UK Book Club discussion

MR. PHILIP - the finance manager for the Berkshire estate:

Philip had always detested the treatment strangers gave him. Like comedians were supposed to remain funny even in their private lives, the adviser was compelled to talk only about finances in leisure time. True, nothing pleased him more - but he already worked twenty hours a day, finishing legal matters, signing off payments, thinking up creative ways to restore buyer confidence, heck, he had spent last night checking records of three different estate owners, records he had brought in a carriage, much to the consternation of his needy wife, who left him alone only on the promise that he would be in bed by twelve. When at four, he did join her, it had taken another half hour for him to convince her that it really was midnight!! After a mere three hours rest, he was up and about to join his host. The last thing he was looking forward to in the woods was another commentary on financial state of affairs of rearing geese, ducks and chicken! and Turkey eggs! And advertising soft meat! It was enough to put him off supper! And he hadn’t planned on anticipating that. Sometimes the meaning of the words ‘Here To Have A Breath of Fresh Air’ was lost on people.


JOHN LOCKWOOD - the landlord, grieving husband, absentee father:

At thirty-four, John Lockwood was the best landlord in Berkshire - for despite his absences, his tenants remained happy; He was the richest - the crops and investments both yielded annual benefits; He was the sole heir to his aunt, Lady Cavendish’s estate, nearby; His advice was sought by peers and friends, and political wannabes; He was at the prime of his life, a robust man, with few creases in the face, and he had children to carry his name forward. Still, he wanted to burn everything down. He wanted none of it. It repulsed him......the abundance of it all.....the gratitude of tenants, the praise of gentry, the wealth he could not shake off no matter how many creditors he juggled. He hated it all. His good fortune gave him a headache. He wanted none of it. His children gave him no joy and he hated himself for it. He felt like a disease. He didn’t wish to be around anywhere for more than a few seconds. He wanted an escape. All The Time.


MR. JAMES - husband of the grand Nora James:

Mr. James had waited three years to marry the woman of his - and most of his acquaintances’ - dreams. The delightful butterfly was finally his to showcase and cherish. The missus loved every minute of it. But he found to his shock, that he still had to compete with others for her attention. Infact it looked like she longed for distance.


LORD CAVENDISH - the uncle:

......on his death bed at seventy, was a dissatisfied man. Could there be anyone more helpless than that? “When you look back at time gone by,” he had said taking short breaths, “no matter how bad it was, how terrible it may have been, you want it back, for you don’t want to go, you don’t want to wither, and die, and turn into a memory of someone else’s past - if at all you are a memory and not an after thought - a has- been, that may have been more, or was a blip - you don’t want the event or the people back, just the time, when it could have been better, for you now know better and feel better and have more control. The time when you were young, though not free, neither wild, nor a life well-lived, you hold on to the fantasy of what that time represents - beginning, youth and newness - instead of oblivion where you now stand. What you really hope for is a second chance, and that only comes with age, not youth. What you really want is to live again, all over again, and you know you can’t. It’s too late to have or keep promises except the one with God. Too late to be vital, able, complete and more than a memory, a blip, gone forever in a heart beat.”


FRANK ADAMS - father of the governess, Jane Adams:

"Be faithful to the unknown, plan for it by expecting it rather than waiting for it to knock you down. I believe your husband will take care of you, for he is a hardworking sensible man, but Jane, I had no one to look out for me when I was growing up, or when I had you all to myself, it did not make me rudderless, cynical or pacifist, but it did make me feel extremely alone. It blinded me, I did not know what to make of it. No person in life can fill up that feeling, no matter how many workers we have or friends to call on, or women fluttering about, you are in this alone, you have to be all you can be in this life, and no one can make it happen for you, it is necessary to be lonely every once in a while, it is even good, but there is a difference in being alone and being helpless. If you let yourself be helpless, if you find yourself in such a predicament where you feel there is no way out, then you will be crushed whether you are a flower or a mountain. And you must not allow yourself to be crushed."


CHARLES PRITCHARD - former husband of Jane Adams:

"We, men, who work hard to get somewhere in life, to make something of ourselves in life, to mean something to someone, to have what our ancestors never had, We, men, who toil for a name, respect, livelihood, who are pitied, mocked all for the love of a woman, We men who need to have a coherent existence, and oneness of spirit with a single soul, We do not, sir, deserve such an audience as Ms. Adams. You and your family, certainly your children - for she may harm them with potions she likes to make - are better off without her. I know, I am."


JOHN LOCKWOOD - after knowing the 'real' Jane Adams:

He felt small. What had she not gone through? Everything she had held dear in her life, her father, her reputation, her marriage, her unborn child had been taken away from her. And yet she had maintained her dignity. This woman had shown more of a courage than he, the owner and obsessor, ever had. She had remained true to herself while he had let himself be governed by imitations and meanness. She had nothing to her name, no children to give hope, no person to call her own. And yet this wrecked woman showed more passion for things and people than him; was still more attuned to the needs of others, entirely unrelated to her or her benefits, than him; she felt more and yet was able to keep her wits about her and not run off with the first man who ever showed an errant interest in her or the first burst of money that luck would give her or be shamed into solitude or hold herself back; She was here, in a most subservient of positions with the most inept of incomes, and yet her only complaint had been for the benefit of him and his family.



Is there some choice in the kind of fate we have or is it all a lost cause?

Could they have lived their lives any different?

Moving.

Passionate.

Introspective.

Debut e-novel 'The Governess'

by Noorilhuda

WHERE TRUE WORTH HAS NO REGRETS AND TAKES NO DETOURS.

What do you think?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MF8BJQE
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MF8BJQE
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00MF8BJQE
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00MF8BJQE
Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00MF8BJQE

Hi, ‘The Governess’ is the story of a wronged woman trying to get back her sense of self and life. It's inspirational literary e-novel with a tinge of romance - $2.99 / £2.14

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Amazon links (US, UK, though the e-novel is available in all Amazon territories):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MF8BJQE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MF8BJQE

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