After months of anticipation, I finally got to read the first book of Willig's series on flowery spies working for the British government, and best of all, it was fantastic! I had high hopes after having read three other novels in the series (out of order, but that's fine), and my expectations were exceeded. I found this to be even more nerve-wracking, heart-stopping, and thrilling than the others (possibly because of the afore-mentioned anticipation).
Possibly one of the best things about reading this novel is that I finally understand more of the events that happened in the other three novels I read, both on the historical spy side, and in Eloise's life. Before reading Pink Carnation, I had no real questions about the events in the novels, but after reading this one, there are more links between characters than I had assumed there were. I like that all of the novels in this series are so intertwined, yet so completely different. It's a feeling similar to watching movies with the same main character, but I think the Pink Carnation novels are better, because the main character changes. You know who the new main character is, because they either were in a previous novel, or are related to someone in a previous novel, and the stories are so all-engrossing that I can't put them down, and I already want to read them again.
Once again, Eloise has my attention and sympathy. I knew already that she and Colin Selwick had gotten off to a rocky start, but the actual encounters in PC were a great deal more interesting than the ones I had imagined. Colin was not only opposed to Eloise poking about in the family archives, he was absolutely horrid to her, without the offhand decorum I'd expect from someone answering a polite request. His letter to Eloise declining her request to see the Selwick archives was both rude and highly amusing to read. Their meeting later, when Colin's aunt allows Eloise access to the papers, is interesting, too. They are both shocked to see each other, and the misunderstandings that follow made me feel both giggly and miffed. As a reader, I knew what was going on, but I also was offended for Eloise. It's one thing to not like someone for good reasons, but Colin seems to have no reason to dislike Eloise, and even less reason to be horrid to her. (Now, I know why Colin is rude, since I read the novel that explains his motives, but in PC, it seems completely unreasonable.) Eloise is simply not having a lot of luck with him. She needs the papers to put something profound in her dissertation, but the Selwicks decide that she can't use any information she finds. So, she'll know the truth, but be unable to talk about it. If that's not a researcher's nightmare, I don't know what it.
The 1803 side of the story is even more riveting. Just as Eloise and Colin have misunderstandings and unfounded dislike, so, too, do Lord Richard Selwick and Miss Amy Balcourt. Within the first two or three chapters, I already knew that they would end up together, based on the pattern of the other PC novels, but the misadventures that got them together were what kept my attention. Dual identities, false assumptions, arrogance, prejudices, and other fun tools keep Richard and Amy, if not at each other's throats, at least wary and untrusting. The humor starts when Richard realizes that he's in love with Amy, but she seemingly hates his guts, which isn't far from the truth. Willig's descriptions of their feelings towards each other, and the changes in those feelings, feel as though I'm in their minds, knowing their thoughts, as their being thought up. Amy and Richard are both complicated people, with complicated loyalties, aspirations, and beliefs, but in Pink Carnation, their differences (and later, their similarities) make me love them both.
I don't think I can say enough good things about The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I was as enthralled by it, if not more so, as by the other Willig novels that I've read. I do believe that reading this novel has secured me as a permanent Lauren Willig fan, even though PC was a bit more of a romance novel than I thought it would be. Truthfully, I didn't care, because I really enjoy Willig's writing style, and the way she thinks. There were things I never saw coming, and it takes a great author to keep me guessing. I loved every page of this novel, and finishing it left me a bit wistful. I'm excited to read her other novels as soon as I can get my hands on them!
0 comments:
Post a Comment