Book Review: The Shuttle
Dec. 2nd, 2023 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhen you read a Frances Hodgson Burnett book, you always know that you’re in for a wild ride, and despite its staid title, The Shuttle delivers.
The shuttle of the title is metaphorical: Burnett is referring to the ever-tightening web of ties that bind together America and England, in the form of steamship travel, telegraph lines, and immigration. Burnett herself grew up in England, but moved to America as a teenager. Since she was able to write American characters who actually sound American (RIP Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker), she was perfectly positioned to write novels about English and American culture clash, and wrote at least three: A Fair Barbarian (an American girl descends on an English town and wreaks delightful havoc), T. Tembaron (a slangy but good-hearted New York salesman inherits an English title and wreaks delightful havoc), and The Shuttle.
There is, of course, another famous form of this English and American interweaving: the marriage of rich American heiresses to impoverished English nobles. The book begins with one such marriage: Rosalie Vanderpoel, daughter of the immensely wealthy New York Vanderpoels, marries impoverished Nigel Anstruthers.
Once he’s put an ocean between Rosalie and her family, Nigel reveals himself a total blackguard: not only did he marry Rosalie for her money, but he’s not even going to use that money to put his estate Stornham Court in order! Instead, he hies himself to the gaming tables of Europe, returning occasionally to bully Rosalie mercilessly, while his tenants’ cottages fall down. And so matters stand for over a decade, until Rosalie’s indomitable little sister Betty grows up…
Now, I must say it rather strained my credulity that Rosalie’s adoring and immensely rich father, who is constantly traveling back and forth between Europe and America, never stopped by the estate to see why his hitherto sweet and loving daughter had almost entirely broken off contact with her birth family. But of course if he did, there would be nothing for Betty to do, and therefore no book! So one must simply suspend one’s disbelief on this point.
The indomitable Betty is a Burnett heroine in the heroic strain of Joan Lowrie, a gorgeous Amazon of a girl who faces down every obstacle with tenacious grit and fabulous amounts of money. She arrives at Stornham Court while Nigel is away, discovers the house and village almost in ruins and Rosalie nearly broken in spirit, and at once sets about putting everything to rights. After all, Rosalie’s son Ughtred (yes, Ughtred) will inherit one day, and we can’t be letting the estate fall to pieces in the meantime.
But then Nigel comes back. He is at first appalled, then against his will fascinated, by this beautiful creature who has blithely turned his life upside down. Soon he is making scenes where he threatens her, as Betty informs him, like a melodramatic Victorian villain, culminating at the climax in a scene where he finds Betty injured in a lonely abandoned cottage after she has been thrown by her horse… A very tense and suspenseful scene. Betty manages to hide, but her sprained ankle means she can't try to run; she just has to wait while Nigel searches, clutching her riding crop with the last-ditch plan to strike him across the eyes if he finds her…
Of course Betty comes through unscathed. You can always depend on a Frances Burnett Hodgson heroine that way. She hides until her love interest shows up, and as soon as he grasps what is happening, he horsewhips Nigel, which is immensely satisfying. Nigel’s had it coming since page one!
Betty's love interest is of course ALSO an impoverished English country gentleman, who has sworn that he will NEVER marry a rich American heiress, which makes it quite awkward when he and Betty fall in love. There is a good deal of hopeless pining on both sides. Perhaps too much hopeless pining? Well, that is a matter of taste. Of course it all comes right in the end.
I thought the book was a bit longer than it needed to be - I’ve felt that about many of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s adult books, it occurs to me - but nonetheless I enjoyed it very much. This book was a huge bestseller when it came out, so characteristic of its moment that it’s mentioned in one of the later Betsy-Tacy books as a novel the characters are reading, and it’s still a cracking good read.
The shuttle of the title is metaphorical: Burnett is referring to the ever-tightening web of ties that bind together America and England, in the form of steamship travel, telegraph lines, and immigration. Burnett herself grew up in England, but moved to America as a teenager. Since she was able to write American characters who actually sound American (RIP Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker), she was perfectly positioned to write novels about English and American culture clash, and wrote at least three: A Fair Barbarian (an American girl descends on an English town and wreaks delightful havoc), T. Tembaron (a slangy but good-hearted New York salesman inherits an English title and wreaks delightful havoc), and The Shuttle.
