Book 5 of the 2026 Read Your Hoard Challenge
It took me a chapter or two to find my footing with this novel. At first, Jane seemed annoyingly vague and scatterbrained, but she grew on me. It seemed that she spent a lot of time thinking her own thoughts and letting other people think whatever they wanted. She is definitely impulsive. The combination isn't ideal for a clergyman's wife, especially as she seems to be hopeless at domestic skills too. Her shining advantage is her lack of desire to run things, letting the bossy women of the parish run things and feel superior.
In the beginning I preferred Prudence, the working woman who is pining after her married boss, Mr. Grampion. When Jane meets him, she wonders what Prudence sees in him. But as Jane muses at several points, men of all sorts seem to be admired by various women. No matter how boring or selfish the man, there seems to be a woman who will desire him.
”Oh, but it was splendid the things women were doing for men all the time, thought Jane. Making them feel, perhaps sometimes by no more than a casual glance, that they were loved and admired and desired when they were worthy of none of these things--enabling them to preen themselves and puff out their plumage like birds and bask in the sunshine of love, real or imagined, it didn't matter which.”
Of course Jane decides to meddle by doing some matchmaking. Prudence is introduced to an eligible widower in Jane's village. This certainly has the desirable effect of distracting her from her married employer. As I expected, there were unexpected consequences which were quite entertaining. Pym does us the favour of leaving out the ultimate outcome. We are free to imagine where Prudence may end up without it being prescribed.
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