Chapter VII – Retrograde Investigation

Surely a pretty woman never looks prettier than when making tea. The most feminine and most domestic of all occupations imparts a magic harmony to her every movement, a witchery to her every glance. The floating mists from the boiling liquid in which she infuses the soothing herbs, whose secrets are known to her alone, envelop her in a cloud of scented vapour, through which she seems a social fairy, weaving potent spells with Gunpowder and Bohea. At the tea-table she reigns omnipotent, unapproachable. What do men know of the mysterious beverage? Read how poor Hazlitt made his tea, and shudder at the dreadful barbarism. How clumsily the wretched creatures attempt to assist the witch president of the tea-tray; how hopelessly they hold the kettle, how continually they imperil the frail cups and saucers, or the taper hands of the priestess. To do away with the tea-table is to rob woman of her legitimate empire.

From Lady Audley's Secret

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Tomorrow is the Book Tea for this surprisingly good read - Saturday - July 16, 2011!

We will sip perfectly steeped tea, nibble delectables and enjoy sharing thoughts & observations. Some of us will wear jeans & some of us will appear in sun hats & flowered tea dresses... But we will all savor the happy pleasure of reading a good book and discussing it with friends.

If anyone has views that they would like to list under Comments and have us share at the Tea... jot away!

See you tomorrow!

Chapter XVII – At The Castle Inn

Her pale hair was as smoothly braided, and her light grey dress fitted as precisely, as of old. The same neutral tints pervaded her person and her dress; no showy rose-coloured ribbons or rustling silk gown proclaimed the well-to-do innkeeper’s wife. Phœbe Marks was a person who never lost her individuality. Silent and self-contained, she seemed to hold herself within herself, and take no colour from the outer world.

From Lady Audley's Secret

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Our current read to meet and discuss on July 16, 2011 - Next Saturday!

Chapter VII – On The Watch

The young lady was walking up and down the room, slashing the skirt of her habit with her riding whip. Her eyes sparkled with an angry flash, and a crimson glow burned under her clear brown skin. The young barrister knew very well by these diagnostics that his cousin was in a passion.

From Lady Audley's Secret

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Our current read to meet and discuss on July 16, 2011!

From Chapter VII - After A Year

It was late the next morning when Lady Audley went down to breakfast—past ten o'clock. While she was sipping her coffee a servant brought her a sealed packet, and a book for her to sign.

"A telegraphic message!" she cried; for the convenient word telegram had not yet been invented. "What can be the matter?"

She looked up at her husband with wide-open, terrified eyes, and seemed half afraid to break the seal.

From Lady Audley's Secret

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Our current read to meet and discuss on July 16, 2011!

Lady Audley’s Secret

By Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Published in 1862 after appearing in a serial form in several publications – both partially and in whole – Lady Audley’s Secret falls squarely into the category of "the sensation novel”.

As Braddon’s most successful and well-known work – it was wildly popular, even though it took most of the comfortable and accepted Victorian standards and tipped them on their proverbial ears. Morals, ethics, criminal behavior, encroaching urbanization and its effects on good society, class divisions and roles – Braddon wrote about them all and had possibly written much of it from some questionable experiences of her own. There were several real-life cases of the time that have been conjectured to have set some of the plot lines of Lady Audley’s Secret into action, having fermented in this author’s head. Were the themes inspired by real-life Constance Kent and her case, which captured the English public’s avid attention during the summer of 1860?

During the Victorian age, there were some things that were just not discussed. There were morals and standards and ideals that were held sacred whether they originated in Scripture or were just products of the time. Class structure, the view of women and how they were to deport themselves, marriage, home as a “safe haven”, gender roles…. With the British society in the midst of an industrial age upheaval, life as a comfortable known quantity was becoming a thing of the past. Did these insecurities find their way into the exploits and misadventures of Lucy and meet with a level of recognition as the book passed from one avid reader to the next?

And a Victorian novel with the theme – “accidental bigamy”? ...Really?

