When one thinks of well known women authors in English literature, few names stand out. Elizabeth Haskell deserves to be known at least on a second rung, if not on par, with them. But unlike male authors who get acceptance at topmost possible levels they could be accommodated at, or higher, women writers fare the opposite, and many fine writers like this are known perhaps to professionals in literature or humanities but not general public.
Unjust, but in a world still racist and antisemitic and incapable of letting go of worshipping abrahmic preferences, gender based prejudices would be the kast refuge of the incapable, since are the most primitive ones.
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The book begins seemingly with a chapter that deals obliquely with caste system of England as in a small town, Hollingford, with Molly Gibson, the little daughter of the doctor, being invited for the annual event at the Tower, the residence of the Lord Cumnor and his family. There is a traumatic day for the young girl, spent mostly without food, chiefly because the daughter of the house assumes that an ex-governess would feed and take care of her as asked, but the crafty woman eats the food herself! Fortunately the girl is rescued after dinner by her father coming for her.
It's only in the second chapter that the delightful wit and humour of the author make one appreciate how well this is written, and how much courage it must have required to publish this, even write it, during the era of such ingrained caste system.
But then the harsher aspects appear. A pupil of the doctor who falls in love with the surgeon's daughter - Molly Gibson is now seventeen - isnt good enough despite the friendship between the fathers, and the doctor sends her to visit a lesser squire's wife who has been inviting her for years. They like each other, since molly has no mother and Mrs Hamley no daughter, but the squire would rather avoid a son of his falling for a mere doctor's daughter, despite his liking her.
And now comes the danger, of Mrs Kirkpatrick the ex governess of The Towers possibly catching doctor Gibson because he's lonely! Indeed, they each see the other as a perfect solution to their matrimonial problem within the restrictions of caste and acquaintance circles, and each decides they couldn't do better.
But most astounding is the doctor's blindness to reality of Mrs Kirkpatrick's treatment of Molly when she visited The Towers, which he thinks was kind! Even more ironic is the lengths the doctor would go to in order to keep away from his daughter a young man who is passionately in love with her, and to this end he would rather give a stepmother to his daughter without any knowledge of her character other than that she was in service to The Towers, which qualifies as a character certificate! Caste system beyond belief indeed!
And yet it's more complicated, for Coxe, the young doctor, has been sent for by a dying great uncle whose estate he is to inherit! Gibson knew this, but still wouldn't consent to his match with Molly.
Is it merely that a father would rather compete when his daughter is old enough to marry, that he'd prefer to lock her up while he finds himself a new wife or an affair, and if neither is possible, then just get sadistic and beat her up, starve her, hit her head on wall, throw her forcibly on a bed, ...... ? Force her to marry someone as unpleasant and uncouth as he can find, so she is revolted for ever, unhappy, or suicidal? Make her life he'll, because he can't have her himself?
Are they aware of this, or do they generally pretend that their abusing the daughter is fair?
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With marriage of Gibson the household changed for worse for both father and daughter, until Cynthia Kirkpatrick arrived. She was a much nicer person despite having many of her mother's faults, but the two weren't close, had never been, and having been left to grow alone, had learnt to deal with her mother. She moreover liked Molly, loved her, and the two were happy together. But Cynthia's beauty and ways created some disturbances and her mother meddling to fix a good match for her made it worse, apart from opening Gibson's eyes.
Much of what follows is results of the differences in beauty and charm on one hand, and those of bringing up on the other, between the two girls so thrown together. But with all the complications and travails of a small English village and its usual quirks and gossips, it ends well, all around, and very satisfactorily. That it does so despite Cynthia's struggles and her mother's manipulations is quite a credit to the aithor.
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June 05, 2020 - June 13, 2020.
ISBN 978-1-62558-104-4
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