The Black Velvet Gown - Catherine Cookson

"There would be times when Riah Millican came to regret that her husband had learned to read and write, and then shared his knowledge with her and their children. For this was Durham in the 1830's, when employers tended to regard the spread of education with suspicion. But now Seth Millican was dead and she was a widow with the need to find a home and a living for herself and her children.

The chance of becoming a housekeeper didn't work out, but it led to Moor House and a scholarly recluse obsessed with that very book learning that could open so many doors and yet create so many problems; especially with her daughter, Biddy, who was not only bright, but wilful..."

I grew up thinking that Catherine Cookson was sort of a lightweight romance author, and thus I never really bothered with her. The only reason I picked up this book was because I was on holiday to France and the only English book I could find. So imagine my surprise when I picked up The Black Velvet Gown, and found it to be more intricate than I expected, and written in an intelligent, sometimes stark fashion.

Based on the cover and various descriptions of it and its author, I really expected another shallow, crappy 'historical fiction' (really a romance in pseudo-intellectual clothes). This, to my mind, was nothing of the sort. No, nothing sweeping or epic happens--none of the characters change the world, but they do change their worlds, and that alone was enjoyable enough to read. It really gave you a sense of the conditions of the time period.

The real draw for me was the characters, though. I loved how deeply drawn they were. No major characters here are one-dimensional. The jerks had softer, gentler sides, the kind ones had mean streaks and were capable of resentment and bitterness. People like the wrong people and dismiss the good ones mistakenly, they make mistakes. Biddy, the arguable main character, gets herself into trouble because she's got a temper and doesn't hold her tongue when that temper is high. Mr Miller is deeply, deeply complex, and I went through different shades with him. By the end of the book, I still wasn't quite sure what to make of him. They felt like real people with real struggles, and for that I adore this book.

No earth-shattering plots or anything like that here, but if you want a genuine human drama, this is for you. Age rating 14+. Heavy, sometimes depressing and talks about difficult subjects in a language you need to be older to understand.