social changes are bringing about such progressive trends as greater freedom for women and abolition of the slave trade.
Mendlesohn handles the queer aspects of the romance with a deft touch, and it is pleasant to read a lesbian historical romance in which no one seems distressed that Ann does not warm to men, that she has had one ‘particular friendship’ already in her life, and that she is being delicately courted by a woman known to have had such ‘particular friendships’ herself.
To quote the final line in the book, “It all felt very satisfying indeed!”