Gilbertina Trecastle has always found herself distant to everyone she knows. When her father remarries after her mother’s death, she finds herself hemmed in by her stepmother, so she carefully plans an escape, over the course of several years, and puts it into practice at the age of eighteen. Renaming herself Caroline Jill, she becomes a lady’s maid and ends up falling in (unrequited) love with her employer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this bildungsroman in which our heroine leads her best life, without recourse to anyone else. There are a lot of fun, almost Dickensian side characters (the germophobe of whom Jill is suitably contemptuous is probably my favourite) and it’s got quite an episodic nature, as she moves from adventure to adventure. There’s much made of Jill’s unrequited love for her mistress, Kitty, but Jill herself is pretty practical about the whole thing. She sees that her affections would never be returned, so so mentally shrugs her shoulders and gets on with things. A similar thing happens with Sister Helena towards the end of the book. I find that practicality so refreshing, especially in a female character, especially especially in a character written in the 1880s!
Something else to love is how Jill wants to be completely ruthless and believe the worst of everyone. And yet, she engages in so many little (and not so little) acts of kindness throughout the book. Often grumpily, with no belief that others will also do the right thing, and is then surprised when they do (the whole flower girl incident made my heart swell several sizes).
It’s a great book, definitely recommended. Don’t be put off by the two nuddy women on the front cover and don’t read the introduction until you’ve read the book (unlike many such beasts, the introduction is very readable, but it’s still got spoilers, and you’ll get more out of it once you’ve read the book).
