Review: Touching Victorian Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
This romance novel set in the Victorian age is very touching.  At the root of the plot is the issue of abuse against women that was just beginning to move to the forefront of people's awareness during that era thanks to people like the poet Robert Browning (who has a cameo appearance in the book).  Katerina, a nineteen year old Italian girl who was born and raised in England is being severely abused by her father.  Her friend Julia is very concerned for her young friend, but knows that legally there is nothing she can do to help her.  At that time women were the property of their fathers and only the "property right" of a husband superseded his authority.In the hopes of a romance developing, Julia introduces her son Christopher to Katerina.  Chris is very attracted to Katerina and hopes to court her slowly.  However, due to the severity of the beatings Katerina has to endure at her father's hands it becomes imperative that she be removed from the situation or death is surely imminent.  Consequently, Chris elopes with Katerina.  The rest of the book pretty much follows the budding romance between the newly weds.  The love story between Chris and Katerina is very sweet.  He is kind, sensitive, and very patient with her and eventually she begins to open up to him.  The story is extremely touching and at times elicited tears from this reader.  Katerina is a strong, brave, wonderful heroine and Chris is absolutely wonderful!The book is well written, although it has the feel of having been written by a fairly new author.  She uses all CAPS to emphasize words, which I have never seen in a novel before.  I found it a bit disconcerting, in that it somehow interrupted the flow of the story, though not overly so.  This was especially true where emphasis was used where, IMO, none was needed.  What made it particularly stange is that at times the author appropriately used italics for emphasis, thus indicating she was aware of the correct method.  That one minor issue aside, I would definitely recommend this book.  I found it to be a very satisfying read.FYI, as indicated in the book blurb, the book does contain some graphic sexual content.  However, the sexual content does not in any way overwhelm the story, nor is it any more graphic than most other historical romance novels written today.  Furthermore, IMO, although the love scenes are described, I did not find them to be overly graphic, nor is any crude language used.  To be honest, I think a warning about the graphic nature of injuries Katerina suffered at the hands of her father would be more appropriate than the warning about the sexual content.  Katerina's injuries are described in some detail and was difficult to read.  Moreover, there is one scene where Katerina's father beats her that was also difficult to read.Readers who are particularly sensitive to the issue of violence against women might find parts of this book especially difficult to read.  That being said, I for one, appreciate the author's efforts to create a story that so thoroughly and accurately depicts a period in history when the status as women as mere chattel of men, with no rights, who could be legally subjected to whatever cruelty their fathers and husbands deemed appropriate, was just beginning to be questioned.  In that respect, this book is spectacularly done.  Happy reading!