Author: Madeline Martin
What an amazing book! What an incredible way to spend free time, reading this absolute gem. Also, a historical novel is my favorite genre; there is just no question about this because the more I read this genre and then mix it up with other genres, as I indeed frequently do, I am increasingly noticing that I am never nervous when reading historical novels and always end up wanting more.
In this gem, three women from English society, constrained by marriage, domestic abuse, and family expectations in Victorian England and social rules characteristic of that period, are suddenly invited to the home of Lady Duxbury, a three-time widowed member of society who rarely attends society events. Women become a part of a secret book club because what all women have in common is an objection to their controlling husbands and one father towards reading, which was also characteristic of this period when reading was seen as dangerous, and women who read were sometimes locked up in asylums as hysterical. Lady Duxbury generously opens her library to them and gives them access to books, but also friendships, and a new way of living their lives.
The novel is set in London in 1895, and the three women followed are Eleanor Clarke (an aristocrat married to a merchant and the ‘new money ‘), Rose Wharton (an American from ‘new money’ married to an impoverished earl-to-be), and Lady Lavinia Cavendish (at risk of being placed in an asylum for writing poetry and being passionate, but considered overly emotional and potentially hysterical).
If there was ever a novel about belonging, it was this one because Eleanor does not belong to her violent husband’s house, marked by his manners perceived as vulgar in society (e.g., flashing wealth with jewelry), and his complaints about these hidden manners and rules; then he carries on in his way, suggesting excessive jewelry in the middle of the day, excessive colors on clothes, and tries to control even his wife’s personal appearance, while also trying to get accepted in society, but simply refusing rules of polite behavior. Then Rose, abused by her brother-in-law, the current earl, who cannot stand an American sister-in-law as future countess because he sees her as too blunt, free-spirited, independent, and absolutely hates her accent (do I need to emphasize I absolutely loved the won’t-shut-up blunt Yankee lady?) and who struggles to fit into English society also because she comes from ‘new money’. Then Lavinia, a woman who writes poetry at a time when women could publish under fake male names, if they could publish at all (with some notable exceptions of that time who published under their own names, which was hard).
One of the things I found most interesting in The Secret Book Society is the role of manners and the extent to which Victorian society seems to communicate through things that are never actually said. On the surface, this is a novel about women, books, and friendship, but underneath that story sits another one about the rules governing who can speak, what can be spoken about, and how much of social life takes place through implication rather than direct communication.
The society depicted in the novel is intensely mannered: people know how they are expected to behave, whom they may visit, what kinds of conversations are acceptable, what a respectable woman should tolerate, and what must remain private. Good manners, therefore, do more than make social encounters pleasant. They help maintain the social order, and tell people where they belong and, perhaps more importantly, teach them not to question that position too openly. The novel also reminded me that manners should not necessarily be understood as superficial. Manners are a form of social knowledge: knowing how to dress, speak, visit, respond, host, withdraw, or remain silent signals that someone understands the codes of a particular social world. Those who know the codes can move through that world almost effortlessly. Those who do not risk revealing that they do not quite belong. That is where class becomes particularly important. Social rules often appear natural only because the people who have grown up with them no longer experience them as rules. They simply know what to do. Someone entering that world from outside has to learn consciously what insiders perform almost automatically. The apparently small details of behavior therefore become important markers of belonging.
Finally, the notion of ‘new money’ is interestingly explored both from the aristocratic perspective and from the perspective of Rose and the violent prick of Eleanor’s husband. In Rose’s case, one sees her point of view and bitterness about her money being used to save and furnish the estate while she herself has never been accepted, which was a new perspective on ‘new money’ I did not see in other books.
I could keep going and writing about this book, and I could not recommend this book enough! And as if the gem of a book is not enough, the author also provided a reading list from this amazing book.
Thank you for reading!