Pages:
532
Original
date of publication: 2000
My
edition: 2009 (Sphere)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: Amazon UK, May 2010
#23:
Covers 1874-1885.
As
the novel opens, Lady Venetia Fleetwood is engaged to be married; when she
finds out that her future husband doesn’t support her ambitions to become a
doctor, she breaks off the engagement. Her distant cousin George Morland and
his social-climbing wife Alfreda had been invited to the wedding, but are
bitterly disappointed when it is called off. In order to improve their social
standing, George and Alfreda begin an ambitious project to “improve” and
modernize Morland Place.
Although
I enjoy this series in general, it’s been a while since I read the previous book in the series, so I had to go back to my notes and review them before I
began reading The Cause. Still, I thought that this book was more of a filler
for the series—the connection between the two branches of the family is too
great. According to the family tree at the front of the book, though, Venetia
and George are second cousins once removed. It would be nice if the series
could focus just on one branch of the family at a time.
I
enjoyed watching Venetia’s story play out further, and I also enjoyed watching how the
medical profession became more open to women. But I lost interest in George and
Alfreda; I think that both are stock characters seen frequently in the story of
the Morland family. I realized as I read this installment in the series how
accustomed to Morland Place I’ve become; as I read about the “improvements” to
the family seat I kept thinking “no!”
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