A Proper Education for Girls

Posted on 26 December 2018 by Elaine di Rollo

Not since the Bront s have we seen the likes of the Talbot sisters, plucky peach growers with a peculiar upbringing and a flair for subversion Set in England and India in the mutinous year of 1857, A Proper Education for Girls tells the story of Alice and Lilian Talbot, twins separated for the first time in their lives by their martinet father After an affair comes to a tragic end, Lilian is banished from the Talbot mansion and married off to a sickly missionary in India Unwilling to play the part of the demure missionary wife, beautiful, tomboyish Lilian quickly takes advantage of her husband s hypochondria and her newfound freedom as a British expatriate, tramping off into the jungle to paint pictures of the indigenous flora and secretly learning the language and customs of her adopted homeland Meanwhile, the plain but sharp witted Alice remains on her father s isolated estate, serving as curator to his strange and vast Collection under the watchful eye of the malevolent Dr Cattermole The Collection, which has taken over every inch of the rambling estate, is the essence of Victorian England antiquated and ingen ious, austere and excessive Twelve perfectly synchronized grandfather clocks stand at attention at the bottom of a staircase Botanical specimens have overrun the conservatory, turning the room into a tropical greenhouse Forgotten houseguests roam amid fossilized sea creatures, display cases of Greek pottery, and mechanical contraptions A peach tree, inherited from their mother and planted in a wheelbarrow for portability, is a constant reminder of Lilian s absence Though Mr Talbot has cut off all communication between the sisters, a cryptic letter from Lilian manages to slip through, and hidden in the envelope is a puzzling photograph of a tiger hunt Alice sets about cracking the code in the letter, finding an unlikely ally in Mr Blake, the photographer hired to document the Collection While Mr Talbot is absorbed in the eccentric but seemingly benign Society for the Propagation of Useful and Interesting Knowledge, Alice plots her escape from both her oppressive father and Dr Cattermole s unspeakable plans for her future Intrigue is rife in India as well, where Lilian continues to defy convention Playing her many admirers off one another, she quietly works toward the goal of reuniting with her sister But the violent onset of the Indian rebellion against British rule threatens to derail her plans And back at the Talbot estate, the Society s experiments are taking a menacing turn Will the sisters resourcefulness and profound devotion to each other be enough to save them Capturing the Victorian era in all of its whimsy and horror, A Proper Education for Girls is a superb debut novel about the power of sisterhood. Free Read A Proper Education for Girls Author Elaine di Rollo For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr EDIT Methinks I was too hard on this book It s flawed, yes, but it still pops into my head periodically even after 1 years that must mean it worked its way under my skin, that s almost always a good thing Also, given the wildly variant quality of Historical Lit Fic, this was a very readable specimen that held my interest from start to finish So I m bumping my rating to 3.5 stars I ll leave the original review intact, but take my grumps with a grain of salt FIRST REVIEW This bo EDIT Methinks I was too hard on this book It s flawed, yes, but it still pops into my head periodically even after 1 years that must mean it worked its way under my skin, that s almost always a good thing Also, given the wildly variant quality of Historical Lit Fic, this was a very readable specimen that held my interest from start to finish So I m bumping my rating to 3.5 stars I ll leave the original review intact, but take my grumps with a grain of salt FIRST REVIEW This book tries to be awesome, but ultimately collapses under its own weight Clearly the author envisions a blend of multiple genres pastiche, magical realism, grotesque, revisionist Victoriana, even a touch of steampunk but it just ...I expectedon the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in India, but I was pleasantly surprised, in any case This was a delightful comedy farce satire on women in the Victorian period I found myself chuckling from time to time at the author s wit.The two Talbot sisters, Lilian and Alice, are two round pegs in square holes , not the stereotypes of Victorian womanhood at all think Bronte sisters or any woman travellers of that period, say, Gertrude Bell They live with their father, an eccentric and inve I expectedon the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in India, but I was pleasantly surprised, in any case This was a delightful comedy farce satire on women in the Victorian period I found myself chuckling from time to time at the auth...The title caught my attention first Then I saw the cover and I was hooked It s a little bit fairytale, a little bit cartoon, and that suits the book very well.The opening sets the scene wonderfully A Victorian mansion where the gates are always locked The master shut them when his wife died and nobody goes through them without his permission And