A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

aproperpursuit This was my first book by Lynn Austin, it was a free Kindle download so it was a no-brainer to get it.  I was looking for my next read and this looked interesting.  It started out very slow (I literally almost stopped reading it after chapter one) but I’m glad I finished it.

A Proper Pursuit is the story of a 20-year old during the summer of 1893.  She’s single and visits her Grandmother and Aunts in Chicago by herself.  It’s a story of her coming in to herself and finding who she is and who her family is.

I enjoy reading historical romance novels.  Reading this book I realized how void so many are in giving the reality of the lack of a woman’s rights during these times.  I take that for granted because, let’s face it, I don’t know what it’s like.  I’m single, I’m successful, and I have made a name for myself as a WOMAN.  It wasn’t that long ago, that the life I live would not have been a possibility for a woman.  This book discusses that and it gave me a new appreciation for what I have in life.

So, now I want to go read some more history on the woman’s rights movement and that time period.  But, yes, I recommend this book (just keep reading past chapter 1 or 2 and you’ll like it).

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From the Cover

Christy award-winning historical novelist Austin delivers her strongest offering yet, a coming-of-age story set in late-19th-century Illinois. The great strength of this novel comes from the first-person narrator’s charming voice: 20-year-old Violet Hayes is distressed to learn that her father is remarrying-and that her mother, whom Violet believed lay recovering from a mysterious illness in a sanitarium somewhere, had in fact simply abandoned her family and filed for divorce. To escape a stepmother-to-be she can’t stand, Violet heads to Chicago to stay with her grandmother and great-aunts. Although she’s recently graduated from a genteel school for young ladies, it’s in Chicago that Violet’s real education begins. One great-aunt tries to persuade her to join the suffrage movement, while another introduces Violet to elite society and urges her to catch a wealthy husband. Her grandmother, who takes her cues from Jane Addams, introduces Violet to the world of revivalist Christianity and inner-city good works, prompting Violet to re-examine her own faith. Two questions drive the plot: will Violet find her mother, and will she encounter true love? Readers will enjoy accompanying Violet as she discovers the answers, her calling and her adult self.

Lanel

June 1, 2010 | Filed Under a cuppa reading 

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