Review: A little white heap at the altar
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 8, 2013
This is a sweet little romance where a persecuted, wealthy bride is rescued by people who have nothing. Betty, heiress to her father's money, is being forced (tricked, actually) by her wicked stepmother to marry her wicked stepbrother (no blood relationship). She effects her escape at the church and is taken in by a young girl who happens to be passing. This young girl, Jane, has no money and few resources, but still manages to help Betty escape to the country where Jane's family lives. Jane's family is portrayed, rather one-dimensionally, as happy, contented, devout poor people who take the wealthy girl in and show her a new perspective on life. Jane is much happier with them, of course, than she ever was with her wicked stepmother, but the wicked stepmother is not done with her yet. Eager to get their hands on Betty's money, the mother and her son advertise a reward for Betty, putting her disguise in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Jane has contacted her boyfriend's employer, a young lawyer who just happens to have been at Betty's wedding and saw what happened, and is already sympathetic to Betty's plight. Naturally, he's the perfect man for the job and it all works out rather pat. There's not a lot of nuance along the way--especially in the way Ms. Hill portrays the "illiterate, uncultured" poor people--but it's not a bad story. I just didn't find it a particularly involving one.