Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
[...] I don't know; if I were writing a story that had a lot of water in it already because of the historical basis, I think I'd probably keep using it.
As a reader, I didn't especially notice it as something important--just water, as you say.
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You could be right. Your comment made me think of the Australian murder mystery I've just finished. From the number of mentions one might think flies are part of a theme when really they are just part of the setting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
I think it's obvious that Grace was trapped--she spent her whole life in a trap and had no reasonable way of escape. She never had real choices or options; she had to do what she was told. Even when she was pardoned, she was essentially forced into marriage; she had no other way to survive than to go along with someone else's decision about her life.
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Prior to her capture and subsequent incarceration, the book seems to suggest that Grace was not trapped. She had had a number of positions before going to Richmond Hill. Leaving Richmond Hill may have presented difficulties, but then the fiction presented gives her that option and has her turn away from it. I'm not suggesting she had anything like the options that men of the time had, but the book didn't convince me she was tightly trapped. (I would not be surprised to learn that - in reality - she was indeed as trapped as you say.)