Book Review: The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper

My summary:

When fifteen Eliza Rose is thrown out of her home by her step mother in 1670 she journeys to London in the hope of finding her father and starting a new life there. However, things don't go as expected as Eliza quickly finds how harsh the streets of London and when she gives into hunger and steals a pasty, she is caught and thrown into Clink Prison. Faced with filth, fever, lice and rats, her hopes and dreams of a life in London fall flat .. When finally she is offered a chance of freedom by an old woman who calls herself Old Ma Gwyn, Eliza jumps at the start of having a second chance at making a life for herself in London but she soon realises in horror what immoral Ma Gywn expects from her in return from rescuing her. Befriended by Ma Gywn's daughter who is favoured by the King, Eliza is taken under her wing and introduced to the world of the theatre and the King's court as her situation improves. However Eliza is still too poor and common to be taken seriously by the handsome young noblemen, Valentine Howard who captured her heart when she first met him when she was begging in prison and is thrown in her path again often. 

 Fate seems determined to stop to finding her father and Eliza longs to find her real place in London society, a place she can call home. Taking on various jobs and disguises including orange seller to lady's maid, can Eliza find where she belongs?

My thoughts

Eliza's story is a fictionalised tale told through the third person, which allowed me to also get to know the other characters in the book besides herself. I found her plights and struggles in the unfamiliar and harsh world of Elizabethan London easy to relate to and credible. Her story was quite fast paced and full of twists and turns in Eliza's life that took me by surprise and through all of this, we get to meet a large cast of characters. Some of these characters were real such as Nell Gywn, the famous mistress of King Charles who is known for her charming wit and beauty. I found Nell particularly interesting because of the unstable life that she led and her carefree take on the world, I think she is a character than needs to be explored more in historical books. She also brought some light hearted humour to the book that was a great contrast against some of the darker themes running through the book.
Mary Hooper writes exceptionally well and through her vivid description of Elizabethan London, a sense of being back in that era was created and I love how the darker side of society was also shown so as to be realistic without being too explicit.
The only thing that I was let down by was the ending as although I didn't mind the fact that it was 'fairy tale' like and fairly predictable, I found that I was left wanting to find out how the other characters reacted to the ending so that it felt more complete. Having said that, it leaves brilliant scope for a sequel and I hope that Mary Hooper will eventually write one.

The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose definitely earns its title and transports you back to Elizabethan London through realistic depictions on a journey with a kind and beautiful protagonist who is trying to find her place in the world. This  beautiful fairy- tale like story with a hint of sweet romance will definitely take you on an adventure!

Teaser Tuesday: Pride and Prejudice

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along and have fun! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

Share (preferably 2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

This week's Teaser comes from Pride and Prejudice which I am reading for the very first time and as part of the Jane Austen 2010 Challenge. Since school has now started, I have less time to read so it is taking me quite a long time but I am really enjoying it and hope to have a review up within the next week.

As this book is a well loved classic, I thought that I would share several quotes, with each being longer than the guidelines.

The famous and cherished first line:

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.'

From Chapter 3 (character's response to Mr Darcy) :

'The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which tuned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.'

Mr Dary to Mr Bingley on Elizabeth Bennett:

'She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.'

Miss Bingley, Chapter 11:


'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'

Tour of my bookshelves!

Previously I wrote a post called Bookshelf Love featuring bookshelves with interesting designs and how our shelves can sometimes reflect aspects of our personality. So I thought that I would give you a photo tour of my bookshelves so you can see what books I own and what they show about me in how they look/are organised.

Some of my books are organised in the different reading stages I've gone through and what age I was when I brought the book and I also like to try and keep series books and books by the same author together but this is not always the case

This is the bookcase that I first had when I started to buy a lot of books and read independently a lot more than I used to.

This photo is of part of my collection of Enid Blyton (the second row of books behind on the top shelf) , most of which I purchased in a second- hand store but a few were copies passed onto me from my parents. There are also more on the second shelf and altogether, I have about 100 Enid Bytons that are very special to me- I would never sell them!

This is a section from my most recent bookshelf, which is above the first. I don't know what did without it! At the bottom are all books that I have read/am going to read this year, with my Georgette Heyers and various library books. On the top shelf, which is not in the photo, there are all of Mary Hooper's historical fiction books (signed!) and about 20 Chalet School ( Elinor. M. Brent Dyer) titles.

Although many of the books I read are from the library, this bookshelf will fill up soon too but thankfully, my family are building a guest room with lots of bookshelf space planned.

These bookshelves are above my desk and computer and are right in the middle of the room if you are looking in from the door. On the bottom shelf is the rest of my extensive collection of Chalet School books along with rare hardback editions of Angela Brazil's school stories, some of them were first published in 1915!. On the top shelf, there is a mix of books, with a box set of the My Story Diaries. 

What are your bookshelves like?

Book Hop and Follow Friday.........!

A Very Big Welcome

Welcome to any visitors who got here through the weekly Book Hop (a Book Party) organised by Jennifer @ Crazy for Books or Follow A Book Blog Friday hosted by Parajunkee's View so that book bloggers can share their blog with other book lovers and also find new blogs to 'follow.' To get involved all you have to do is post your blog link at the bottom of the 'linky list' on Crazy For Books and/or Parajunkee's View, answer the weekly question (for the hop) on your blog and get hopping around and following all the blogs!

Although I did another post earlier about it, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has stopped by or commented on my blog during the hop, I've found some brilliant blogs and book lovers and I couldn't have done that without your help. I am planning a giveaway soon, which may be for 150 followers now that I have more than 100 so stay tuned!