Let’s read and discuss over an afternoon High Tea on Saturday, July 16th, 2011.

This book may not be the easiest to find… so you might start checking now!

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

"But Arthur dislikes me to talk to him (Mr. Hargrave), and is visibly annoyed by his commonest acts of politeness; not that my husband has any unworthy suspicions of me - or of his friend either, as I believe - but he dislikes me to have any pleasure but in himself, any shadow of homage or kindness but such as he chooses to vouchsafe: he knows he is my sun, but when he chooses to withhold his light, he would have my sky to be all darkness; he cannot bear that I should have a moon to mitigate the deprivation..."

Helen

As women of today's modern world, have we not all met an Arthur Huntington during our lifetimes... at least once... or someone fearfully like him? The date who cannot bear for someone else to make us laugh? The boyfriend who enjoys our devotion while glancing about the room for a prettier face?

While nightly television and the films of our age parade Huntington-esque male villains and heartbreakers past us with a tiresome frequency, making them begin to be commonplace, I asked myself throughout this read of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall where the young Anne Brontë found the inspiration for Helen’s husband and his reckless, immoral friends? As the sheltered, motherless daughter of a curate, or humble governess – what did she see? What did she hear from her quiet corner?

It is as important today to recognize the valuable and honorable men that walk through our lives and avoid the dangerous Arthurs as it was over 160 years ago in Anne's day, but today we have the ability to support ourselves and can therefore make independent decisions. How much more vulnerable did the women of the Brontë's day find themselves when their only protection was from a man and their choices may have been few due to their range of acquaintances?

But was Helen's ultimate error the misguided belief that she could change Huntington? Redeem him herself? Her eyes were certainly blinded by her initial love for him but how willfully dangerous to choose to marry someone with the firm belief that you could turn him away from folly and evil and bring him into goodness. This is certainly not a pitfall limited to the Victorian Age but is one that has ruined many a life.

"When I tell you not to marry without love, I do not advise you to marry for love alone - there are many, many other things to be considered. Keep both heart and hand in your own possession, till you see good reason to part with them; and if such an occasion should never present itself, comfort your mind with this reflection: that, though in single life your joys may not be very many, your sorrows at least will not be more than you can bear."

Helen

At times this book was a bit melodramatic and I found myself uncomfortable with misguided actions by both hero and heroine in addition to various characters filling out the story, but the study of the time period and recognizable actions and motives that were familiar to my own era were deeply interesting.

Did you feel the same way? Whether or not you will be someone joining us in our book tea this next weekend or not, let me know what you think and I'll read your comments as The Jane Austen Tea Society meets to discuss The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on April 9^th, 2011.

If you are not finished - KEEP READING!

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Originally divided into three volumes, this second published novel by Anne Brontë was released in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell to wild acclaim and was sold out within six weeks.

There were severe vocal critics of this work, however. Did this youngest Brontë sister approve of the dissipation and debauchery woven throughout the storyline - or – was she warning against it? Was it powerfully & deeply crafted or simply… “coarse”?

And - did this quiet living Yorkshire woman intend to openly challenge the prevailing morals of the Victorian Era through protagonist Helen Lawrence HuntingtonunHunHun? Should this novel be considered one of the first feminist novels because of the heroine’s radical overturning of sexual politics?

At some point after publication of the second edition, ladies were warned against reading it, saying that it was not “fit subject matter for the pages of a work… to be obtruded by every circulating library-keeper upon the notice of our sisters, wives, and daughters”. One critic pronounced it “utterly unfit to be put into the hands of girls”…

Really?!?

Am I wrong in telling the gentle ladies and tender young women in our Jane Austen Tea Society to make sure you pick up this next read for our book group? Will I be shunned from all good society?

Perhaps…

Mark your calendars --

The next Book Tea will focus on The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë on Saturday – April 9^th. So pick up a copy or simply check with your local circulating library-keeper.