So who knows where I've been, but I had never heard of Eva Ibbotson until I saw Noel, at Never Jam today, talking about her books.
Knowing Noel has good taste in children's literature, I had to get a couple of Ms. Ibbotson's books for myself. The first one I read was A Countess Below Stairs.
And I'm a little surprised to say that I really enjoyed the book. I'm the one who keeps saying I'm not into girly books and romances, and yet, this one's a pretty girly romance, and I was so in love with it that I didn't want it to end.
I loved it from the start. Others may disagree because Ms. Ibbotson opens the book with backstory on every character she introduces. I know that backstory in the beginning of a book has gone out of style, but I love the omniscient voice, and I love someone telling me, not showing me, who everyone is and where they all came from. As long as the telling is intersting. Fortunately for us, Eva had characters with interesting backstories. So it all worked.
Within a few chapters, the author moved us into the present story and left the backstory behind and the pace picked up immediately.
Surprise number two was that the book was predictable, but I still liked it. There wasn't a single plot point that I didn't see coming. And yet, knowing what was coming added to, instead of taking away from, the enjoyment. I loved little Anna so much (she's as sweet as Sarah Crewe and who hasn't fallen in love with Sarah?) that knowing the trouble that was going to befall her made me anxious to read on to see how she would extricate herself. Or how fate would smile on her and fix things.
It's not a story for young girls. It's...I want to say earthy, but I'm not sure that's the right word. There's no graphic sex at all, but sexual activity is admitted between all kinds of different people. It's often done in a very funny way. Here's a short bit between two married--not to each other--characters. They are two villains in the story:
Muriel sprinkled salt over her haddock mousse. "It is not easy to be specific, but both morally and hygienically there is...a kind of laxness which I had not expected."
Dr. Lightbody leaned forward. The discussion of hygienic and moral laxness with a beautiful woman in a softly shaded restaurant was exactly to his taste.
"Can you give me some examples?"
OK I'm not sure if that will translate well with someone who doesn't know the characters, but I'm cracking up as I type it. The guy is such a creep and for the author to say this about him just tickles me.
Weaknesses? I did think that at least one of the misunderstandings that kept the characters apart was poorly done. If you love someone you give them chance to explain unless you have a strong reason not to. The hero, at the end, misunderstood something, and when he jumped to conclusions it made him less heroic. Then he broke his promise to someone and that made him a lot less heroic. So, while it worked out in the end, I would have liked it better if the hero had won because of his integrity, instead of lucking out because another character saved the day for him.
And still, while that would normally have put me off completely, as soon as I finished this book, I picked up another Eva Ibbotson book. I loved her characters so much that when I looked at my stack of potential next reads, I knew I wanted to meet some more Ibbotson characters. I wasn't disappointed, either. And as soon as I finished that second book, Dragonfly Pool, I jumped on Amazon and ordered two more, The Reluctant Heiress (yes, I'm going to have to quit saying I don't read romance) and The Star of Kazan.
If you want history, romance, and most of all loveable characters, you won't go wrong with Eva Ibbotson.
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Copyright © 2009 Sally Apokedak
