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lissan's reviews
842 reviews
The Vagabond Vicar by Charlotte Brentwood
4.0
Charlotte Brentwood contacted me and asked me if I wanted to review her new book 'The Vagabond Vicar'. Since I love historical fiction and a little bit of romance to go with it I agreed. The review to follow is my own personal view and Charlotte has not influenced me in any way.
First a short summary of the book. William Brook is an idealistic young cleric. His highest wish it to go to a foreign land to spread christianity and help the very poor people. Unfortunately for him, his best friend get a posting to India, and he himself, receives a small parish in Shropshire. This is not exactly what he was aiming at. Although it was seen as a favour to him, since the parish is a good one and he has the approval of the nobel family in the area. However, his idealistic self cannot see how there will be too many poor to help and he realises rather quickly that many families are eager for one of their daughters to merry the vicar. He is determined to stay one year, not get married and then go abroad.
Once in the village he soon gets involved into the daily life of people. He makes an effort to get to know them, to help them where necessary and to take them on the path to a more 'modern' life. The previous vicar had been there for 50 years and things have been idling as they were. Not everyone is happy with his intentions.
His love to be, interest, is Cecilia Grant. She is considered a little bit weird since she get lost in nature and herself. Most of the time she seems to be in another world. She is a free spirit and have difficulties to fit in to a suitable life. One season in London left her without a suitor and her mother is now trying again to find a husband. Her eyes are set on the younger son of the local nobility.
After meeting each other casually for a couple of times both William and Cecilia realise that there is more to their relationship than friendship. While their relationship develops, other people does not look upon it with favourable eyes. Jealousy, bad behaviour and revenge are some of the results, but amongst this back drop, they fall in love. Their love story is threatened by secrets in the village and a scandal from William's past. It will take a bold girl to set things right.
Charlotte Brentwood is a young author, and this is her first published book. Her heroes are Darcy, Knightly, Wentworth and Brandon. To be a first book and for the author to be so young, I find the writing very mature. You get into the book at once, the characters are slowly built up until you think you know them all, even the ones which are not frequently mentioned. The description of village life is very trustworthy, which is also the case for the religious parts which describes the work of the vicar. The story develops through the narratives of William and Cecilia.
As for most historical, romance novels, it is easy to read. Especially, since it is very well written. The story is very well put together and tied up in the end. There are several loose ends to tie up and she is doing it very well. The only thing slightly missing in the story line, is a little bit of a 'punch'? The story lacks a little bit of excitement and thrill, although at the end of the book it catches up. However, having said that, and considering the writing, I am looking forward to the next novel by Charlotte. If you like historical, regency, romance you should try this one.
First a short summary of the book. William Brook is an idealistic young cleric. His highest wish it to go to a foreign land to spread christianity and help the very poor people. Unfortunately for him, his best friend get a posting to India, and he himself, receives a small parish in Shropshire. This is not exactly what he was aiming at. Although it was seen as a favour to him, since the parish is a good one and he has the approval of the nobel family in the area. However, his idealistic self cannot see how there will be too many poor to help and he realises rather quickly that many families are eager for one of their daughters to merry the vicar. He is determined to stay one year, not get married and then go abroad.
Once in the village he soon gets involved into the daily life of people. He makes an effort to get to know them, to help them where necessary and to take them on the path to a more 'modern' life. The previous vicar had been there for 50 years and things have been idling as they were. Not everyone is happy with his intentions.
His love to be, interest, is Cecilia Grant. She is considered a little bit weird since she get lost in nature and herself. Most of the time she seems to be in another world. She is a free spirit and have difficulties to fit in to a suitable life. One season in London left her without a suitor and her mother is now trying again to find a husband. Her eyes are set on the younger son of the local nobility.
After meeting each other casually for a couple of times both William and Cecilia realise that there is more to their relationship than friendship. While their relationship develops, other people does not look upon it with favourable eyes. Jealousy, bad behaviour and revenge are some of the results, but amongst this back drop, they fall in love. Their love story is threatened by secrets in the village and a scandal from William's past. It will take a bold girl to set things right.
Charlotte Brentwood is a young author, and this is her first published book. Her heroes are Darcy, Knightly, Wentworth and Brandon. To be a first book and for the author to be so young, I find the writing very mature. You get into the book at once, the characters are slowly built up until you think you know them all, even the ones which are not frequently mentioned. The description of village life is very trustworthy, which is also the case for the religious parts which describes the work of the vicar. The story develops through the narratives of William and Cecilia.
As for most historical, romance novels, it is easy to read. Especially, since it is very well written. The story is very well put together and tied up in the end. There are several loose ends to tie up and she is doing it very well. The only thing slightly missing in the story line, is a little bit of a 'punch'? The story lacks a little bit of excitement and thrill, although at the end of the book it catches up. However, having said that, and considering the writing, I am looking forward to the next novel by Charlotte. If you like historical, regency, romance you should try this one.
The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
3.0
This was a read for the Brontë Reading Group here in Brussels, which met yesterday evening at the restaurant "Carpe Diem". This is Charlotte Brontë's first book and it was not printed until after her death. The publisher, and other persons as well, thought it was not good or appropriate as it was and wanted to change it. However, Charlotte refused. It might be that some editing took place then, before printing it.
