Araminta had planned to look after Jason's niece and nephew for a week, but at the end of the week he discovers that their mother needs to stay in Chile for a while longer, and that their usual caregiver is still looking after a sick parent. So Araminta is asked to stay on for another week or two. Because half-term is over, Jason will be taking the children and Araminta back to his sister's house. She will act as housekeeper while they go to their day schools.
But before they go, Araminta goes home to pick up some more clothes. I don't know how that's possible; in chapter 1, when she's packing, she reflects that she's packing "almost all she had" (p. 11). Hmmm. She also packs a volume of Thackeray's work and Vanity Fair - the novel, not the magazine, of course. Her hand pauses over Jane Eyre, but she doesn't have room in her bag for it. Or does Betts have her reject it because it would have been too meta?
Jason tells Araminta that Alice (who had set herself out to charm Jason, natch) is in good health - surely unprofessional of him, if totally in character for a Betts hero. Araminta is proving herself to be an admirable, if slightly dull heroine. She manages to get these bratty children to behave, if not act with any friendliness. She's sensible, and and organized, and a good cook.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Bachelor's Wedding, chapter 1
Oooh boy, a new Betts! This one features an English doctor, for a change. Better still, it features my favorite plot - the ungrateful family plot. In this case, poor Araminta works through an agency, earning bits of money to help support her extravagant father and her anemic sister Alice. Alice lounges around all day, because she's anemic. Araminta needs a new pair of shoes, while Alice gets a new dressing gown as a treat. Over-the-top, I know! But that's the fun of this plot.
Anyway, Araminta winds up getting a last-minute job through her agency: taking care of a ten-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, the nephew and niece of Jason Lister, a doctor. She fetches them from their home, because their mother has to go to Chile to see their sick father, and takes them to Jason's house. She'll take care of them during their half-term holiday, though so far they are spoiled brats.
Araminta isn't much to look at, but Jason is, of course. Betts heroes always are. I'd forgotten that Bachelor's Wedding is the book (one of several, I think), where the hero has a rare moment of leisure. Typically, he chooses to spend it "with the poems of Horace - in the original Latin, of course." (p. 9)
We don't get a very detailed description of Jason's house; it's quite large, though, with at least four good-sized bedrooms. He also has a cook, whose husband works for the doctor as well.
Anyway, Araminta winds up getting a last-minute job through her agency: taking care of a ten-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, the nephew and niece of Jason Lister, a doctor. She fetches them from their home, because their mother has to go to Chile to see their sick father, and takes them to Jason's house. She'll take care of them during their half-term holiday, though so far they are spoiled brats.
Araminta isn't much to look at, but Jason is, of course. Betts heroes always are. I'd forgotten that Bachelor's Wedding is the book (one of several, I think), where the hero has a rare moment of leisure. Typically, he chooses to spend it "with the poems of Horace - in the original Latin, of course." (p. 9)
We don't get a very detailed description of Jason's house; it's quite large, though, with at least four good-sized bedrooms. He also has a cook, whose husband works for the doctor as well.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
a genuine non sequitur!
By the way, Sophie's claim that she doesn't like heights never comes up again in the book! For once, Betts led me off the trail; I assumed Sophie would have to climb to the top of a tower before the end of the book. I suppose letting this opportunity drop is indicative of how strangely dull The Awakened Heart was.
Awakened Heart, chapter 9
There were many dull chapters in this book (5, 6 and 8, if memory serves me correctly). I'm not sure why the pacing is so off in this book. Rather a lot (relatively speaking, of course) happens in chapter 9; I'm not sure why some of this wasn't spread over the other chapters.
Sophie meets the mysterious Irena, and neither Sophie nor the reader is surprised to find out that she's the woman who was in the car with Rijk. They meet at a party, and the next day Irena comes over for lunch and to skate with Sophie and Rijk. Rijk drives Irena home, and then calls to say he will be out late.
It's a bit hasty of Sophie to assume he spent all those missing hours with Irena, but also out of line for Rijk to be furious with Sophie when she suggests that interpretation of the night's events. He has done remarkably little to earn Sophie's trust, so his fury at not having it is, well, very Rijk. Irena comes along, explains everything, and suggests that Sophie go find Rijk to apologize. There's some tiresome business about how Sophie has to leave him now, because she has said she loves him (thereby violating the terms of their platonic marriage). Turns out he has been waiting for her to break her word on this point, which - well, you can imagine what I think of that.
New book tomorrow!
Sophie meets the mysterious Irena, and neither Sophie nor the reader is surprised to find out that she's the woman who was in the car with Rijk. They meet at a party, and the next day Irena comes over for lunch and to skate with Sophie and Rijk. Rijk drives Irena home, and then calls to say he will be out late.
It's a bit hasty of Sophie to assume he spent all those missing hours with Irena, but also out of line for Rijk to be furious with Sophie when she suggests that interpretation of the night's events. He has done remarkably little to earn Sophie's trust, so his fury at not having it is, well, very Rijk. Irena comes along, explains everything, and suggests that Sophie go find Rijk to apologize. There's some tiresome business about how Sophie has to leave him now, because she has said she loves him (thereby violating the terms of their platonic marriage). Turns out he has been waiting for her to break her word on this point, which - well, you can imagine what I think of that.
New book tomorrow!