There is, of course, another famous form of this English and American interweaving: the marriage of rich American heiresses to impoverished English nobles. The book begins with one such marriage: Rosalie Vanderpoel, daughter of the immensely wealthy New York Vanderpoels, marries impoverished Nigel Anstruthers.
Once he’s put an ocean between Rosalie and her family, Nigel reveals himself a total blackguard: not only did he marry Rosalie for her money, but he’s not even going to use that money to put his estate Stornham Court in order! Instead, he hies himself to the gaming tables of Europe, returning occasionally to bully Rosalie mercilessly, while his tenants’ cottages fall down. And so matters stand for over a decade, until Rosalie’s indomitable little sister Betty grows up…
Now, I must say it rather strained my credulity that Rosalie’s adoring and immensely rich father, who is constantly traveling back and forth between Europe and America, never stopped by the estate to see why his hitherto sweet and loving daughter had almost entirely broken off contact with her birth family. But of course if he did, there would be nothing for Betty to do, and therefore no book! So one must simply suspend one’s disbelief on this point.
The indomitable Betty is a Burnett heroine in the heroic strain of Joan Lowrie, a gorgeous Amazon of a girl who faces down every obstacle with tenacious grit and fabulous amounts of money. She arrives at Stornham Court while Nigel is away, discovers the house and village almost in ruins and Rosalie nearly broken in spirit, and at once sets about putting everything to rights. After all, Rosalie’s son Ughtred (yes, Ughtred) will inherit one day, and we can’t be letting the estate fall to pieces in the meantime.
But then Nigel comes back. He is at first appalled, then against his will fascinated, by this beautiful creature who has blithely turned his life upside down. Soon he is making scenes where he threatens her, as Betty informs him, like a melodramatic Victorian villain, culminating at the climax in a scene where he finds Betty injured in a lonely abandoned cottage after she has been thrown by her horse… A very tense and suspenseful scene. Betty manages to hide, but her sprained ankle means she can't try to run; she just has to wait while Nigel searches, clutching her riding crop with the last-ditch plan to strike him across the eyes if he finds her…
Of course Betty comes through unscathed. You can always depend on a Frances Burnett Hodgson heroine that way. She hides until her love interest shows up, and as soon as he grasps what is happening, he horsewhips Nigel, which is immensely satisfying. Nigel’s had it coming since page one!
Betty's love interest is of course ALSO an impoverished English country gentleman, who has sworn that he will NEVER marry a rich American heiress, which makes it quite awkward when he and Betty fall in love. There is a good deal of hopeless pining on both sides. Perhaps too much hopeless pining? Well, that is a matter of taste. Of course it all comes right in the end.
I thought the book was a bit longer than it needed to be - I’ve felt that about many of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s adult books, it occurs to me - but nonetheless I enjoyed it very much. This book was a huge bestseller when it came out, so characteristic of its moment that it’s mentioned in one of the later Betsy-Tacy books as a novel the characters are reading, and it’s still a cracking good read.
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Date: 2023-12-02 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-02 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-02 05:10 pm (UTC)It does sound like fun. Thank you :)
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Date: 2023-12-02 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-02 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-02 10:57 pm (UTC)I love that the mood of the American/British contrast remains spot on. Some things change and some things do not.
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Date: 2023-12-02 11:59 pm (UTC)I like the fact that fabulous amounts of money also help in this story. Fabulous amounts of money DO make things more possible, and it's great to see people using their fabulous piles For Good.
Does Rosalie have to stay married to Nigel, or does he have the good grace to die, or at least run away?
no subject
Date: 2023-12-03 01:27 pm (UTC)Fabulous amounts of money ARE extremely helpful, especially when your problem is a castle and a village that's falling down around your ears!
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Nigel thoughtfully dies of apoplexy at the end of the book. It is the only thoughtful thing he ever did in his entire life and it is entirely against his will, of course.
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Date: 2023-12-03 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-03 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-04 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-04 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-04 01:07 pm (UTC)