Book Review: Mary Green

Welcome to the first review of 2018!

I always give some thought to the first read of every new year, and this year was no different. I read the entire thing in one sitting last weekend. (I was even in my hot tub at the time. It was lovely.)

My wonderful mother-in-law bought me this book while we were at the Jane Austen ball last spring.

If you missed my post about that, it was one of the favourites (by me included) from 2017. You can find it here.

The author of Mary Green, Melanie Kerr, is the woman who organized the event.

The story follows, no surprise, Mary Green, or Polly, as she is at first known by her cousins and spinster aunt. Mary is treated unkindly by most, yet she accepts her position as "less" than those around her with dignity and gratitude. As an unknown orphan, she is only too aware of the fortune of her circumstances. Yet when hurt, she looks to make her own way in the world. No sooner does she make up her mind to do this, however, than a great shock and change in her fortunes comes her way. Suddenly she is thrust into a society she was never permitted to even glimpse before.

Mary is a classic Jane heroine. She is sweet-tempered, sincere, and generous.

The secondary characters are wonderful. I loved each of them, and the lens through which Mary views and interprets them.

But my favourite thing about this book was the world itself. Melanie Kerr has done something exactly right with this book: she has allowed us to step into the world belonging to the books so many of us love so much. Kerr has addressed the dress, the balls, the countryside, London, the manners, the society just so seemingly effortlessly, that it may have come from one of Austen's contemporaries.

Yes, there is something rather stereotypical about this book, but at the same time it must adhere to those stereotypes to be a Regency book, to be in the same vein as Austen herself. Of course there is some misplaced affection, of course there is a romance, a dashing, understated Austenesque hero, of course there must be a happy ending, of course there is the sweet, unassuming young lady finding her own happiness and in search of her identity and independence.

Overall, I highly recommend this Alberta author to anyone who loved Regency pieces, and particularly this book if you like Jane Austen. It may not be as deft as some of Austen's works, but it could be in the same category, and that's saying something fairly remarkable.

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What was/is your first read of 2018?

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