Based on a true love story from the British Civil War.Dorothy Osborne’s family has sacrificed everything for King Charles of England, living in exile in France after the king’s defeat by Parliament. Dorothy knows it is her duty to marry well and help her family, which means finding a wealthy suitor: Royalist, or maybe French, but never a Parliamentarian, and not someone of her own choosing.… choosing.
William Temple struggles to commit to his father’s Parliamentarian cause, making his family wonder if he’ll ever commit to anything. William wonders too, until he meets Dorothy Osborne. The connection between them is instant, but their families will go to any length to keep them apart. Can their love survive separation and the upheavals of the British Civil War?
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Between the Elizabethan era and the Regency lies a gaping hole in my knowledge of British history. Have I read about it? Probably. Retained it? I guess not. But then I’d never read anything like E.B. Wheeler’s YOURS, DOROTHY. This beautifully crafted story takes the reader into the lives of William Temple and Dorothy Osborne, who’s meeting sparked a seven-year courtship (1647 – 1654) during a time of great upheaval. Their families were on opposing sides of the civil wars and, not surprisingly, disapproved of the match. But the efforts the families took to keep the young lovers separated and arrange more suitable marriages for them, made it all the more amazing that Dorothy and William remained steadfast.
Wheeler relied on the surviving letters of Dorothy Osborne for much of the structure of the novel, filling in the blanks with likely possibilities and creating a setting so vivid and a story so compelling it drew me in completely. I love experiencing history through the pages of a novel and YOURS, DOROTHY serves it up in every possible flavor; sweet, sour, and savory!
This is a mostly-true story of a couple that survives the unrest and war in England and France. Dorothy is a young lady when her father and brothers almost die trapped in a siege. They expect the king to send help but he never does. This devastates her father into poor mental health for the rest of his life. The world Dorothy knew degrades into poverty, to the point of combing their place of exile for small things to sell to buy food for the family. She meets, one day, a young man lost in a world of confusion and chaos. Somehow, she helps him find a course in his life, though he takes quite a few years to get there. They fall in love, but both of their families feel they need to marry well to save their families from poverty. For many years, the couple resolves to write letters to each other in secret and keep their feelings a secret.
What is most interesting to know is that these letters are real, and that many of the things they describe are true to the era and their lives. The author provides a guide at the end of the book of what is true and what is fantasy that is quite enlightening. I enjoyed this tale to the point of ignoring other things in favor of seeing where it would take me in the end. This is a clean, though powerful, story of two lives and their trials and tribulations that will lift them to their future. It is a historical novel, sprinkled with imagination and great characters.
Yours, Dorothy by Emily Wheeler
Yours, Dorothy was steeped in history and filled with phrases and references to customs that were new to me. I have not read many books that take place during this time when Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads (aka Puritans) had control of Parliament and the government. The fact that Dorothy and her family were Royalists added perspective I don’t remember getting from books from this era.
Personally, I think it is a brave thing for an author to base her fiction on historical figures as anyone who wants can research them and tell the author why they portrayed them incorrectly. Secondary characters and those in the background, sure, those would be easier. Author E.B. Wheeler breathed life into William Temple and Dorothy Osborne, real people who have, apparently, scads of information about their lives available to researchers. Theirs is a beautiful love story from a time when it was unfashionable, even scandalous, to marry for love.
Using fragments from actual letters that passed between this couple was a great idea. Just the right amount shared from them kept it interesting.
The struggles Dorothy experienced, not only because of her overbearing brother Harry but also from the loss of fortune due to their political stance, were touching and made very evident. It is hard to picture in our present day that there was once a time when affording paper to write a short letter was a luxury. It is equally difficult in our society imagine a woman would have so much pressure put upon her to marry for the sake of her family.
If you enjoy historical fiction with a more serious yet hopeful tone, this is a book you should be sure to read.
This review was originally posted at AmongTheReads.net
Be sure to read an interview with the author and one of the characters at AmongTheReads.net
I would like to thank EB Wheeler for giving me this item. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.