Persephone Books discussion

I was flabbergasted and delighted by the way Mrs Osborne and Emily find solidarity and the Indian ayah is the heroine.

You know what I liked about this? That Emily is finally face to face with a situation that goodness and innocence could not fix, but evil could. What is up with Frances Hodgson Burnett, getting all gothic like that? It is a curious reflection for a Victorian writer, that goodness and kindness made everything worse, but murder solved the problem!

Nancy, that is a brilliant post and gives me even more to think about!

Nancy wrote: "You know what I liked about this? That Emily is finally face to face with a situation that goodness and innocence could not fix, but evil could. What is up with Frances Hodgson Burnett, getting a..."

I think Fanny Burnett wrote with an edge of realism. She wrote the character of Emily but Emily was not the heroine. She also seemed to be able to dissect and tell the story of greed, human weakness and crime. It is another one of those stories that goes against the "main character saves the day" kind of stories.

That is a great comment Nancy, maybe it will get some more conversation going!