Marah

by Jean Merrill

Marah Michaelmas, a beautiful young orphan with a murky family background, leads a dreary existence as a temperance worker in London until the charming and careless Lord Malgrave disrupts her life.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Jean Fairbanks Merrill.

Reviews

[Anneceleste · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is not one of the usual regency romances. The setting is a very poor London neighborhood that is owned by a rich aristocrat with a fame as a rake. The heroine is an orphan who is raised there and later finds an occupation with an old lady of the church. There are several peculiar characters, an upcoming revolution and a love triangle that solves itself unexpectedly. The author has a subtle sense of humor. I had a good time reading it but I cannot say that it is memorable.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know what the publishers were thinking. The original cover art is so awful, even for 1981, for the longest time it completely turned me off the book. However, having just (re)read the author’s Edwardian Belle, I resolved to ignore the cover and give this a try.

While Marah isn’t quite as successful as the former, it is an enjoyable read nonetheless. Very much a madcap romp - involving murder, Anarchists and the Victorian temperance movement - I appreciated the unusual setting and cast of characters. My main quibble is that, at times, it (along with the h) verged on ‘too silly/preposterous’.