Lady Betty across the Water
by CN Williamson & AM Williamson
fiction, romance
copyright 1906
read in March 2018
rated 7/10: well worth reading
I was reading a book about Mawson exploring the Antarctic. The book was too harsh for me -- especially since we were then heading towards the Antarctic. I stopped after a couple of icy deaths.
One scene, however, stuck with me. The frozen explorers would read books and discuss them. Mawson wrote, " The sudden breath of a world of warmth and colour, richness and vivacity and astute, American freshness amid the somewhat grim attractions of an Antarctic winter was too much for every one. Lady Betty, in the realm of bright images, had a host of devoted admirers." The book was Lady Betty across the Water.
Months later I tracked down and read Lady Betty. It was well worth the effort :-) (And thank you, Project Gutenberg!)
The book is set in a Wodehouse world but with less humour. It's just sweet and innocent. There are people with more money than I can possible imagine. There are people with a "name" but no money.
Have you watched the latest Great Gatsby movie? There's a party... In this book one rich woman puts on a party which -- to my mind -- makes the Gatsby party look like a night out at a fast food joint.
One of the poor-but-upper-crust men courts a very rich girl. I'm not entirely sure whether the man is meant to be obviously after the money... Lady Betty -- who tells the story -- does not make this clear. I'm not sure if she's assuming we understand, or naive, or just rather blind to motives.
No matter, Lady Betty is a delightful young woman. She knows that she is "upper crust". Yet she does not get cross when people treat her with less than the deference due to her rank.
Exaggeration or not, deliberate or not, this book is also a window into a past world. Lady Betty is said to be intelligent and well educated. Well educated, that is, by the standards of the time. Her education has been limited to the "womanly arts".
If there is a message about equality and other modern concerns, I believe that it is a message in the mind of the reader.
I read Lady Betty, I saw some messages... and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs
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