Review: A little short, but interesting nonetheless
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2013
Although the novel is a little short (not quite full-length, not quite a novella) and the plot is a bit mundane--a second son who has lost his fortune and position in society not good enough for the woman, yada yada--Jade Lee's talent as a writer salvages this novel from the humdrum. Engaging characters with satisfying complexity give depth to the story. Josephine is wild and free and understood only by William Benton, a man driven by the sins of his family to be the burden bearer of the family. Interestingly, the "bad guy," the competition for Josephine is not a bad guy at all. So that makes for a more complex novel. And Lee incorporates some of the concerns of the time in the details about the building of canals to launch the Industrial Revolution. Not a great book, but still worth the read.