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Originally Posted by issybird
.....Add to that Gilbert's slowness on the uptake. Who didn't know from the start that Helen wasn't really a widow? That the concealed portrait was of her husband? That Frederick Lawrence was her brother? And there was the awkward business of Arthur's addressing Helen by her first name, when "Miss Lawrence" would have given the show away. Except that we knew, anyway, and the awkward device just emphasized this. The whole book I was just waiting for the reveal on various people and events that I knew were going to happen.
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Ditto. So all credit to A.B. that despite that lack of mystery, we enjoyed it and were engaged enough to keep reading and want to see events unfold.
However all the excellent critiques of the book’s structure, the author’s foretelling, etc, have me wondering about Charlotte’s reluctance to have the book republished after Anne’s death. I’ve read it was due to the subject matter, but maybe she was also concerned about the quality of the writing.