Review of My Novel That Brought Me To (Good) Tears
Oh my goodness. This Amazon review of HARTFORDS brought me to (good) tears. It's not a few sentences or a paragraph. It's a straight-up literary essay and I feel so seen and known as an author. I am dying to know who wrote it. Either way, I am going to post it on my website so I can remember it always. Whoever you are, thank you for bringing a little brightness to my day, a day that's been squeezed into a very difficult month. Thank you for taking the time to write such an insightful review.
--On the surface this book appears to be another well-written period romance in the vein of Jane Austen, trailing the recent revival of such fiction through dramas like Bridgerton. However, in my opinion there is so much more under the lacy surface.
The book follows the story of five sisters in the 19th century United States. The oldest sister, herself happily married, makes a wager with an embittered young bachelor that she can get her other four sisters engaged by the end of the year. The plot from here is fairly predictable, but it doesn't take long for the reader to realize that this novella isn't meant to be a page-turner or a suspense piece. There is a rhythm to each romance as it unfolds like a flower opening in the sun. With every story developing I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for some tragedy or plot twist to throw the narrative into chaos or cynicism. Instead I was enfolded in safety and happiness and light as I read. I also observed a few interesting features of this piece.
First, unlike other novels in the same genre, in this story the parents play a minimal role in the plot. I was struck by the fact that the patriarch of the Hartford family doesn't even get a speaking line until approximately 1/5 of the way through the novel. There is no scheming matchmaker of a mother, no controlling tyrant of a father. In fact, in one section of the plot we are set up to expect the father to interfere in one of the romances and we are fully prepared to hate him for it. Instead he shows wisdom, gentleness, and most of all, complete faith in the strong women he raised and in their judgment in matters of the heart. The mother, too, is supportive and nurturing without being smothering. It was this revelation that led me to my next observation.
The lifeblood of this novel is the strong bond between the five sisters. New relationships form and grow throughout the plot, but the sisterly love and loyalty displayed by the Hartford women sets the tone of the work like a heartbeat. While I realize that I must not view this novel as autobiographical, I felt that the close-knit relationship between the sisters felt extremely real and personal to me.
In her preface, the author notes that she herself was one of five sisters and says she drew inspiration from some of her favorite authors such as Louisa May Alcott and Jane Austen. As I read the novel I kept going back to Austen's work. Austen never married and had sisters she loved dearly. It is well-understood that Austen never expected herself or her sisters to find true happiness in the real world because they could either marry for love or marry for financial stability, but they could not have both. Only through Austen's novels could she and her sisters find the happiness reality would never bring. I could not help thinking about this concept as I read Spearing's novel. I happen to follow Spearing's blog and podcast and I know she came from a difficult religious upbringing where her father was a domineering presence in the family. The daughters were expected to serve their father until they married and would then serve their husbands and bear children. This mindset may seem antiquated to the average postmodern reader, but Spearing and I both know from personal experience that this worldview is still alive and well, especially in American evangelical circles. In "Hartfords", the sisters are the "oddballs" of their town because of their progressive ways and their independence from cultural norms. No doubt the Spearing family were thought of as "oddballs" in the present day for practices that most people would consider "backward".
Again, I know this novel is no autobiography, but Spearing's personal touch is everywhere, and the whole book reads like a love letter to sisterly bonds. The real world has hit the Spearing sisters with heartache, instability, and the crushing weight of patriarchy. In "Hartfords", Spearing has created a portal through which five sisters can escape and find safety, independence, relational health, and many forms of love (including romance!) In a way it seems that Spearing has done for her sisters what Austen did for hers so long ago.
Even though "Hartfords" is a light romantic read on the surface, there is a wistful heartache woven throughout the novel that, once spotted, is inescapable. In my opinion, this is what will make the book unforgettable for me.
I give this book four stars rather than five because I want to goad the author to push her limits. I think Spearing has the capacity to produce truly great literature, and "Hartfords" is just a foretaste of that potential.