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Indiscretion

by Jude Morgan

ISBN13: 9780312362065
ISBN10: 0312362064
All Product Details

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

When your father is a man of expensive tastes and schemes but very little money, you soon learn to make do. So when Captain Fortune, a well-meaning but profligate ex-soldier in Regency England, tells his daughter Caroline that they are ruined, she automatically starts seeking employment as a governess. Her father, however, has far grander designs for Miss Fortune...

Caro is to become the companion of Mrs. Catling, the rich, fierce widow of her father's old colonel. As Mrs. Catling amuses herself by tormenting her relatives and servants, Caro resolves to make the best of the situation, and soon her beauty and intelligence attract the attentions of male admirers.

Surrounded by people with an alarming readiness to reveal each other's confidences, Caroline is exasperated to find herself implicated in their indiscretions. But will Miss Fortune be able to avoid losing her reputation without losing her head? And will she find at least one good man amongst the genteel set who will take her side, and, indeed, her fancy?

Review:

"A clever, Jane Austen�“like 19th-century English romance filled with parlor-room wit, Morgan's second novel (after Passion) follows the sharp-tongued and attractive Caroline Fortune as she's sucked into and spit out of a scheme cooked up by her father, Captain Fortune, to make them rich. The plan consists of installing Caroline as the companion (and potential heiress) to Sophia Catling, the wealthy and childless widow of one of the captain's old military chums. After arriving at Sophia's estate, Caroline finds Sophia to be a bitter hag whose nastiness only intensifies when Caroline receives a letter from an estranged aunt informing her that her father has died. Caroline leaves Sophia to live with her aunt's family at Wythorpe Manor, where she makes friends with the luminous Isabella Milner, who is preparing for her wedding to Richard Leabrook. Caroline soon realizes she's crossed paths with Isabella's intended and is torn between sparing Isabella's feelings or telling her about Richard's philandering ways. Caroline also attracts the attention of Isabella's brother, Stephen, a callous young man who enjoys trading barbs with her. Romances bloom and wilt in familiar fashions, but Morgan's colorful cast and sharp wordplay make the read a joy. (Dec.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright © Reed Business Information)

Review:

"A clever, Jane Austen — like 19th-century English romance filled with parlor-room wit, Morgan's second novel (after Passion) follows the sharp-tongued and attractive Caroline Fortune as she's sucked into and spit out of a scheme cooked up by her father, Captain Fortune, to make them rich. The plan consists of installing Caroline as the companion (and potential heiress) to Sophia Catling, the wealthy and childless widow of one of the captain's old military chums. After arriving at Sophia's estate, Caroline finds Sophia to be a bitter hag whose nastiness only intensifies when Caroline receives a letter from an estranged aunt informing her that her father has died. Caroline leaves Sophia to live with her aunt's family at Wythorpe Manor, where she makes friends with the luminous Isabella Milner, who is preparing for her wedding to Richard Leabrook. Caroline soon realizes she's crossed paths with Isabella's intended and is torn between sparing Isabella's feelings or telling her about Richard's philandering ways. Caroline also attracts the attention of Isabella's brother, Stephen, a callous young man who enjoys trading barbs with her. Romances bloom and wilt in familiar fashions, but Morgan's colorful cast and sharp wordplay make the read a joy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Halfway through Jude Morgan's 'Indiscretion' comes a litmus test for your sensitivity to Jane Austenism: A young woman in an exquisitely appointed manor in the English countryside complains, 'There is nothing very grand, or exciting, or even terrible, to be met with in a district like this: it is all just narrow provincial dullness.'

If that line inspires an ironic little grin, you have... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) the good sense and sensibility to keep reading. But if, instead, you think, 'She's absolutely right,' you will already have dropped off into a deep sleep hundreds of pages earlier. This is, after all, a story that counts among its exciting moments a crisis involving who will escort whom into the dining room. (Relax, I won't give it away.) And don't be misled by that suggestive title: The naughty bits (there are two: one early, one late) are described in language so refined and elevated that the bodice is not so much ripped as tipped — and even that only slightly.

Our heroine is Caroline Fortune, the delightfully spirited daughter of a lovable old soldier who has run through a series of disastrous get-rich schemes in London. 'Captain Fortune,' Morgan tells us, is 'the type of man who would jump gaily off a cliff and then experience second thoughts when he neared the bottom.' While her father hopes to revive his acting career, Caroline — always the practical one — accepts employment as the companion to a fastidious widow. This old crocodile, Mrs. Catling, amuses herself by threatening to disinherit her niece and nephew. Everyone attends her 'with a sort of stiff-jointed promptness that looks very much like smothered terror,' but she appreciates Caroline's indomitable nature and enjoys letting her nervous heirs imagine that a new, young competitor has entered the arena. When a long-lost relative rescues Caroline from this battleground, she finds herself comfortably and securely situated among people who love her in the village of Huntingdonshire, where, you may have heard, 'it is all just narrow provincial dullness.'

