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A review by ninarg
The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
3.0
I've wanted to read Emma Donoghue for a while, having heard so much good about her novels. I've had "Pull of the Stars" on hold at the library for months now, "The Wonder" as well, and then suddenly I came across this one that I'd never heard of before: "The Sealed Letter." Curious about the author, I decided to give it a try.
It started out excellent with all the elements you need to hook this reader: A strong, sympathetic, independent business-woman (Fido Faithfull), feminists fighting the women's Cause, all set in Victorian London. I was in. Enters Helen Codrington, a woman from Fido's past who has a lot in common with Thackeray's Becky Sharp, and the drama begins.
Only the drama went in a different direction than I'd expected. I would have liked to delve into the printing press, follow Fido and her fellow Woman-ists fighting the Cause, participating in meetings, trying to make something important of their magazine while fighting discrimination and sabotage. Instead, the focus of this book is on the divorce trial between Harry and Helen Codrington. The problem is that as a reader I already have all the answers so there's not much tension in the trial, and the verdict isn't a surprise. My main interest in the trial was how it affected Fido and her position in the Cause, but while Donoghue does show this it felt too brief to me. I would have liked more of Fido's internal struggle between on the one side her life-work with the Cause and the printing press and on the other her loyalty to Helen and how she craves that friendship (and what more could come of it.)
The star of the show is definitely Helen Codrington. Lying, selfish, manipulating Helen, loved by all the men (Helen of Troy, anyone?), she worms her way back into kind, naive, trusting Fido's good graces without much effort and takes full advantage of that.
It's a good read and I often found it hard to put down. A little more feminist movement, a little less trial and this would have been included in my "best books of the year." As it is, it's just below that group, very close to getting in. It's a very, very good read and I will definitely read more Donoghue, as soon as her novels become available at the library.
It started out excellent with all the elements you need to hook this reader: A strong, sympathetic, independent business-woman (Fido Faithfull), feminists fighting the women's Cause, all set in Victorian London. I was in. Enters Helen Codrington, a woman from Fido's past who has a lot in common with Thackeray's Becky Sharp, and the drama begins.
Only the drama went in a different direction than I'd expected. I would have liked to delve into the printing press, follow Fido and her fellow Woman-ists fighting the Cause, participating in meetings, trying to make something important of their magazine while fighting discrimination and sabotage. Instead, the focus of this book is on the divorce trial between Harry and Helen Codrington. The problem is that as a reader I already have all the answers so there's not much tension in the trial, and the verdict isn't a surprise. My main interest in the trial was how it affected Fido and her position in the Cause, but while Donoghue does show this it felt too brief to me. I would have liked more of Fido's internal struggle between on the one side her life-work with the Cause and the printing press and on the other her loyalty to Helen and how she craves that friendship (and what more could come of it.)
The star of the show is definitely Helen Codrington. Lying, selfish, manipulating Helen, loved by all the men (Helen of Troy, anyone?), she worms her way back into kind, naive, trusting Fido's good graces without much effort and takes full advantage of that.
It's a good read and I often found it hard to put down. A little more feminist movement, a little less trial and this would have been included in my "best books of the year." As it is, it's just below that group, very close to getting in. It's a very, very good read and I will definitely read more Donoghue, as soon as her novels become available at the library.