A Very Dutiful Daughter

Rating:
Summary: A rather average Regency novel; a one-time read
Review: This is a pretty much run-of-the-mill American Regency with no distinguishing features. The premise is a little odd: Letty loves Lord Denham, so when he proposes, naturally she turns him down. There are a great many sillinesses, such as the adult and independent Denham letting his mother tell him what to do, Letty eloping with her sister's beau and Denham suddenly realising - without any indication of what brought him to that realisation - that he was in love with Letty.

What made the book even more disappointing is that the synopsis, as presented on this site and on the book's cover, is entirely misleading. The statement by Letty that 'I would rather be your mistress' does not form part of the book's plot at all; she only says it on the last page, by which time it is evident that the 'will-they-won't-they' is resolved.

Additionally, it is irritating to notice throughout the book examples of period inaccuracies; Mansfield is usually better than many American Regency! ! authors at avoiding these. Most obvious is the way in which the characters address each other; in the late 1700s it would have been completely unheard of for men and women not married to each other to address each other by their Christian names - and often unheard of even after marriage! When aristocrats wished to indicate a close friendship, they called each other by their titles or family names - so Lord Denham would have been Denham or Agneau (he is the Earl of Agneau) to his friends. But rarely would an unmarried woman friend have enjoyed such intimacy; it would have ruined her reputation. So Letty would never have called Denham 'Roger' as she did through much of the book.