The Young Step-Mother

by Charlotte Mary Yonge

Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901), was an English novelist, known for her huge output. She was devoted to the Church of England, and much influenced by John Keble, a near neighbour and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Her novels reflected the values and concerns of Anglo-Catholicism. She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 100 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1854), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. She was also editor, for nearly forty years, of a magazine for young ladies, the Monthly Packet. Among the best known of her works are Heartsease; or, The Brother's Wife (1854), The Daisy Chain; or, Aspirations (1856), A History of Christian Names (1863, revised 1884), A Book of Golden Deeds (1864), The Dove in the Eagle's Nest (1866), Life of John Coleridge Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands (1873) and Hannah More (1888).

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Victorian

568 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1862

About the author

Charlotte Mary Yonge was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print.

She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 160 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. Yonge was also a founder and editor for forty years of The Monthly Packet, a magazine (founded in 1851) with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls (in later years it was addressed to a somewhat wider readership).

Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More. Her History of Christian Names was described as "the first serious attempt at tackling the subject" and as the standard work on names in the preface to the first edition of Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 1944.

Her personal example and influence on her god-daughter, Alice Mary Coleridge, played a formative role in Coleridge's zeal for women's education and thus, indirectly, led to the foundation of Abbots Bromley School for Girls.

After her death, her friend, assistant and collaborator, Christabel Coleridge, published the biographical Charlotte Mary Yonge: her Life and Letters (1903).

-Wikipedia

The Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship, a website with lots of information.

See Charlotte's character page for books about her.

Reviews

[Miriam Simut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon further reflection, this book is a 5 star read! (initially gave it 4.5). I can't stop thinking about!!

[Darryl Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolutely fabulous CMY! I found this one to be a bit of a “slower burn,” with very leisurely and somewhat sprawling pacing—but I would also say that it was a richer and deeper experience because of it. The complexity and nuance of character is notable among the CMYs that I’ve read so far. Albinia, Edmund, Gilbert and Sophy are exceptionally drawn and portrayed. CMY’s trademark ability to redeem highly-flawed characters and strained relationships is on full display here. I loved it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful buddy read with Miriam, Libby, and Kate! These are dear characters and CMY handles their growth (or lack of it) with her usual thorough, realistic, and kindly touch.

[Jersy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a ride and a bit of a mixed reading experience, but not one I will forget anytime soon. In a lot of ways, this is an incredibly intelligent and empathatic novel which presents issues uncharacteristic to Victorian, in some aspects even to modern novels, with care and authenticity. Some parts were hard to read because they transformed the emotions so well. On the other hand, there are a lot of aspects and topics of the book that not only look antiquated or silly to modern readers, but also must have seen as very sentimental at the time, undermining the book's strenghts. It's also very slice-of-life focused, not really following a coherent plot, is maybe too long for what it's doing and chooses a pretty unfortunate point to end on. Still, I've grown pretty fond of this book.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

when i won a kindle in a contest, in knew i would have to be careful about spending money on books for it. AMAZON has thousands of titles for no charge, so i started there. this book was 1 of the first i read and it was WONDERFUL! it is a very old book, and very long but was so good i read it in 5 days! it has lots of history in it and i was fascinated by all the things i didn't know about that time. great read for anyone who likes history!

[Sarahthe1001 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A domestic novel from the point of view of a parent, which is somewhat unusual. I liked how morally-good choices like offering a home to an elderly relative were shown to have challenges for all involved.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one! Not sure I'm happy with the ending for Lucy or Sophy, but I guess the book had to end somewhere... and with a cast of characters that big, it's unrealistic for all of them to have stories neatly tied up. Yonge always gets me invested in the whole family, wanting to see what happens to all of them as they grow.

It was a lovely change to read a Victorian novel that started, rather than ended, with a marriage. The focus of the novel was on motherhood - biological motherhood, navigating mothering step-children, and the care of others who needed it (like Genevieve and Ulick) - and finding your place in a community, family and situation. Albinia was such a sweet heroine, realistically flawed, but so loving towards all of the children, no matter what their actual relation to her was.

I'm not sure how I feel about the twin tropes, and Lucy's fear of her husband being called 'beautiful' was frankly awful, but I guess you can't have everything, especially in a book written in the 1800s! Overall it was an engaging read and a beautiful celebration of motherhood in all its forms, difficulties, failures, joys and successes. Highly recommended if that's your sort of thing!

[Dayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy read as many situations are hidden with circumspect language. I was not even aware that the step-mother was pregnant until she had a baby...it seemed she was just "poorly." It is a long book as well and only the third Charlotte Mary Yonge book I have read. I much preferred her story set during the War of the Roses, Grisley Grisell.

[Kate Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Mary Yonge has done it again! I so loved being in this world and following Albinia's journey into adulthood as she becomes a wife, stepmother, and eventually have biological children. I found the sincerity of her quite captivating. This is the typical slice-of-life Yonge story where you feel the pace of daily life with these characters and watch them grow and change all through a sacramental theology lens.

[Amy Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly fine book but not a must-read or one of Yonge's best. It does provide a good example of what can happen when you fall for the wrong person.