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Loading... Misfortune (original 2005; edition 2005)by Wesley Stace
Work detailsMisfortune by Wesley Stace (2005)
Tiptree shortlist 2005. I wasn't really taken with it at first - couldn't get into the "eccentric ruling class family beloved by servants and villagers" motif - but eventually Rose's story and the fascinating exploration of gender and identity won me over. Could have done without the last 50 pages of long-winded exposition to reach a rather obvious conclusion. Again, no SF&F in it so why it was on the Tiptree list I don't know, but an entertaining read. (  ) SChant | Apr 26, 2013 |  I like reading debut novels in a slightly different way from how I enjoy novels and books in general. There's a freshness to them, and a bit of risktaking as well, on my part as well as the writers'...the potentiality for discovery. Of course, I enjoy reading works by established and acclaimed writers too, but with them there's sometimes a shadow of prior readers' opinions and judgments hovering at the edge of my consciousness. "What did they think here? Were they right? Do I agree with them? Why or why not?" This doesn't bother me or deter me from reading well-known books, but it is nice to read something with no notion or curiosity about what Others thought of it. My opinions can rest on their own laurels for once. However, I became abundantly aware midway through Misfortune that it was not a great find of a novel, even excusing the author's inexperience. Set in England, it is about a orphan boy who was adopted by an eccentric nobleman and raised as a girl, which conspired to wreak havoc with his/her inheritance. The premise sounded intriguing at first, and perhaps with a better/more experienced writer it might have actually been intriguing. But the plot was unnecessarily complicated by superfluous detail, unclear prose, and a subplot and shifts in point of view that were neither needed nor carried out well. On top of this, the main character's entire being seemed totally centered on his/her gender confusion - which would understandably be an important thing to any adolescent girl who is learning that she is actually a boy, but the focus on it seemed excessive. And what really sent the book across the line into not-goodness was the "twist" at the ending. I won't reveal it, but I will say that I saw it coming a mile away and groaned in disgust because not only was it predictable, it was also trite, unimaginative, and so lame that even romance novels usually avoid that device (or at least execute it better). From the premise, I couldn't help but compare Misfortune to Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer-winning Middlesex, which was published a few years earlier and is stunningly good. The comparison definitely finds Misfortune lacking. Note: This is a review I wrote five years ago, when I read this book. Being lazy and not having reread, I opted to copy and paste rather than write something new. (  ) nellgwyn | Aug 5, 2011 | I love books that explored gender identity, and this was a great example. It was a little drawn-out at points, as long books are prone to do, but overall, it was enjoyable and had a very original plotline. ( ) lizzy-x | Jun 28, 2011 | I was told to like this more than By George, but I just couldn't. The set up of the novel, which no doubt some readers find interesting in its own right, is about half the novel and relies on a lot of individual introspection. The next quarter involved some interaction, and only the last quarter any interesting interaction. I'm sure I'd like this better if Stace thought it through again and rewrote it in half the pages. ( ) randalrh | Aug 19, 2010 | I am not sure how I came about this book. It might have been a recommendation for another book, or simply finding the cover somewhere and being drawn to it (how could I not, there is a woman with a moustache!). In any case, it was an absolute find! Set in the 19th century it tells the story of Rose Old Loveall, from birth to death, in a memoir style, and with very quirky language. What makes this book different? Well, Rose is found by the Young Lord Loveall after being left for dead in a rubbish heap, barely a day old, and rescued to be brought up as his child, and heir to his fortune. Only Rose is a boy, even if he is brought up as a girl. This alone made the book amazing. And no, I'm not a particular fan of gender bending or cross-dressing, but the idea of a boy raised as a girl only because her/his father refused to accept that (s)he wasn't the sex he though/wished the baby was, seemed hilarious to me. I loved the writing style, quirky and funny, but never demeaning the story. There were parts that it was truly Dickensian. On page 15 I was already certain I would love it, by page 31 I knew it was going to be epic. Even if I never had so much trouble with pronouns since The Left Hand of Darkness. But the author was never intimidated by Rose's gender duality. When Rose thought of herself as a girl (because she believed to she was one for a long time), she was referred as