so his twin daughters have been isolated from the world They have their grandmother and their spinster aunts, but they too are under the master s The title caught my attention first Then I saw the cover and I was hooked It s a little bit fairytale, a little bit cartoon, and that suits the book very well.The opening sets the scene wonderfully A Victorian mansion where the gates are always locked The master shut them when his wife died and nobody goes through them without his permission And so his twin daughters have been isolated from the world They have their grandmother and their spinster aunts, but they too are under the master s thumb.He is a collector, a traveller, a man of science, a man with a wide range of interests And, though he doesn t intend it, that helps his daughters to grow up to be strong, intelligent and independent.But can they triumph over their circumstances Lilian has disgraced herself and been swiftly married off to a missionary who takes her to Ind...Absolutely magnificent novel The prose is artful, twin heroines real, complex fascinating, plot is riveting the history period detail sumptuous The horrific lot of Victorian women is balanced by the beauty, strength timelessness of sister love, feminism adventure As in any work of fiction, the reader must suspend belief The novel is the richer because the author skillfully weaves the antiquated notions of womanhood with those of modern day perfectly Pair the novel Th Absolutely magnificent novel The prose is artful, twin heroines real, complex fascinating, plot is riveting the history period detail sumptuous The horrific lot of Victorian women is balanced by the beauty, strength timelessness of sister love, feminism adventure As in any work of fiction, the reader must suspend belief The...I just loved this novel, it s an amazing adventure with two cool 19th century female protagonists In the end I couldn t turn it down, I read it in two days and loved every page of it I hope Elaine di Rollo writes a new n...Found this browsing the stacks at the library The cover pulled me in, the premise sounded original, and so I took it home It had such promise The world the author allows you to inhabit is fantastic the eccentric scientific father, the separated twin sisters, India, the aunts, the collection all seems like a great setup.I was sorely disappointed The male characters were flat and stereotypically narcissistic to the point of ridiculousness And wicked There is not a redeeming character Found this browsing the stacks at the library The cover pull...I was very intrigued by this book It is the story of two sisters who had an extensive and varied education, which bucked the norm of Victorian England They learned horticulture, science, history, and other unorthodox things at the feet of their eccentric, scientific minded father They lived an opulent life in a sort of grand house turned museum The sisters were smart and witty, clever andfree thinking than their co...DiRollo s debut novel is about twin sisters Alice and Lilian who are separated for the first time when Lilian is married off to an irritating preacher who is a missionary in India The girls were raised in a house filled to the rafters with any odd and unusual artifact or contraption their father could get his hands on The novel is told in intervening chapters between Alice, who is at home minding her father s collection, and Lilian, who is braving the wilds of India Used and abused by their f DiRollo s debut novel is about twin sisters Alice and Lilian who are separated for the first time when Lilian is married off to an irritating preacher who is a missionary in India The girls were raised in a house filled to the rafters with any odd and unusual artifact...I started off really liking this book It had all kinds of elements I like to see in a story lush setting full of interesting historical elements, intelligent and strong female characters, a host of colorful secondary characters, and an easily readable narrative voice from another era I was all set for the perfect book Unfortunately, as the chapters wore on this book made a quick transition from charming to utterly bizarre Suffice it to say, Dirollo holds nothing back in her graphic detail o I started off really liking this book It had all kinds of elements I like to see in a s...Was on its was to a five star reviewbut it got a bit wacky at the end An interesting story of two sisters and their eccentric father One sister is sent away, married off to a missionary and bound for India The other is a prisoner in her own home, restricted by the morals of the day, her father, and his collection The sisters tales and their coded communication through the Victorian era is charming and interesting, but the end disintegrates into madcap madness that lacks the dignity of the Was on its was to a five star reviewbut it got a bit wacky at the end An interesting story of two sisters and their eccentric father One sister is sent away, married off to a missionary and bound for India The other is a prisoner in her own home, restricted by the morals of the day, her father, and his collection The sisters tales and their coded communication through the Victorian era is charming and in...

English
26 December 2018

Elaine di Rollo