The Trouble With Mrs Montgomery Hurst
by Katie Lumsden
Genre: Romance, General fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction
I like to dip into the past sometimes, enjoy reading stories where life is so totally different to now. This was a fun read. But it was about Amelia Ashpoint and some of the other characters as much as Mrs Montgomery Hurst.
I loved the disparate cast of characters, from Amelia and her family, Clara and her dad, looked down on as not quite socially acceptable, ditto Major Charles Alderton. And of course there are others who through no fault of anything other than being born in the wrong social group were destined to remain there, and seen as upstarts if they dared to look upwards...
It has that lovely gentle feel of a historical book, and does that social layering so expertly. No money but right social class, that's fine, pots of money but born to a lower class, seen as upstarts, ideas above their station etc. Its the part of history ( and even now) that fascinates me.
The story flows gently, but its not just Mrs Hurst that's the focus, but many of the other characters who feature in different ways. The portrayals were very vivid, I could feel the snobbery and arrogance of some people, the desire to fit in of Clara, the gossipy twittering of others, it brought out a typical village hierarchy.
I loved that it was so multi layered, so may different things going on. That kept the story interesting, intriguing and so readable.
Stars: Four, good story with lots of multi layers which I always enjoy.
ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers
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