Ophelia’s Muse, by Rita Cameron. Kensington, 2015

 Elizabeth Siddel was born in 1829 to a family barely eking out a living in genteel poverty; a family prosperous a few generations past but no longer. She is brought up  to read and value books and art, but is forced to spend her days working at a milliner’s shop, making hats for fashionable ladies, and turning her wages over to her mother.  But one day an opportunity arises; a young artist, Walter Deverell, comes into the shop with his mother, and is taken by Lizzie’s beauty and her red hair. He wants her to pose for him. In those days, artist’s models were considered no better than prostitutes, frequently sleeping with the artist’s they sat for. But an arrangement is made; a respectable female chaperon will be provided, Lizzie will make far better wages than she does sewing hats, and her job will be held open for her. While sitting for Deverell, his friend and fellow member of the newly formed pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, sees Lizzie and is smitten. Her life takes a considerably less respectable turn after this.

Theirs’s was a relationship filled with obstacles. Rossetti was from a well to do family, and Lizzie’s situation was not acceptable to them- even before she started sleeping with Rossetti. Plus, Rossetti felt that a wife would mean establishing a house and being conventional, which would distract him from the art he was devoted to. There were also issues of opiate addiction, near constant infidelity, and Lizzie’s isolation from her family once she became Rossetti’s mistress. The brilliant artist Rossetti was, in many ways, a spoiled child. These days, his art redeems him, but he could not have been an easy person to love.

This sounds like I’m giving away the whole plot, but I’m not. I knew these facts before I read the novel, and it still absorbed me. Lizzie and Dante came alive in these pages. While the members of the PRB are fairly well known today, the models still are not. Life for women in that era was very circumscribed, and anyone who stepped outside the lines of respectability had a very hard time of it.

The author describes things in detail without getting bogged down. The clothing, the art, the houses, all spring into the reader’s mind in full color. The characters are rounded and real; there are no villains here, just people trying to do the best they can. A great fictionalized biography; anyone with interest in the pre-Raphaelites should give this book a go.

 

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That Summer, by Lauren Willig. St. Martin’s Press, 2014

‘That Summer’ takes place in two times: 2009 and 1849 (with some brief interludes in earlier years). In 2009, Julia in New York has just inherited an old family house from her great aunt Regina- a woman she doesn’t even remember. Jobless, she decides to go see the house in England and put it in shape for a quick sale. She has family there; some cousins who believe the house should have gone to them and are very eager to help Julia sort through the piles of old things in the house, even bringing in an antiques dealer, Nicholas to value things.

Back in 1849, Imogene is living in a loveless marriage. In her teens she married Arthur Grantham, an older man, who she thought loved her but seems to have only collected her like he’s collected so many other things. His late wife’s sister runs the house; she has no friends. The only light in her life is her step-daughter, Evie. The only light, that is, until three of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood come by to look at Grantham’s collection of medieval things, searching for inspiration for their art. Imogene meets Gavin Thorne, the quietest of the trio, and finds he actually talks to her, rather than just seeing her as decoration. At this same time, 16 year old Evie meets Augustus Fotheringay-Vaughn, who seems very taken with her. The third artist is Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the PRB founders. These meetings set the rest of the story into motion; the story will have dire effects.

The story jumps back and forth between eras as Imogene’s tale unfolds and Julie strives to solve the mysteries that the house presents- and that the people who come to the house present. It’s a combination historical mystery and romance, and it’s quite well done and has an edge to it. Most romances make me cringe, but this one was handled realistically and with a minimum of “I don’t like yous” going on between the prospective lovers. Some events are foreshadowed but there are surprises, too. An interesting book that would make a good read during a fall evening. 

I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine program in return for an honest review. 

The above is an affiliate line; if you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents. 

Neither of these things influenced my review in any way.