This weeks Book Hop question is: Do you judge a book by its cover?

My answer: However much we would all like to say that we don't judge a book by its cover, there are occasions when I DO this. The cover is often the first thing and only thing you see when you are browing through book lists on the internet and I'm more likely to click on a book to find out more about it if the cover is striking or jumps out at me. However, if I have heard a lot of good things about a book or have stumbled upon it and like the sound of the synopsis, I wouldn't dismiss it if the cover isn't for me. Also, a few years ago I used to go shopping in a lovely old second hand bookshop to buy Enid Blyton books and often the covers would be very dated or harback books would have lost their paper cover so I had to rely mostly on the blurbs of the books to choose which one to buy. One thing that I find irritating about covers is that authors have no say in their design and this often leads to inconsistencies such as the ginger protagonist having dark brown hair on the cover. Covers are definitley important to me but they are certainly not the only thing that influence my reading choices !


New posts this week, take a look:

100 Followers Thankyou post!
Bookshelf Love
Book review: The Other Countess by Eve Edwards
Waiting on Wednesday: The Contagion by Johanne Dahme
Character Connection: Sophia Stanton Lacey (from The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer)

Coming soon: Insight to my bookshelf

I am currently reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I hope that you enjoy taking a look round my blog and. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop me a comment! If you like my blog, please follow, I'd really appreciate it and don't forget to leave a link to your blog in a comment so I can check it out :D

Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Stephanie <3

Character Connection: Sophia Stanton Lacey (The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer)

Character Connection is a weekly feature held every Thursday by Jen at The Introverted Reader, which spotlights our favourite characters to share with all the participants and blog readers.

The Grand Sophy was the second Georgette Heyer book and after falling in love with the world of Regency romance and the sweet and charming yet somewhat impetuous heroine in Arabella. In the Grand Sophy, I could not have encountered a more different but just as lovable heroine: Miss Sophy Stanton Lacy.

Sophy- as she is known by her friends- is a 20 year old young lady, the daughter of a well travelled diplomat whom she calls 'Sir Horace' and she has managed his household since her mother died. When he is sent on a trip to Brazil, Sophy is sent to stay with her relatives in London, arriving in Spring 1816. Expecting her brother's 'little Sophia' to be of the shy, well mannered and dainty types of girls, her Aunt and the rest of her family get quite a shock when Sophy turns out to be quite the opposite.

From the moment she sets foot in Berkeley Square, clad elegantly and a massive mountain of suitcases, a monkey and a parrot, a dog and a horse as well as her staff trailing behind her, it is clear that she is not an ordinary heiress at all.

Bemused by the tangle of affairs that she finds her cousins in, she promptly sets about trying to sort all the family's problems out, much to the annoyance of the her cousin Charles, the Ombersley's heir who wants to be rid of her 'meddlesome troubling.'

Sophy has a strong personality, outrageous, headstrong and wittily humorous, she is used to doing what she likes and going out unaccompanied which is unheard of in London's high society. Not afraid to say and do what she thinks, her family are scandalized by her behaviour. However Sophy has no intentention of conforming to the rules of society and soon has the whole of London talking with her 'antics.' I couldn't help loving her and whatever she was doing from setting up her own stable, riding her cousin Charles' carriage among other things and behaviour considered 'masculine' and horse dealing with suspicious money lenders, it was always entertaining to find out what she would do next.

The relationship between her and the hero, her cousin Charles was very amusing as they were not able to do anything without flying into rages at each other and both are extremely stubborn and proud.

However, for all her schemes the intelligent Sophy is very caring and thoughtful at heart, only wanting the best for people. Acting a bit like a mother hen, she tries to help her poor cousin Cecilia who is besotted with a young feather brained poet, the young Hubert who is caught in the clutch of dubious and threatening money lenders and Charles who is engaged to the sour and priggish Miss Wraxton.

She reminded me of a bit of Jane Austen's Emma, trying to help other people in their life but I think Sophy's character is a lot more likable as selfishness is not in her nature.

Earning herself the name of 'The Grand Sophy,' Sophy is an endearing but outrageous gem of a heroine that cannot be forgotten easily and can be relied on for a good dose of ‘pick me up’ fun!

Stephanie <3

Waiting on Wednesday (3) : Contagion by Johanne Dahme

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme held by Jill at Breaking The Spine, which encourages book bloggers to post about books that they are eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is:

Contagion by Johanne Dahme

Goodreads summary:

In her fourth novel Joanne Dahme creates another page-turning tale in which a young woman named Rose strives to rid Philadelphia’s water of the deadly typhoid bacteria. Set in the late 19th century, Rose Dugan is a young wife who is actively involved in her community. But when her best friend is killed while working at Philadelphia’s Water Works' gardens, the mystery around her death pulls Rose in. Will she save the city from a deadly typhoid outbreak that is threatening the city’s water system? Will Rose unravel the mystery behind her best friend’s murder—a fate that was actually meant for her?

I haven't read many historical fiction books set in America before so I'm looking forward to learning more about the historical events and life there and the added mystery murder plot theme sounds brilliant.

Cover:
I think that the cover is quite eye catching because of the hazy background mixed with the bright and shining face of the girl that makes it more striking. The red writing also fits in with the feel of the cover and the authors name in a simpler font fits in unobtrusively.

Welcome to my blog if this is your first time visiting, feel free to take a look around and read a few posts. I'd love to hear from any visitors in the comments and if you like, leave a link to your WOW post and I'll try and take a look at it.

Stephanie <3