I have been eagerly anticipating reading book 1, Mercy's Embrace: So Rough a Course
, of Laura Hile's trilogy Mercy's Embrace, which is basically about the Other Elliot girl, Elizabeth.We all know that Elizabeth is one of the wicked sisters in the fairy tale that is Austen's Persuasion, devaluing the saintly Anne, wallowing in vanity and pretension, and sitting on the shelf while the years of eligibility slip by. There is virtually nothing to like about Elizabeth Elliot. She's even beautiful, not having lost her bloom due to heartbreak at a tender age.
Laura Hile has found a kernal in Elizabeth that isn't despicable and within the first couple of chapters has worked it so that Elizabeth is a fully realized, likeable in a snarky sort of way, plucky heroine. I just know I'll be fearing and cheering for Elizabeth as she deals with the financial morass that her feckless father, the uber vain Sir Walter Elliot, has gotten the family into while she attempts to find love and security and an actual life for herself.
Elizabeth is not perfect--believe me, she is no Anne Elliot--but she has spunk, and unlike Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore show, I like spunk.
I am looking forward to a thoroughly enjoyable romp through Austenland with Hile and Elizabeth Elliot and the very promising Adm Patrick McGillvary. This is summer reading at its best.
I am eager to read this one now that I have finished Susan Kaye's books and you wrote such a great review about it! Is the Patrick McGillvary in this book based off the on in Ms. Kaye's?
ReplyDeleteYes--Laura Hile and Susan Kaye co-wrote a fanfic story years ago that included Patrick McGillvary, and when Laura started work on Mercy's Embrace, my understanding is that she asked Susan for permission to use McGillvary in her story as well.
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