Dear Faustina

by Rhoda Broughton

Excerpt from Dear Faustina
Tears!
The accent with which this monosyllable is uttered, though tempered with leniency, is undoubtedly one of reproach. The person to whom it is addressed recognizes it as such, and, though it has not at once a quite drying effect upon her, yet it is in a voice of indistinct apology that she proffers her excuse.
'I do not think I am much of a cryer; you have never seen me cry before.'
'Why do I see you cry now?'

Nook

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Rhoda Broughton was a popular British (Welsh) novelist and short story writer.

Reviews

[Dee Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book from a different time. I loved the prose and the dialogue, they positively sparkle. But it's sometimes hard to understand values that the author seems to assume. Broughton writes movingly about the challenges faced by women, and informatively about the progressive movement. Simultaneously, she seems to really view many women as deeply stupid people who are properly treated like children, and is deeply suspicious of women who don't want to live domestically.

The relationship between Faustina and Altheia is never called romantic, and the word lesbian is never said, but it's hard to imagine how else anyone read this in 1897.