Charlotte M. Yonge (1823–1901)

A relatively short book, presumably intended for children, but not written down to them. The Ninth Crusade is the background to a story about the relationships among the sons of Simon de Montfort. Sounds unpromising, perhaps, but nuanced and engaging.

This book has many of the elements of a classic Victorian novel. There's the long-suffering, nearly saintly invalid. There's a helpless widow, and there's a buffoonish curate. And most importantly, there's an independent-leaning woman whose spunk and desire for knowledge make her foolish. In Yonge's novel we enter the world of Rachel Curtis, the so-named "clever woman," who loves to read the latest tract on educational theory, and hopes some day to put them into practice for the benefit of show more local youth. But Rachel is also a provincial daughter, and there are few opportunities for an independent and knowledge-hungry woman in the provinces in 1865. Rachel disagrees strongly with women acting flighty and foolish for the benefit of suitors or the clergy. What Rachel values is substance, but she finds little of it in her provincial surroundings. Those around Rachel see her as arrogant and foolish. When Rachel is finally given the opportunity to put her theories into practice, the consequences are more devastating and far-reaching than anyone could have imagined. As I began this book I presumed it was a comedy of manners, but as I got deeper in, I discovered that the book is more than that. The themes are much darker, and consequences more surprising than that. Yonge has drawn some compelling characters in this novel, but there were parts of this story that fell flat. Rachel's mother is the fussiest of Victorian ladies, and we see just how limited that lives of Victorian women like Rachel were. Rachel's ultimate fate will likely not surprise most modern readers, but getting there takes twists and turns I certainly wasn't expecting. show less

In Founded on paper or Uphill and downhill between the two Jubilees (1898), the sequel to something of her parents’ story in The Carbonels (1895), Charlotte M. Yonge moves closer to her own experience of village life and the changes and improvements that can be wrought by a good family in residence.

This novel was published by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. According to Ellen Jordan, this was ‘one of the books Yonge wrote with the specific audience of the "weary show more hardworked women" who belonged to Mothers' Unions in mind.’

Miss Yonge returned to the Carbonels, but this time there is only the unmarried Miss Sophia Carbonel in residence at Greenhow Farm. She ‘was still lady of all work to Uphill and something between a mother and a companion to Estrid and Malvina’, her grandnieces and patroness to the residents of Uphill who lives have reflected the social changes of Victorian England. The young hero of The Carbonels Johnnie Hewlett has become ‘Mr. Hewlett … churchwarden and head of the firm, hale and hearty as any man near upon seventy could wish to be’.

The daughter of the good schoolmistress of The Carbonels is the widowed Jane Truman. Her large family ‘she contrived to bring up in a somewhat superior way, between the boys' work and her own, as a good laundress and charwoman, with the proceeds also of a large garden and orchard.’

As the novel opens Mrs Truman has her ambitious son Wilfred at home with his crosspatch invalid sister Laura, terribly injured in an accident leaving her blind in one eye, scarred and dependent. Laura was a clever and talented child but increasingly introspective, making a little money with her needlework but preferring her awkward poetry. Charlotte Yonge is fascinated by the effect her accident has on Laura.

‘She had always been used to notice, and to be sympathised with was almost as good as to be admired. She loved and entered into religious poetry and good books, and could really believe that it was a wise and thankworthy dispensation that had cut her off from vanity in her good looks.’

While Laura is the most interesting female character, the one who causes a certain havoc is the nursery maid Lucy Darling. She is Wilfred’s beloved but unwittingly pursued by a gentleman artist who wishes her to model for his painting of St Elizabeth of Hungary and Thuringia. Wilfred Truman and Lucy Darling are shadowed in the narrative by the hopeless ne’er-do-wells from Birmingham, Alf Greylark and his bedraggled wife Eva.

Charlotte Yonge wrote in What Books to Lend and What to Give, that the female readers of this kind of novel wanted ‘incident, pathos and sentiment to attract them’. My goodness, whatever ‘class of woman’ reader you are, Miss Yonge packs incident after incident into the last third of this novel, and swipes at grieving, hypocritical relations, and the gutter press as well as a satisfying (and of course sentimental) ending for Lucy Darling.

This book was part of the November 2023 CMY Fellowship book group and read in conjunction with The Carbonels. show less

This is the first historical novel by Charlotte M Yonge that I've read and it didn't disappoint. Set in pre reformation Germany, the bourgeoise dove of the title, Christina, steps into the Eagle's Nest and civilises it, thanks to having two gorgeous sons with her scarcely house trained and quickly lost husband. Blood feuds, church building, goldsmithing, bridge building and fights to the death amongst the romantic peaks of the German mountains make this a very satisfying read...