I have become an enormous fan of Emma Donoghue. Her historical novels are imaginative and interesting with just the right mix of fact and fiction. I love the depth in her characters and descriptions.

Although the style and content of this novel are completely different from those of 'Room' - the only other work of hers which I have read - this novel firmly underlines Emma Donoghue's extraordinary ability to draw you into a story and make you see things through her characters' eyes.

It is based on a true incident, a scandalous divorce in England in the mid-nineteenth century. Donoghue wears her research very lightly - the scenes and characters are very vivid without the reader ever feeling that she is being force-fed historical facts.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am very tempted to fellow up on some of the sources listed at the end of the book.

Before she wrote the riveting 'Room', this Irish author wrote 'The Sealed Letter'. And it couldn't be more different from 'Room'. Based on an actual event and real people, this story is about three individuals in Victorian London who, to their peril, find themselves up against the Establishment, fighting for their honour and good names.

Vice-Admiral Harry Codrington is a career navy man from a family with a sterling military pedigree. He is married to the much younger beautiful and enchanting Helen, with whom he has had two young daughters. Recently returned to London from a posting in Malta, both Harry and Helen are not finding the return to the more restrained and proper society of London very easy. By chance, Helen one day literally runs into her former confidante and companion Miss Emily Faithfull. Fido, as she is known, is an unmarried woman, late twenties, who is a true blue feminist, involved in various causes, as well as being the owner/manager of a successful printing business.

Suddenly Fido finds herself drawn back into the unhappy marriage of Harry and Helen, and the disastrous fall out that results from Helen's adulterous affairs. As befits the mores of the time, there is a huge scandal, and a high profile court case as Harry petitions to divorce his wife. As well as producing the usual evidence gathered by a private detective and bizarrely a dress with a suggestive stain on it (this actually happened - move over Bill Clinton), he also tries to discredit Helen by bringing into question the true nature of the friendship between the two women. Back then, if the woman can be proved to be at fault, as well as being tarnished with the label 'divorcee' she also lost all custody, rights to money, marital property, care and any involvement at all with her children - she may as well be dead. No doubt this kept many marriages together. But for someone like Fido, fiercely committed to the rights of women, dealing with this and the rumours swirling around, all placed her between a rock and a hard place.

The actual trial and the subsequent mind games don't occur till the last third of the book. So the majority of the book is the background to the situation, the setting up of the relationships, the careful manipulations. It is so well done and so well thought out that by the time of the trial, we realise that all three people are as much victims of each other as well as of the society they live in. Who would want to live in Victorian England? The poor had a terrible time - Dickens - but the rich or richer, especially if female, didn't really have a much better time.

Although based on fact and real people, the author seems to have created her own versions of Harry, Helen and Fido. No doubt they bear some resemblance to the real people, but they may also enable her to highlight the hypocrisy of the times, as well as the dangerous path many women trod, whether they were unhappily married mothers or independent unmarried businesswomen. Were you allowed to be either way back then? I'm just glad that I was born one hundred plus years later!

After absolutely loving 'Room' I had high expectations for the second Emma Donoghue book that I read. Unfortunately, 'The Sealed Letter' had none of the appeal and readability that 'Room' had.

Essentially the plot centres around a couple in an unhappy marriage and their subsequent separation. Set in the 1800s, the novel does offer some very illuminating and anger-inducing points about how women were treated in the period, especially in the context of a marriage. The novel clearly shows how unfair and completely imbalanced the law and the society were in how they would view a woman who has engaged in an extra-marital affair.

The problem I had with the novel was that it just wasn't an interesting read. The subject matter, while being something that I do take an interest in, was not presented in an engaging way, and the whole thing was generally pretty boring. It also dragged on far too long. Approximately 460 pages of bland writing culminating in an ending that was clearly intended to be edgy and dramatic but instead just made me frown at the page in a sort of "Really? That's how your ending it?" kind of way.

Having said all that, the writing was of a good standard, and the way that Donoghue switched between character perspectives was well executed.

On the whole, just very 'meh'.

This is another one of those books that makes me appreciate having been born in the last half of the 20th.

“Harry and I have picked up our former life like some moth-eaten cloak from the floor of a wardrobe.”

I didn't love this one but didn't exactly hate it either. I love that, once again, Emma Donoghue takes a snippet from history and weaves a scandalous tale regarding the navigation of the divorce of Helen and Harry Codrington -- something very rare for Victorian society types. I thought this was Donoghue's strongest part of the tale. I was interested to learn the wife was not allowed to defend herself in court -- or even be in the courtroom. Although Helen is a despicable character -- selfish, manipulative, narcissistic -- I felt terrible for her throughout the court scenes. I also love the descriptive language Donoghue uses throughout this story. I think that is one of the top reasons I continue to read her stories. There are also twists and turns throughout the story -- especially one at the end (I suspected but it was still awesome!)

Unfortunately, the story was a bit of a drag and I wish Donoghue had sussed out the characters more. There was so much potential here with the historical era re: the infancy of women's rights, independence, and freedom in the UK. It left me wanting so much more.

The Sealed Letter was our latest book club pick for sew make believe. Our meeting to discuss it was on Wednesday and unfortunately I missed it due to an inopportune migraine which needed an early night to put in its place. I was quite disappointed to miss out on discussing this book though, as I felt it might have garnered some differing standpoints. I must admit that having chosen the book based on a very quick look at the blurb, I was worried that I had picked another book with no redeeming characters; our club seems to have become quite adept at finding books whose characters are most unlikeable! And I am sure that some of those that read this book might well feel the same way but I found myself really rooting for and feeling for Fido.

Fido is a woman working tirelessly for her beloved Cause - the cause of women's liberation. She was quite different to the other ladies of the day. Her conduct, her dress and her hard work all set her apart and I admired her as a character. Certainly, she was prudish and naive but I found this to be in keeping with her position and her experience. SHe thought herself to be more enlightened that she really was, at least by modern measures. Her weak spot, though, was to be her downfall, namely her friend Helen.

Helen appears again in her life in a chance meeting and before Fido knows it, Helen has embroiled her in her extra-marital affair with a rather hapless and unpleasant army officer. From the start, Helen takes advantage of her friend and uses Fido's fondness to manipulate her. As the affair is discovered by Helen's older husband, the ensuring divorce case - based on a real case reported in the Times in 1864. The legal position of Helen was disastrous as she stood to lose everything including the custody of her daughters by her infidelity, if it could be proven.

I found myself rattling through this book like I was reading a gossip magazine only with the stakes for these characters so much beyond any shame that could be suffered today. I think the real-life basis made it all the more compelling and I was so sad for Fido in particular who seemed to go through the most heart-ache and disgrace, despite not being at the centre of the divorce.

One of my only criticisms was that what should have been a dramatic unveiling of the contents of the eponymous sealed letter and the revelation by Fido (it read like it was a revelation at least) related to what had been implied as being in the letter was dampened by the fact that I had already figured it out. In fact, it seemed the only explanation to me as to why Fido would tolerate Helen at all.

Our next book club will be discussing the very popular teen fiction The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins so hopefully we will have a good discussion about those books - or at least the first one - in May.

I thought this story was well-written. I didn't really care for the manipulation and all the drama (but not unexpected, it is about adultery and divorce). I did enjoy learning about the divorce process and proceedings of 1860s England. The story is based on actual events.

Well, that was turgid. I would have enjoyed it more, if it had been half as long, as neither the characters nor the narrative were worthy of the excessive length. I didn’t like anyone, so had no one to root for and the author seemed a tad misogynistic in her depiction of an extremely misogynistic society. Well researched is the best I can offer.