Changes

|title=The Sealed Letter

|sort=Sealed Letter

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=9781447205975

|pages=484

|publisher=Picador

|date=October 2011

|website=http://www.emmadonoghue.com

|summary=A beautifully paced and well researched story of betrayal, scandal and intrigue in Victorian England, based on real events.

}}

If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghue's ''The Sealed Letter''. Set in 1864, it's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. There's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events of Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, an early mover in the rights of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinster.

You get a real sense of the scandal that a divorce trial had on society. At that time, the number of divorces per year numbered in the low hundreds, not least because the full blooded trial included a hearing before a jury (a male jury, of course) and that the male would stand to walk away with everything, including the children.

The three protagonists are well drawn, with Donoghue focussing mostly on Helen and Fido. She takes some artistic licence with events, such as the compressing of the drawn out trial into relatively short period of time, and who can tell how accurate or otherwise the characterisations are? But putting that aside, Fido comes over as a well meaning but somewhat naïve about the ways of men and relationships. Ultimately, she gets used by both sides. The Vice Admiral is somewhat dull and staid and is completely unsuited to his younger wife, Helen. However, while one can have some sympathy with his wife's situation, it's far harder to excuse her selfish behaviour. With a couple of affairs under her belt, it is her treatment of Fido's friendship that is completely inexcusable. Some characters in books evoke sympathy in the reader because they are gloriously wicked - Helen is just plain unlikable. This turns the focus of the reader's attention to Fido who might otherwise have been seen to be too dowdy and frumpy for the reader to love.

For more excellent fiction on the emergence of the suffrage movement, albeit a few years after this story, [[Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn]] is highly recommended. Amongst the other Orange long listed titles this year is a rather more modern take on adultery in the form of [[The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright]].

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