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A review by discount_viscount
Mariana by Monica Dickens
5.0
Mariana is a romance novel for people who would never deign to read a romance novel but are in the mood for something romantic anyway.
Written by the great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, the book recounts the story of a young woman named Mary who reflects on her life so far as she awaits news of her new husband, who is away at war and very possibly dead.
That sounds very serious and unamusing but the tone of the book is actually light and humorous, taking place as it does in the mind of an irreverent and awkward young girl. You could easily hate Mary with her bucolic summers in the country and Parisian escapades, if you weren't also privvy to her various failures and humiliations. And as is the case for most of us, the record of her love life is rather hit and miss and all that is detailed in the book along with the more dreamy, squealy parts.
I love the title "Mariana". It comes from a poem that is referenced in the book but also indicates that the book is about all things "Mary", which seems to illustrate perfectly the charm of this story.
Written by the great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, the book recounts the story of a young woman named Mary who reflects on her life so far as she awaits news of her new husband, who is away at war and very possibly dead.
That sounds very serious and unamusing but the tone of the book is actually light and humorous, taking place as it does in the mind of an irreverent and awkward young girl. You could easily hate Mary with her bucolic summers in the country and Parisian escapades, if you weren't also privvy to her various failures and humiliations. And as is the case for most of us, the record of her love life is rather hit and miss and all that is detailed in the book along with the more dreamy, squealy parts.
I love the title "Mariana". It comes from a poem that is referenced in the book but also indicates that the book is about all things "Mary", which seems to illustrate perfectly the charm of this story.