A little more Jude Morgan
A Little Folly by Jude Morgan
When their straitlaced, domineering father, Sir Clement Carnell, dies, Valentine throws open the doors to their Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London, and Louisa feels free at last to reject the man Sir Clement wanted her to marry.
Soon, the temptations of Regency London beckon, including the beautiful, scandalous-and very married-Lady Harriet Eversholt, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved. Meanwhile, Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge in a little folly lead to fulfillment-or disaster?
Once again, I have to hand it to Jude Morgan. Even though I loved An Accomplished Woman, I started this novel not really in the mood for historical fiction, but only because its library due date was quickly approaching. Yet very quickly I was in the story’s grip and felt that exquisite sensation when finishing a very good book: thrilled yet sad to see it all end.
Whereas An Accomplished Woman takes after Jane Austen’s Persuasion, this time around A Little Folly is inspired by Emma-though Morgan’s heroine, Louisa Carnell, is decidedly a bit more circumspect and less (lovably) obnoxious as Jane Austen’s. After her father’s death, she and her brother embark on “an enterprise of living”: For the first time in their lives, they have the power to decide where they want to live, who they want to associate with, what they want to do with their time-in short, everything that their tyrannical father had decided for them when he was alive. For her brother Valentine this means throwing himself headlong into society, and quickly entangling himself with a married woman. Louisa herself finds herself the focus of two men, both brothers, and even though she considers herself level-headed, in this instance she has to figure out if she is actually in love with one of them-or rather, with the heady freedom to choose that she has acquired.
No proper Jude Morgan novel is complete (in my opinion) without a romance, and this storyline was subtly done. Although if you’ve read as many Austen novels as I have it’s quite obvious who the “front-runner” is from early on, still his interactions with Louisa felt natural, not forced or instant. Morgan also has fantastic comedic timing: the dialogue between these two often made me laugh. A Little Folly is proof that Jude Morgan is not losing his touch one bit; I just hope he publishes more novels like these-and sooner!
When their straitlaced, domineering father, Sir Clement Carnell, dies, Valentine throws open the doors to their Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London, and Louisa feels free at last to reject the man Sir Clement wanted her to marry.
Soon, the temptations of Regency London beckon, including the beautiful, scandalous-and very married-Lady Harriet Eversholt, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved. Meanwhile, Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge in a little folly lead to fulfillment-or disaster?
Once again, I have to hand it to Jude Morgan. Even though I loved An Accomplished Woman, I started this novel not really in the mood for historical fiction, but only because its library due date was quickly approaching. Yet very quickly I was in the story’s grip and felt that exquisite sensation when finishing a very good book: thrilled yet sad to see it all end.
Whereas An Accomplished Woman takes after Jane Austen’s Persuasion, this time around A Little Folly is inspired by Emma-though Morgan’s heroine, Louisa Carnell, is decidedly a bit more circumspect and less (lovably) obnoxious as Jane Austen’s. After her father’s death, she and her brother embark on “an enterprise of living”: For the first time in their lives, they have the power to decide where they want to live, who they want to associate with, what they want to do with their time-in short, everything that their tyrannical father had decided for them when he was alive. For her brother Valentine this means throwing himself headlong into society, and quickly entangling himself with a married woman. Louisa herself finds herself the focus of two men, both brothers, and even though she considers herself level-headed, in this instance she has to figure out if she is actually in love with one of them-or rather, with the heady freedom to choose that she has acquired.
No proper Jude Morgan novel is complete (in my opinion) without a romance, and this storyline was subtly done. Although if you’ve read as many Austen novels as I have it’s quite obvious who the “front-runner” is from early on, still his interactions with Louisa felt natural, not forced or instant. Morgan also has fantastic comedic timing: the dialogue between these two often made me laugh. A Little Folly is proof that Jude Morgan is not losing his touch one bit; I just hope he publishes more novels like these-and sooner!