As usual we had a lively discussion. This is always the case when we have different views. Some loved the book, others didn't, some said it was ok. Some thought the characterisation was not good enough, others thought it was. If you have read Jane Eyre and Villette you recognise things from this book that she used later on. I found a lot of the descriptions of the city was rather clear here, not mistaken it for anything but Brussels. In Villette she has written around it a little bit more. More discretely in a way.
Here is a short resume of the story and I am afraid it is a SPOILER. So, for those of you who want to read the book, skip the next paragraph.
The story is about William Crimsworth, whose mother died when he was born. His brother was around 10-12 years older than him. William therefore grew up with some uncles and were sent to boarding school as soon as possible. Once finished with school, he was thrown out by the uncles because he didn't want to go into priesthood or marry one of the cousins. He comes to work for his brother who is a tyrant and soon resigns. With the help of a man from the village, Hunsdon, he gets an introduction letter for looking for work in Brussels. He travels there, gets a job as teacher in a boys' school. Next to it is a girl's school. He has an infatuation with the directress, Ms Reuter, until he discovers her ways. Furthermore, he learns that she is engaged to be married to Mr Pelet who is his boss. One of his pupil's in English (he got a job to teach English also in the girl's school!) is another teacher, Frances. Her mother is English and her father is Swiss. They are both dead and she lives now in rather poor circumstances with her aunt. He fancies her and Ms Reuter gets jealous and tells her she does not need to come back. Her aunt dies and she is alone. William is looking for her all over the city, since Ms Reuter pretends that she does not know Frances' address. Finally one day, he stumbles upon her in a cemetery outside the city. They fall in love, she gets a job, he (who had resigned since Mr Pelet, his boss, is going to marry Ms Reuter) gets another job. They start a school, they get a son, they sell the school and retire to a beautiful country house in England. Pff
Well, what can I say? The writing is good in Charlotte's usual style. Far too many boring descriptions of everything around. You never get to really know the characters. They are all behaving a little bit peculiar. What is a little bit astounding though is the the 'love scenes' are quite explicit. Please misunderstand me right, not like it would be today. But, she sits in his knee, they kiss and so on and so forth. She also has a lot of social thinking in the book, especially concerning equality for women. Frances is very upset when she hears that William gets 8000 FR per year and she only gets 1200. Also Frances wants to continue working after they have married. Here Charlotte is really ahead of her time. As you might understand, I was not one of those who loved the book. However, since she has not written that many books, I think that if you are a Charlotte Brontë fan you just have to read it. The book is rather short as well.
Review from my book blog thecontentreader.blogspot.com
As usual we had a lively discussion. This is always the case when we have different views. Some loved the book, others didn't, some said it was ok. Some thought the characterisation was not good enough, others thought it was. If you have read Jane Eyre and Villette you recognise things from this book that she used later on. I found a lot of the descriptions of the city was rather clear here, not mistaken it for anything but Brussels. In Villette she has written around it a little bit more. More discretely in a way.
Here is a short resume of the story and I am afraid it is a SPOILER. So, for those of you who want to read the book, skip the next paragraph.
The story is about William Crimsworth, whose mother died when he was born. His brother was around 10-12 years older than him. William therefore grew up with some uncles and were sent to boarding school as soon as possible. Once finished with school, he was thrown out by the uncles because he didn't want to go into priesthood or marry one of the cousins. He comes to work for his brother who is a tyrant and soon resigns. With the help of a man from the village, Hunsdon, he gets an introduction letter for looking for work in Brussels. He travels there, gets a job as teacher in a boys' school. Next to it is a girl's school. He has an infatuation with the directress, Ms Reuter, until he discovers her ways. Furthermore, he learns that she is engaged to be married to Mr Pelet who is his boss. One of his pupil's in English (he got a job to teach English also in the girl's school!) is another teacher, Frances. Her mother is English and her father is Swiss. They are both dead and she lives now in rather poor circumstances with her aunt. He fancies her and Ms Reuter gets jealous and tells her she does not need to come back. Her aunt dies and she is alone. William is looking for her all over the city, since Ms Reuter pretends that she does not know Frances' address. Finally one day, he stumbles upon her in a cemetery outside the city. They fall in love, she gets a job, he (who had resigned since Mr Pelet, his boss, is going to marry Ms Reuter) gets another job. They start a school, they get a son, they sell the school and retire to a beautiful country house in England. Pff
Well, what can I say? The writing is good in Charlotte's usual style. Far too many boring descriptions of everything around. You never get to really know the characters. They are all behaving a little bit peculiar. What is a little bit astounding though is the the 'love scenes' are quite explicit. Please misunderstand me right, not like it would be today. But, she sits in his knee, they kiss and so on and so forth. She also has a lot of social thinking in the book, especially concerning equality for women. Frances is very upset when she hears that William gets 8000 FR per year and she only gets 1200. Also Frances wants to continue working after they have married. Here Charlotte is really ahead of her time. As you might understand, I was not one of those who loved the book. However, since she has not written that many books, I think that if you are a Charlotte Brontë fan you just have to read it. The book is rather short as well.
Review from my book blog thecontentreader.blogspot.com