Rosa Nouchette Carey (1840–1909)

As a high church Anglican I’m not sure if Miss Nouchette Carey (1840-1909) read The Communist Manifesto. However, this domestic melodrama about Mrs Challoner and her daughters and the loss of their investments proves that the power dynamics of labour concerned even penniless nice families.

Resourceful and eager to avoid the hideous ways of the genteel poor, Nan, Phillis and Dulce determine to work for their living and open a dressmaking establishment even if this means that they have to show more get on their hands and knees and measure the grotesque proportions of the local butcher’s wife. “When gentlepeople are poor they must work for their bread; when one has ten clever fingers, it is better to use them than to starve.”

And so from a comfortable life they must descend to a working life. From the oppressor class they move to that of the oppressed, if Miss Nouchette Carey was following her Marx and Engels closely, and they must compete with other workers to earn a living wage. Consternation – nice people working for their living pass the sal volatile! – admirers and success follow in their wake along with a few surprises. Altogether intriguing, I’m glad they weren’t like other girls. show less

So here's the thing: I liked it except for the parts where I hated it. And it's really LONG.

When I started, it reminded me a little bit of Emma because there is a young heroine (Audrey) and a gentleman (Michael) more than a decade older than her who is practically family, and he disapproves of her growing friendship with a certain lady (Mrs. Blake). So far I thought, this is comfortable territory. But except for the happy ending where Audrey and Michael do in fact end up together, there are show more no other similarities, and this is a very original story.

Audrey's father is master of a school for boys. His most recently hired teacher is a young man named Cyril Blake. Cyril comes with his mother and two younger siblings, and they are such an out-of-sorts, unique family that Audrey's heart goes out to them and she immediately befriends all of them. Cyril falls in love with her, and when she finds out, she rejects him at first. But she values his friendship so much and when she hears that he is planning to leave town, she can't bear it, and she accepts him. Her family is less than pleased, because Cyril doesn't have any social standing or money and still has a while to go before his career can be called distinguished. But when they see that Audrey is set on it, they tolerate the situation and even admit how much they like Cyril.

Drama ensues: Cyril's mother, Mrs. Blake's, story is that she is a widow. WRONG! She is married to a man of humble origins who has until recently been in prison for several years. When this is found out, by accident, it changes everything. It is universally agreed that Audrey cannot marry Cyril, the son of a felon. Audrey bows to her family's wishes, but says that she will always consider herself engaged to Cyril, even if they can never marry. Everyone is super depressed by this whole thing because Cyril himself is so noble and full of promise and no one has a fault to find with him, just his lineage.

This far, I can kind of tolerate the thought process of her family--in the world they live in, Audrey's married life would be burdened with the prejudice of her neighbors, and they want to spare her that.

When Cyril leaves town, Audrey begs her old friend Michael to go with him and be his friend, look out for him, help him find a good job, etc. This Michael does faithfully. All seems to be going as well as it can, until one day Cyril sees an old, intoxicated man about to be hit by a train and goes to save him, receiving a mortal wound in the process. Audrey is rushed to his bedside, and he dies. Everyone honors Cyril for this last noble action, but their attitude is also like this: "Well, his life was just going to be a long awful misery anyway because he was the son of a felon, so it's just as well." And that's the part that made me mad. But, of course, the book was a product of its time.

While Audrey is recovering from the death of her fiance, she admits certain truths to herself, like the fact that she was never eager to set a date for her wedding, she wasn't as much in love as Cyril was, etc. At the same time, she starts to yearn more and more for the company of Michael, her tried and trusted friend. He's always been there, and pretty much always been in love with her, but has been prevented from saying anything, first because he was recovering from serious battle injuries that left him more or less an invalid for life, and second because he has little money.

Well, his health starts improving, and then his uncle dies and leaves him a fortune. Of course, at that point, Audrey got engaged to Cyril. But many months after Cyril's death, Michael finds himself unable to help speaking to Audrey about his feelings. At first she is pretty shocked. He goes away on a trip to give her time to get used to the idea. She thinks she's not really cut out for married life. Eventually, though, she realizes that she can't do without Michael, so she sends for him and they get married.

The Audrey-Michael plot was very sweet...but the tortuous way of getting there by way of all the Cyril drama was a little much. show less