Betts heroine as accessory
In chapter 8 of Awakened Heart, although Sophie gets a cheque-book, she doesn't go on a shopping spree. Rijk admits that she dresses charmingly, but that she'll not want to wear the same clothes too often because "I can't have my friends saying that I don't give you enough pin money" (p. 158).
Not "you should dress well, because of your position as the wife of a well-known doctor", or "I'll enjoy seeing you well-turned-out", or "I'd like to make you happy, and this is one way I can do that". All of those are true, but which does he choose? The one about what his friends will think. Rijk can be a bit of a jerk, I think.
Not "you should dress well, because of your position as the wife of a well-known doctor", or "I'll enjoy seeing you well-turned-out", or "I'd like to make you happy, and this is one way I can do that". All of those are true, but which does he choose? The one about what his friends will think. Rijk can be a bit of a jerk, I think.
the difficulty of choosing dinner
In one of my last posts, I wrote:
"She [the typical Betts heroine, after marriage] probably also arranges the flowers, consults with the cook about the meals, and helps with some children's charity in the village."
During my time away from the blog, I'd forgotten about that. But that makes this bit in chapter 8 all the funnier:
Sophie "went along to the kitchen to start the difficult but interesting business of deciding what to eat for the rest of the day" (p. 160). Here's the thing: although she speaks very little Dutch at this point, one of the servants is bilingual and can translate, thereby negating the language barrier as a reason for difficulty. If Dutch isn't the problem, why on earth is it difficult to choose what to eat, given that she can afford any food she likes, and doesn't have to cook it?
"She [the typical Betts heroine, after marriage] probably also arranges the flowers, consults with the cook about the meals, and helps with some children's charity in the village."
During my time away from the blog, I'd forgotten about that. But that makes this bit in chapter 8 all the funnier:
Sophie "went along to the kitchen to start the difficult but interesting business of deciding what to eat for the rest of the day" (p. 160). Here's the thing: although she speaks very little Dutch at this point, one of the servants is bilingual and can translate, thereby negating the language barrier as a reason for difficulty. If Dutch isn't the problem, why on earth is it difficult to choose what to eat, given that she can afford any food she likes, and doesn't have to cook it?
Awakened Heart, chapter 8
I couldn't find the book for a while. Sorry. On the bright side, I've clean forgotten the first seven chapters of The Awakened Heart, which should make this blog post more fun to write.
Sophie's upset because her husband (whose long Dutch name I've forgotten) was spotted with an attractive woman in his car. Because Betts heroines are always stupid about these things, she immediately assumes the worst, and hops on a bus to go home.
Her husband (Rijk! That's his name!) picks her up at the bus stop, without mentioning the Mysterious Woman, and drops her off at home. He tells her he has a meeting, and that she shouldn't wait up. Chillingly, both he and Sophie understand that his "don't wait up" isn't a polite phrase, it's a directive (p. 153: "She went to bed early because he had made it clear that he didn't expect to see her when he got home").
The next day Rijk gives her a cheque-book that shows how large her quarterly allowance is. She's shocked, but he makes it clear that she can't be seen too often in the same dress. What happened to having a good, serviceable wardrobe?
Sophie feeds the dog chocolate! Surely that's not good for him? More to the point, "he expected it", so clearly he's in the habit of eating it. Aren't these people medical professionals?
This is a killing-time chapter. Sophie spends it puttering around the house and village, feeding the dog chocolate, and saving a small child from a freezing lake. Actually, she does no such thing - she sees that he's in there, goes in there herself, and sends the dog to Rijk for help. Good thing the chocolate hadn't made the dog too sick to move. After her recovery, she hears Rijk on the phone, talking to Irena about dinner that evening (Irena will, of course, turn out to be the woman in the car) .
The most interesting thing in the chapter is a revelation from Rauke, the manservant, that he and Rijk's father were in the underground resistance together during WWII.
Sophie's upset because her husband (whose long Dutch name I've forgotten) was spotted with an attractive woman in his car. Because Betts heroines are always stupid about these things, she immediately assumes the worst, and hops on a bus to go home.
Her husband (Rijk! That's his name!) picks her up at the bus stop, without mentioning the Mysterious Woman, and drops her off at home. He tells her he has a meeting, and that she shouldn't wait up. Chillingly, both he and Sophie understand that his "don't wait up" isn't a polite phrase, it's a directive (p. 153: "She went to bed early because he had made it clear that he didn't expect to see her when he got home").
The next day Rijk gives her a cheque-book that shows how large her quarterly allowance is. She's shocked, but he makes it clear that she can't be seen too often in the same dress. What happened to having a good, serviceable wardrobe?
Sophie feeds the dog chocolate! Surely that's not good for him? More to the point, "he expected it", so clearly he's in the habit of eating it. Aren't these people medical professionals?
This is a killing-time chapter. Sophie spends it puttering around the house and village, feeding the dog chocolate, and saving a small child from a freezing lake. Actually, she does no such thing - she sees that he's in there, goes in there herself, and sends the dog to Rijk for help. Good thing the chocolate hadn't made the dog too sick to move. After her recovery, she hears Rijk on the phone, talking to Irena about dinner that evening (Irena will, of course, turn out to be the woman in the car) .
The most interesting thing in the chapter is a revelation from Rauke, the manservant, that he and Rijk's father were in the underground resistance together during WWII.
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