THE MISBEGOTTEN by KATHERINE WEBB

THE MISBEGOTTEN

BY KATHERINE WEBB

THE BLURB:-

Rachel Crofton escapes her unhappy employment as a governess by marrying a self-made businessman. But her life soon takes an unexpected turn.

Reclusive Jonathan Alleyn is a man tormented by the disappearance of his childhood sweetheart. Alice.

Starling, foundling child and now servant, is convinced that Alice, the woman she loved as a sister, was stolen from her. Did Alice run away? Or did something altogether more sinister occur?

As Starling tries to expose the lies behind Bath's immaculate facades, others want only to forget, and will go to extreme lengths to do so. And the courage both Rachel and Starling need to bring these truths to light will come at a very high price...

THE REALITY:-

I've read all of Katherine Webb's novels, and this one fights with her first work- The Unseen- for the position of the best. She has an unusual style of writing, yet it is not unattractive (and not actually displayed in this book!) The Unseen was written in the present tense in the historical sections and the traditional, past tense in the contemporary sections and I believe she used this way of communicating in at least one other of her stories. Do I like this way of writing? It's okay. And, like I said, not actually displayed in this book. I loved the title of this book as “The Misbegotten” implies intrigue and something not quite right- it's all to do with the “Mis” part, methinks. The front cover caption “Dark truths. Beautiful lies” is also very compelling, so I was drawn in before even reading a single word.

Enough of my waffle! This book touched on an area of history I don't know that much about (the early 1800s) and would like to know more about, especially regarding the Napoleonic wars. I have read novels set around this time- such as Vanity Fair- and also by writers of the day- Jane Austen- but would love to learn more of the facts surrounding the Regency era. The war parts of this novel were actually those that I found the most tedious and long-winded, but I persevered and absorbed some of the horrors described in the pages. Incidentally, I put down the much-acclaimed (and longer winded) White Teeth, by Zadie Smith, during the war section of her novel and never sought to pick it up again, so I must choose where and how to do my war research carefully, if I ever need do so for my own work.

Bath came to life in this story and made me want to take a visit to this place. I had a friend do a day trip by coach from London recently, taking in this historic city and also Stonehenge, so maybe I will do the same.

I'm still waffling...! This novel was practically addictive and I loved the concept of one of our heroines, Rachel, being an almost perfect doppelgänger of another of our heroines- Alice. It is something that is a starting and an ending point to the story, as well as a thread running throughout. The characters were so varied and some truly despicable. The scenes and houses were atmospheric and the character of feisty foundling Starling rather heart-warming, though she is far from angelic. The language (or rather slanguage- I believe there is a book written as a guide to this and I will seek it out) used in the book really transported me back in time and also made me laugh in paroxysms.

I did, however, find the story confusing in places.  Letters got mentioned a lot; we had the letter that never got sent...and the letter that got sent but then discarded and picked up again...and then the letters which we did not know existed and the letters that got destroyed.  Enough of the letters, already!  Then we had the glaringly obvious problem of Abi's age being different to Alice's (read the book and you will see why this is significant) and I felt that this problem could have been brought to the fore earlier.

The question of what it was like to be a woman in those times arose and, I have to say, the choices for a female were limited and the morals of those times offensive. I mean, if a lady spent time with a gentleman, unaccompanied, then her reputation would be ruined- WHAT KIND OF A CROCK OF SHIT IS THIS?! What was that all about? It seems to me that those doing the observing were the ones with the problems; self-righteous, morally turgid idiots. I would not have wanted to live in those times, and that's without taking into account the escape routes, such as contraception and divorce, we have available to us nowadays. But here's a little note for you to give thought to as I end this review. Immoral (or should that be amoral?!) me seems to think that there was a simple way out for a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage- it was possible to kill someone in those days and get away with it... there were no modern forensics like there are today.  Chew on that... and read this book; it was totally enthralling, fascinating and held me in its vice-like grip from start to finish.  It will be well worth your while.