In fact, it's actually rather amusing, and soon 'the placid surface of her new life' is stirred by moral and romantic disruptions. Living nearby are the Milner siblings: Isabella, who's engaged to a man who only Caroline knows is a scoundrel; Fanny, who will run off with a man Caroline suspects is a scoundrel; and Stephen, who vexes Caroline so much that you may as well start shopping for a wedding present now. 'Every time I am deluded into thinking you human,' she tells him, 'you come out and say something to confirm my earlier opinion.'

Morgan carries this off with unfailing charm, and if we rarely get a real downpour of comedy, the air is at least always humid with his wit. Even when a character fails to be funny, the narrator saves the day: 'His delivery of this joke was almost obstetric in its effort.' But there is also a good deal of arid dialogue along these lines:

'You are very forgiving.'

'Am I? I must be, for I cannot even think where the offense lies.'

'Oh, but you must know — that remark I made, at the Rectory. So very unthinking. I can only ask you to believe I truly did not mean it.'

'Now I feel as if my head is on back to front. Miss Milner, what do you mean?'

An accurate depiction of life among a certain class of English society in the early 19th century? Indubitably. Always gripping? Dubitably.

What's worse is Morgan's tendency to impress upon us the tediousness of some hilariously boorish characters by making us live through their dull speeches in real time. There is, for instance, Mrs. Leabrook, who 'would have talked on if you had fallen at her feet in a dead faint,' as I can confirm from personal experience. The comic value of that technique drains away paragraph by paragraph, until we're left thinking, 'No — please — tell, don't show!'

Fortunately, Caroline's pride and prejudice are impossible to resist, particularly as she finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into her friends' romantic complications, all the while imagining that she can hold herself aloof from matters of the heart. You've read this before, of course, or at least seen the movie (Keira Knightley, I'd sell my soul for you), but it's played out here with enough elegance and humor to make it worth another round. After all, Austen left just six novels, and anyone of the persuasion that half a dozen masterpieces are insufficient will enjoy 'Indiscretion' as a handy substitute, a sort of literary margarine — I Can't Believe It's Not Austen (R). That Morgan comes so close to the creamy taste of the original is a testament to his talent, but it still leaves us pining for the real thing.

Ron Charles is a senior editor of The Washington Post Book World." Reviewed by Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
(hide most of this review)

Review:

"[R]efreshingly original characters, an intriguing plot, and an elegantly ironic style that will appeal to even the most diehard Austen purists. Highly recommended." Library Journal

Review:

"A story that, like its heroine, is entertaining and spirited, if a little too fond of the sound of its own voice." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Picking up Indiscretion...is like being given a favorite assortment of candy: not many surprises...but you know you'll love every bite....Its aim is simply to be charming, and it succeeds admirably." Christian Science Monitor

Synopsis:

When Caroline Fortune's father loses all they possess, she goes along with his scheme to set her up as the companion to a society woman. As she begins to attract the attentions of many so-called gentlemen, will Miss Fortune be able to keep from losing her head — or her reputation?

About the Author

Jude Morgan, who studied creative writing under Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter, lives in Peterborough, England.

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

: Wendy, January 15, 2007 (view all comments by Wendy)
If you were heartbroken when you realized that Jane Austen had only written six novels, this book is for you. Unlike the many pallid "sequels" to Austen's work, however, Indiscretion is completely original, and explores a slightly wider world of characters than Austen considered: heroine Caroline Fortune has had an unconventional upbringing and knows far more curse words and hangover cures than a decent young lady should. Don't think this is a modern novel in fancy dress though--it feels utterly authentic. It's also fresh, funny and a delight to read.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780312362065
Subtitle:: A Novel
Publisher:: Libri
Author:: Morgan, Jude
Subject:: Historical
Subject:: Historical - General
Subject:: Man-woman relationships
Subject:: Romance - Historical
Subject:: Women domestics
Subject:: Romance - Regency
Edition Description:: U.S.
Publication Date:: November 2006
Binding:: HC
Language:: English
Pages:: 384
Dimensions:: 8.30x6.26x1.22 in. 1.20 lbs.

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