One of my favourite authors is Judith McNaught. Her books are pretty straight forward. I know that the hero and heroine will end up together by the time I finish the book. It is the context of how that happens that keeps me reading. Most of her books are about people who are super rich who I can somehow relate to, lol. Most of her characters fly in private jets but also have the same emotional struggles like us ordinary people. To some extend, the books provide an escape.
As I have probably mentioned before, I like to read for fun. So I avoid any books that will give me chest pains. I don’t even watch the news, I just scan the headlines to know what is going on in the world. So you will not find me reading a book that will make me cry. Life is hard enough! I am romantic comedy movie type of person.
So I was talking about Almost Heaven. It is a classical novel set in England and Scotland. Horse drawn coaches, letters, servants and women being treated as property. It was the last bit that made me write this review.
The book is about Elizabeth Cameron and Ian Thornton. Elizabeth’s parents died and was left in the care of her half-brother Robert. Robert had gambled away the money that their parents had left them so his “only” option was to marry off his sister so they could save their home, Havenhurst and pay their(mostly his) debts.
Robert takes Elizabeth to London for the “season”. The season was when girls were paraded for men who were looking for “suitable” brides. Love was for the poor! These women were not expected to have a functional brain. Their purpose was to produce an heir and go to parties with their husbands. If the man liked you then they would ask your guardian to marry you. In this case Robert, who really did not care about the man but his title and money. Elizabeth had no say in this.
Elizabeth was paraded and fifteen men were interested in marrying her. This made the other girls unhappy because they were not that much attention from the men. The girls tricked Elizabeth into talking to Ian at one of the balls, who was not really liked as he was Scottish and a gambler).
Ian’s father was an English man who was cut off by his father for marrying a Scottish woman. The grandfather was a duke and was wealthy.Ian’s parents had died and did not want to talk to his grandfather. Ian was a genius and had used his gift to win a mine and had become wealthy on his own.
Elizabeth and Ian hit it off and ended up spending an afternoon together, where Ian proposed marriage to Elizabeth. But since Elizabeth could not make the decision who to marry she did not answer. The next they are tricked again by Elizabeth’s friends to meet in a greenhouse where Robert finds them and causes a scene. Ian still wanted to marry Elizabeth but Robert did not approve of Ian since he did not have a title and money.
Ian and Robert duel and Ian is shot. Ian shoots Robert’s shoelace to show him that he could kill him but will not. Robert is embarrassed and then tries to kill Ian twice. Ian kidnaps Robert, puts him onto one of his ships that is going to India. Al this gives Elizabeth a bad reputation so now no one wants to marry her.
Elizabeth goes back to their home, Havenhurst where she has to let go a lot of the servants and she sells some of their property to pay off her brother’s debts. As far as she knows her brother just disappeared.
Two years later, her uncle decides to marry her off. Julius does not have any children but needs an heir. The only way to get an heir is to have his niece Elizabeth married and her children can then inherit his wealth. Without Elizabeth’s knowledge, he writes fifteen men who he thinks might be interested in Elizabeth again, including Ian. Three reply including Ian, who does so by mistake. Elizabeth convinces two of the men that she is a suitable wife for them.
Then she goes to Ian’s house, who is not expecting her. They fight and also find they still have feelings for each other but they do not trust each other. The other two decide that they want to marry her after all and tell her uncle so. So she is summoned back to her home. After she leaves Ian finds out that he is the reason that has made her life difficult. To save her from the other men he gets a title from his grandfather and also pays Elizabeth’s uncle money.
They get married and are happy until Robert reappears. Robert convinces Elizabeth to run away with him. After they disappear, Ian is charged with killing both of them. When Elizabeth finds out that her husband might be hanged, she goes back to London and testifies in court. The charges are dropped and Ian wants to divorce. Elizabeth does not sign the papers and runs away to their Scotland home. Eventually Ian goes to Scotland, though he does not know Elizabeth is there. They reconcile and end up having children.
Even though this book is fiction, I have read enough books to know that these things used to happen and still happen in different forms. Women being treated like property by their own fathers and the men who marry them. Having no say in what happens in their lives and pretending that they do not think or they are only interested in “girly” things. This book made me realise that there are so many things that I take for granted. Like being who I want to be, doing things that I like, be educated and not be a commodity.