The Sealed Letter

** spoiler alert ** I gobbled this book up!! Not only is Donoghue’s style deliciously artistic whilst also comprising historical facts, but the character development is simply astonishing. The character build up is rather unusual in a good way, as it never ceases to deliver a new turn. At first glance the story seemed rather dull, but the way in which Helen’s grey morals keep the reader wondering who she really is turned this read into a 5 star one. By comparison, the final pages reveal a groundbreaking aspect about the relation between the two women that also impacts one’s view of Fido as a ‘virtuous’ woman with high morals (in the sense of the 19th century, of course). Instead of a linear development of the characters, we have one of the purest forms of portraying realism, which serves justice to a historical fiction. Overall this was a wonderfully written story that surprised me every other page. I cannot recommend this enough!

DNF on page 70. I found this tedious, and after reading the reviews I assume there is no actual lesbian content. I was hoping this would be more like a Sarah Waters book, but I'm not enthralled in the story at all and I don't want to suffer through it for all the gay content to be subtextual and unrequited. No thank you.