such. When he finds out that, after all, he is a boy, Rose becomes a "he". No confusion whatsoever. There is also some play on words that is simply marvellous. Some of it comes directly from the character of Geoffroy Loveall, that names Rose Old as such, to be an anagram of his beloved sister's name Dolores, and renames Rose in one of her plays, as Lord Ose, another anagram. There is also the play with the family name, Loveall, that love all, live in Love Hall, and have the motto of Amor Vincit Omnia (Love conquers All). But even if this is quirky and funny, there are deep themes being explored, gender identity and the definition of self being some of them. Finding out that one has been lied to all their life, by their parents on top of all, can have devastating consequences, and give a sense of loss like no other. Rose goes through all of this, and there are parts of her life that remain unknown to the reader, although they are hinted at, for she is ashamed of what she has done in her despair. To add to this, there is also the loss of her right to inherit the Loveall name and Love Hall, because she was adopted. It is amazing to read of Rose's misfortunes and problems, angsty in parts, but no overly so, and how she overcomes them. Despite this, there is a happy ending waiting for Rose, and throughout the book there are hints that it will be so. And yes, the nice plot twist in the end is expected, some would say not entirely believable, but I liked it. It fitted Rose, especially because she was referred to as Miss Fortune (another play on words), because despite all that happened she was indeed very fortunate. Absolutely lovely. Also at Spoilers and Nuts (  )3  quigui | Jun 2, 2010 |
In its premise, plot, pacing, style, and enormous cast of characters, Misfortune operates deliberately like a Dickens novel. The book begins with a foundling in a rubbish heap (a foundling!), taken home to opulent Love Hall by the bachelor Lord Geoffroy Loveall, who, because of the traumatic early death of his sister Dolores, is determined to raise the child as a girl (Rose Old), even though the child is a boy.  This gender-bending romp about a boy raised as a girl in 19th-century England--penned by musician John Wesley Harding, writing here under his real name--more than lives up to the hype it will surely, ahem, engender.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0316154482, Paperback)One of the most auspicious debuts of recent years, Wesley Stace's Misfortune follows the rise, fall, and triumphant return of Rose Old, a foundling rescued from a London garbage heap in 1820 by the richest man in Britain. Lord Geoffroy Loveall, whose character has been shaped by perpetual mourning for a sister who died in childhood, seizes on the infant as a replacement for his beloved sister. With the help of trusted servants, he arranges for the child to be lovingly brought up at his ancestral mansion, Loveall Hall--to all appearances, his biological daughter and unhoped-for heir. No matter that the baby is not a girl.The story thus far is so engaging, and the details of Rose's childhood so playfully rendered (when she was first brought to Loveall Hall, the staff of 250 included a servant whose sole responsibility was to iron newspapers before their second reading), that it is with reluctance that the reader meets the inevitable rude, scheming relatives whose plotting will lead to the "misfortune" of the title. Luckily, Stace (the given name of the musician John Wesley Harding) takes too much delight in Rose to dump her back on the garbage heap, or at least not for long. The cross-dressing love child of Great Expectations and A. S. Byatt's Possession, Misfortune will find you breathlessly tracking the movements of its principal players, and applauding the most ridiculous twists of fate. --Regina Marler
Amazon.com Bonus Content Songs aren't anything if they aren't sung, so I decided to match melodies and words and record some of them. I picked these because they were the first two. There will be a full record of the songs of Misfortune, performed by The Love Hall Tryst (myself, Kelly Hogan, Nora O'Connor, and Brian Lohmann) which will be released by Appleseed Recordings later this year. --Wesley Stace Listen to "Lambkin"
Listen to "The Ballad of Miss Fortune"
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:19:29 -0500) Lord Geoffrey Loveall is the richest man in England; reclusive and heretofore heirless lord of Love Hall. He arrives home one morning with a most unusual package - a baby that he presents as the inheritor to the family name and fortune. He calls the baby Rose after his sister, but this baby is a boy.… (more) (summary from another edition) |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
Songs weave their way throughout Misfortune--some are ballads, crucial to the plot and written by one of the characters, others are traditional songs sung at various points of the narrative, others are folk songs from a collection in the Octagonal Library of Love Hall, the home of the central family. 
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