Scan barcode
A review by akje
Consequences by E.M. Delafield
5.0
If you liked The Third Miss Symons, The Awakening, or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, then you might like this book. It's the same kind of social commentary on the plight of women in the late Victorian/Edwardian eras.
Alex Clare is the eldest daughter of Lady Isabel and Sir Francis, a wealthy, aristocratic couple who have a lot of children but little interest or affection for them, and view children mainly as status symbols. They spend as little time with their kids as possible, dumping them on a strict, unpleasant nurse, and don't really ever get to know them as individuals, judging them mostly by physical appearances.
Alex is therefore starved for attention, and does absurd things throughout the book in the pursuit of someone—anyone—who will love her more than anything, just as she loves them. These absurd pursuits result in tragic consequences due to the limited opportunities for women of that time period.
At first I didn't like Alex because she's emo in the extreme and cries at the slightest provocation, but as the story went on I came to sympathize with her. Her only real desire, after all, is for someone to love her. Money, status and material things mean nothing to her...she only wants love. Yet even her own parents have no time for her, so she grows up without any self-esteem or confidence.
She wants to get her mother's attention, for example, but Lady Isabel's a social butterfly who's all about keeping up appearances and never has time for her children because she's out fulfilling society's obligations regarding tea parties and whatnot. Sadly these social obligations are solely for her own benefit, not to advance her children's prospects in life. When her daughters desperately need her to introduce them to young men as marriage candidates, for instance, she's unable to do so. Their only means for meeting men therefore is the debutante circuit, but having no confidence in herself, Alex is unable to land anyone that way. Since women without husbands couldn't survive in that time period, the consequences for a failed debutante are horrific. It's a sad book, but if you're in the mood for a good cry then you'll love this story. (╥︣﹏᷅╥) ❤애!❣♥
Alex Clare is the eldest daughter of Lady Isabel and Sir Francis, a wealthy, aristocratic couple who have a lot of children but little interest or affection for them, and view children mainly as status symbols. They spend as little time with their kids as possible, dumping them on a strict, unpleasant nurse, and don't really ever get to know them as individuals, judging them mostly by physical appearances.
Alex is therefore starved for attention, and does absurd things throughout the book in the pursuit of someone—anyone—who will love her more than anything, just as she loves them. These absurd pursuits result in tragic consequences due to the limited opportunities for women of that time period.
At first I didn't like Alex because she's emo in the extreme and cries at the slightest provocation, but as the story went on I came to sympathize with her. Her only real desire, after all, is for someone to love her. Money, status and material things mean nothing to her...she only wants love. Yet even her own parents have no time for her, so she grows up without any self-esteem or confidence.
She wants to get her mother's attention, for example, but Lady Isabel's a social butterfly who's all about keeping up appearances and never has time for her children because she's out fulfilling society's obligations regarding tea parties and whatnot. Sadly these social obligations are solely for her own benefit, not to advance her children's prospects in life. When her daughters desperately need her to introduce them to young men as marriage candidates, for instance, she's unable to do so. Their only means for meeting men therefore is the debutante circuit, but having no confidence in herself, Alex is unable to land anyone that way. Since women without husbands couldn't survive in that time period, the consequences for a failed debutante are horrific. It's a sad book, but if you're in the mood for a good cry then you'll love this story. (╥︣﹏᷅╥) ❤애!❣♥