A PROPER EDUCATION FOR GIRLS

Author: Elaine DiRollo ISBN: 9780307408341 4/2009 HISTORICAL FICTION Publisher: CROWN
Time Period: 1857 England and India

Set in 1857 between England and India, "A Proper Education for Girls" is a rollicking novel about feisty women, the devotion of sisters and the Victorian obsession with empire, experiments and photography. The peach growers of the title are 27 year-old twin sisters with a passion for botany. Lilian, in mysterious disgrace, has been married off to a dreary missionary. Alice is left at home, curator to her father's monstrous collection of artifacts under the watchful eye of the malevolent Dr Cattermole. "A Proper Education for Girls" is a dazzling debut. Tongue-in-cheek and inventive, comic and horrifying, it illuminates the dark heart of Victorian hypocrisy and selfishness, yet at the same time is engaging and highly enjoyable. Readers will become completely involved with Alice and Lilian—and their hair-raising escapades.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

A PROPER EDUCATION FOR GIRLS is a page turner! Set in Victorian England and India, it is the story of twin sisters with enough intelligence, courage and forward thinking they seem to be almost from another century. Lilian and Alice live in a monstrosity of an isolated estate with their father, aunts, and assorted unusual characters where their father's collection of oddities takes center stage. Almost every aspect of life revolves around the collection, or the Society for the Propagation of Useful and Interesting Knowledge. It is a miracle Alice and Lilian survive in such a place!

When Lilian is sent off to India and Alice is left on the estate with her father's weird associates, the plot takes one strange twist after another. Beneath almost every scene is some kind of sexual innuendo, cleverly masked but still there, nonetheless. With Alice smoking cigars and hiding brandy in the conservatory-cum-jungle, a photographer writhing amongst the contents of the linen closet and an artificial volcano set to erupt at any moment on the front lawn, there is no way for this story to lag. I was at times fascinated, horrified, annoyed by the men who forced these ingenious sisters into their twisted world, angered and amazed, but I was always intrigued. I couldn't help myself—I had to know how things turned out for Lilian and Alice.

There are points in this novel where I wondered whether or not the male characters were dealt overly harsh characteristics. Even the "heroic" Mr. Blake seems half-witted at times. Alice's father, a definitely strange character, is first attributed with hardly noticing her, but then is able to pronounce that she is not nearly feminine enough. How, if he's not paying any attention to her, can he see her femininity, or lack thereof? While I'm not defending any of the oafs portrayed in the story, I can't help but feel there were times when they were shown in the poorest light possible. Having said that, there were other points where I feel the author was much, much more tolerant toward them than I would have been, so I guess it all evens out!

Ms. DiRollo tells a highly interesting story, and I will look forward to reading more from this talented author.

Kay James