Margaret Dashwood, William Wilberforce, and the Napoleonic Wars

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Source: Review Copy from Author

TYPE OF NOVEL: Sense and Sensibility Sequel, Secondary Character

THE PREMISE: Now it’s Margarets turn to come-of-age and discover her path in life! She has paid attention – she understands the heartache and pain of her sisters’ experiences, but also witnesses the happiness and fulfillment in their lives now. While Margaret would welcome a marriage filled with love and mutual admiration, she also cares about becoming a woman with substance, purpose, and values.

WHAT I LOVED:

• A Spotlight on Margaret: I can never get enough secondary character stories! This one was especially exciting to me as it was all about a secondary character from Sense and Sensibility! Another rarity! I’ve always been endeared to Margaret. Being a little younger than her sisters and with them moving on to their married lives – it seems like Margaret is left alone or on the outside looking in. But we all know that these periphery characters have some interesting stories to tell…

• Developing Character: This was a beautiful and thoughtful story of Margaret’s becoming. With so little known about her future and only her childhood experiences to build on, she is a deliciously enticing blank slate. I appreciated seeing her perspective of the people in her life, her sisters’ experiences, and herself. And I liked the reality of her making some mistakes and having some awkward moments as she learns to navigate society. I really loved how this story portrayed her journey through all sorts of experiences and the lessons she learned a long the way. And I loved seeing my esteem and admiration for Margaret grow as the story progressed.

• Familial Relationships: While the story focuses mostly on Margaret, readers will see and hear plenty about the Ferrars, the Brandons, and many of our other S&S friends. It was interesting to see Margaret’s relationships with these characters – I especially loved how the sisters remained close and connected, and how Colonel Brandon steps into a more guardian-type of role in Margaret’s life. In addition, I enjoyed seeing Margaret interact with John and Fanny Dashwood and what surprises develop there.

• Historical Tie-Ins: Carol Pratt Bradley made a great effort to illustrate how Margaret’s environment and the events surrounding her life helped shape the woman she became. She skillfully utilized the real-life conflicts of this time period like slavery, war, limitations for women and the poor and found plausible ways to include real-life historical figures such as Hannah More and William Wilberforce. I loved seeing Margaret take interest in the world around her, form opinions on these issues, and care about the world outside her own sphere.

• Travels and Trials: Bath, London, Norland, Brighton – I loved seeing Margaret visit so many places and experience so many different scenes. I feel like she has an adventurous spirit, and this season of her life where she shifts and travels frequently seemed very fitting. However, it isn’t just fun and frivolity, Margaret experiences some deep sorrows and faces challenging circumstances. I greatly grew to admire Margaret and how she handled her hardships. She was well aware that she always had family nearby to care for her, but yet still preferred to take care of herself.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:

• More Page Time: While we have some interesting romantic developments for Margaret throughout this tale, it sometimes felt like too little of it took place on page. There are a few scenes where these characters are together, but it didn’t feel like enough for their attachments to be what they were. And some of their time together often was summarized or skipped ahead. I wouldn’t have minded more of their romantic and internal feelings to develop on page. And with an ending like that, I think we desperately needed an epilogue!

• Fact and Fiction: While I appreciated the Acknowledgements section that described a lot of the author’s journey to writing this book, I would have loved to see more information about the historical tie-ins in her story, and which parts were factual and which were fiction.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

📝  A strong and satisfying sequel about an undefined secondary character whose story was left unwritten.

💗  A beautiful and inspiring story about maturing, learning to grow, and discovering yourself.

🤲🏼  It turns out that perhaps Margaret is after all the Dashwood who best unites sense and sensibility…

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