It is 1851 and British spinster Charlotte Morrison is accompanying her brother’s family on a pleasure cruise of the Rhine River, as a babysitter-companion for their fifteen-year-old daughter Ellie. Charlotte encounters a man on shipboard who vaguely reminds her of a lost love, someone she might have married years ago if not for her family’s disapproval. The growing friendship between this lookalike and her family becomes the occasion for Charlotte’s self-examination, as she tries to determine her next steps since her employer recently died. Returning to her family now also means capitulating to their plans for her life and renouncing—yet again—her independence. As the cruise continues, the novel becomes a meditation on female self-determination and the “problem” of unmarried women of a certain age. The fact that JD Vance still feels empowered to regularly pontificate on appropriate roles for single women demonstrates that men are still intimidated by unattached women. The language and subtlety of this novel makes it hard to believe it was written in 1980. A bit less of the scenery than I would have wished, but otherwise a rich and subtle book.