The risks of “free love”
Why were the social consequences so dire for “fallen” women in Regency times? What has changed for women since that time, and why? Why is there still a double standard as regards male and female promiscuity?
The rituals of mourning
We no longer have many of the rituals of mourning, such as wearing black for a certain number of months after the loss of a relative. What are the advantages to these rituals? Why do we not observe them any more today?
Fanny’s future
Fanny, unlike most genteel ladies of her day, has worked as a governess and as a sewing instructor, and she has discovered that she likes earning her own money. Do you think she would go on wanting to earn her own money, or will she be content to be a housewife, if she gets married?
Do you think Fanny will be happy married to William Gibson? Or do you wish she could end up with Edmund? Or with someone else? Or stay single?
For Janeites
How many passages of Jane Austen did you spot embedded in the text? What references or allusions to Mansfield Park or other Austen novels did you notice?
Bonus Excerpt: A Girl Called Foote
If you enjoyed A Marriage of Attachment, allow me to me introduce another writer I hope you’ll enjoy. A.E. Walnofer’s tale of a servant girl and her unconventional employer, both struggling with the constraints imposed upon them by society, has freshness, energy, and engaging historical detail.
Here is the beginning of her historical romance, A Girl Called Foote, which is available on Amazon:
1: Frightening a Maid
~ Jonathan, age 8
Whitehall
It was not an unusual occurrence for Jonathan Clyde to urinate into one of his home’s many fireplaces. Nor was it unusual for one of the servants to walk into a room, sniff the air unhappily and decide that the baronet’s son had urinated into the fireplace. What was unusual was for Jonathan to be caught in the distasteful act, and that is precisely what nearly happened one morning in late June at Whitehall.
On this particular day, he had been sitting on the library floor, drawing a picture inside of a difficultly-obtained copy of Sir Walter Scott’s Castle Dangerous. The title had caught his eye as he had pulled various books from their places on the shelf and he thought he would do well to improve the volume through his own efforts.
Everyone knows that all the best books have pictures, he told himself, and besides, I’m the best artist in the family.
As his drawing of a soldier lighting a cannon developed, so did his need to empty his bladder. At times, if an appropriate vessel was available, Jonathan would relieve himself into it and leave it for Ploughman, the aging parlor maid, to empty when she made her rounds. Not seeing a suitable receptacle on hand on this day, Jonathan made his way to the fireplace and proceeded to urinate, drenching the dark, sooty cavity.
I’m wary not to hit the rug, he rationalized, and the rest burns off when the fire’s lit.
At this moment, Ploughman entered the room. Had she not been bungling with an awkward and overloaded bucket of cleaning supplies, she likely would have seen Jonathan standing before the fireplace hurriedly fumbling with the front of his trousers. However, she was busy bumping into the doorjamb and keeping the tin of black from falling onto the floor. After settling her burden upon a table and straightening her cap, the slightly podgy woman selected a cloth and shuffled over to the bookshelves.
Is she going to climb the ladder? Jonathan wondered, peeking out from behind an upholstered chair. She’ll snap any rung she steps on!
To his delight, he watched as the maid positioned the ill-fortuned ladder and ascended it, grunting as she climbed. Her left hand clutched the ladder’s side as she started wiping down the top bookshelf with her right hand.
Jonathan felt a familiar rumbling in his lower gut and was struck with what most boys would consider an ingenious idea. Hoping Ploughman was thoroughly engrossed in her task, he quietly climbed onto the settee and positioned himself as if he was napping there. To increase the delicious absurdity of the situation, he stuck his thumb in his mouth as if he was sucking it. He watched Ploughman through barely opened eyes and waited until he felt assured of maximum output. Then, as loudly as he could, he expelled a prodigious amount of gas.
The result was fantastic.
Ploughman let out a cry and gripped the ladder as if her life depended on it. She whipped her head around, frantically looking over both shoulders. Her wild eyes settled on Jonathan who bit his thumb furiously, stifling his laughter.
Just as the fit passed, Jonathan sat up, yawning loudly as if newly awakened, looking as bright eyed and refreshed as he could.
“Why hullo, Ploughman,” he said, stretching dramatically and rising from the settee.
“Master Jonathan.” She nodded, dislodging her mob-cap from atop her head.
Ploughman resumed her dusting with as much dignity as a frightened woman atop a rickety ladder could as Jonathan casually sauntered out of the library, reining in the peals of laughter which threatened to escape.
Her face! Too bad Will didn’t see it, he thought, though he would have likely laughed and ruined it.
2: Impressing Grown Men
~ Lydia, age 7
Hawthorne House
Ugh. He’s telling that horrible story again.
Lydia tried not to glare at her father as she nibbled the sweet biscuit Mr. Farington had given her.
“She kicked me again, and me down there with my face near her
