By Vidruma Chaavali and Christy Clark
In this issue, we introduce a variety of wonderful but lesser-known books to assist readers in finding their next great reads. This week’s column covers a review of The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare and Enduring Love by Ian McEwan.
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
If you are a fan of Beauty and the Beast or love fairytale retellings, The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare will not disappoint. The book is a historical romance set in the Regency era that was published in August 2017. It plays with tropes such as grumpy x sunshine and marriage of convenience.
The Duchess Deal follows the Duke of Ashbury, scarred by war and in need of an heir. In light of this, he makes a deal with talented seamstress, Emma Gladstone. It’s a simple arrangement in which they get married, and she gives him an heir. No love required. But as they spend more time together, they begin to get to know each other more deeply.
Tessa Dare’s writing is her strength, especially the humour she incorporates into the protagonist’s conversations and personalities. Her dialogue is excellent. There are moments where the reader will no doubt laugh out loud. With the book written in the third person, the reader can dive into the characters' minds and understand their vulnerabilities. It’s refreshing to see both the characters truly bounce off one another, and their journey is delightful to follow.
Emma’s determination and passion make her a memorable character who fights against the odds. She enters someone’s life unexpectedly, and following her journey of interacting with new characters is interesting. Ashbury’s internal and external battles and humour earn a soft spot in readers' hearts. Supporting characters like Khan and Trevor make the plot more engaging.
The Duchess Deal is a well-paced book with a hilarious meet-cute, plenty of banter and light-hearted moments that will make readers swoon from beginning to end.
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan is one of the most acclaimed and revered living authors. His work has spanned the wartime love story Atonement, the psychological Sweet Tooth and the up-front, heartbreaking On Chesil Beach. He has also won the Booker Prize with Amsterdam, and several of his novels have been adapted into films well-known on the big screen. While McEwan’s work is excellently crafted, emotive and compelling, one of his standouts comes in the 1997 novel Enduring Love.
Enduring Love mostly lives in recent memory due to its captivating, heart-in-the-mouth opening scene, when a casual passerby and his wife, out in the country for a picnic, witness a tragedy involving a hot air balloon. The transition from languishing, rural peace to life-altering panic from the boundless, earthy countryside to the confined, concrete city – you’ll have to read to see just how restricted the protagonist’s situation is – is unlike anything I have read. The opening scene might be my favourite from any novel; though I'll leave it at that, McEwan’s evocative style is too good to spoil, even slightly.
The rest of the novel follows the couple in question, the academic Joe Rose and his partner Clarissa Mellon, and Jed Parry, a man also involved in the novel’s first scene; the three of whom, through the novel’s opening act of fate, become irrevocably intertwined and play out a narrative surged forward by philosophical wonderings and scientific queries. McEwan asks several questions: What limits might a respectable, middle-class academic go to in order to preserve his picture-perfect, modern life? How do the tenuous circumstances of life stand up against the clear, hard lines of convention and the exact ways we expect our lives to progress? How might a study of the boundaries of the human condition double up as an excellent, career-defining read?
From the title, one might expect a textbook love story. Instead, you get an unorthodox character study and a new love story that fundamentally questions love and what one might do to keep it. McEwan again, does what he always does: keeps the reader on their toes and follows up with one of the most memorable novel openings, a well-paced, eventful narrative and an especially noteworthy conclusion.
Whilst often overshadowed by McEwan’s most famous novel, Atonement, Enduring Love is unmissable; a short, un-put-downable read that showcases the best parts of the author’s lengthy career and leaves you wanting much more of the same – something his career has never failed to provide.