http://stitchingmystressaway.com/blog/?p=780 ( )

Maybe a little lower in stars but I was very grabbed by the book which was a welcome sensation. ( )

When Emily ‘Fido’ Faithfull bumps into her old friend Helen Codrington, quite by chance, it feels like destiny. The two women haven’t seen one another for years: their once-close friendship came to an awkward end seven years ago, just before Helen and her vice-admiral husband moved to a British naval base in Malta. Now it’s 1864 and sheer good fortune has brought them together on the streets of London. Of course they have changed. Fido has become a passionate reformer and supporter of social justice, earnestly devoted to her work at the Victoria Press. Helen is… well, Helen. Just seeing her again brings the light back into Fido’s life. She is light and cheerful and colourful and perhaps a tiny bit frivolous, but that’s how she’s always been. One thing does trouble Fido, though, and that’s the Scottish Colonel Anderson who seems in such close company with her married friend. When Helen begs Fido for help in dealing with the Colonel’s attentions, Fido leaps to the rescue: to feel needed again, by Helen, is a thrilling feeling. Soon, however, Fido begins to realise how shabbily she has been tricked, and her association with Helen may prove to be her undoing...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/02/10/the-sealed-letter-emma-donoghue/ ( )

Set in 1864 London, this novel recounts the actual events of a divorce. Emily Faithful is nicknamed Fido, a single vicar's daughter she is a leading light in the women's movement and runs The Victoria Press. She meets, apparently by chance, her old friend Helen Codrington after a long absence while Helen has been in Malta with her husband Admiral Codrington. It becomes clear that Fido adores and loves Helen and this appears to blind her to Helen's lies. Helen is unhappy in her marriage and is continuing an affair with Colonel Anderson from Malta to London. Meeting Col Anderson is difficult and Helen takes advantage of Fido's love, getting her to assist her meetings with Col Anderson. Admiral Codrington, eventually becomes aware of the affair and begins divorce proceedings. This is held in a public court and titillated the Victorian audience with salacious claims and counter claims. The mysterious sealed letter is waved in the court provocatively. Much of the novel uses extracts from newspaper reports and letters of the time. The divorce is a useful device for demonstrating the position of women in the 1800s, her lack of rights to anything once she is married, including her children. At the end of the novel Emma Donoghue gives a brief history of divorce law in England. So much is weighted against Helen that this is not a page turner but the novel is interesting and engaging. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2019/07/201972-sealed-letter-emma-donoghue.html ( )