Mistress of My Fate [Kindle Edition]

It has been a while since our book club has read such an enjoyable and original historical novel. The heroine is intelligent yet at the same time naive, witty yet diffident. The author has an eye for detail - in regards to the fashions and customs of the era - but the story is never suffocated by too much history.
Although Henrietta Lightfoot's life is haunted by misfortune the author also injects some wonderful touches of humour and irony into her writing (whether it be voiced by her heroine, or at her heroine's expense).
I strongly recommend you spend your Summer in the Eighteenth Century, in the company of Mistress Lightfoot and Hallie Rubenhold.

Henrietta is indeed an innocent abroad, as green as grass. However, possessed of a degree of wit, intelligence and native cunning, she soon learns and learns fast how to survive in a hostile environment outside of the cocooned existence of her upbringing. The first third of the book is devoted to a narrative which explains what happened before October 16th 1789, which is headlined on the back cover as the day she felt obliged to flee from her home. This is interesting and eventful, but nothing like as eventful as what befalls her once she makes the momentous decision to leave!

Henrietta very soon comes to realise that, in her own words, nothing goes for nothing in this world and it does not take her long to start to manipulate situations for her own benefit. Initially totally naïve, she quickly learns to be suspicious of motives and to take nothing at face value, although she does come to understand that quite a few of the people she meets are genuine and even if what is being proposed is not very palatable it is sometimes meant kindly with her best interests at heart. Indeed quite a number of her acquaintances recognise her naivety and go out of their way to tutor her in the ways of the world.

This book is written in the first person which is highly effective and seems quite natural in this context with none of the awkwardness which sometimes results when telling a story from this perspective. The whole volume is addressed to an early Victorian audience and defers to their prejudices and prudishness - this gives a period flavour which works really well. From the advanced publicity, the reader might have expected a bawdy historical tale and if this is the case they will not be disappointed. Of course in reality the outcome for a girl in Hetty's position would have had a high likelihood of turning out extremely badly, but for the purposes of this story we can suspend our disbelief since our heroine has an almost Flashman like ability to end up overcoming all adversity.

I do not think the author would be offended if I say that she perhaps did not set out to write one of the classic books of English literature, and I believe she has been highly successful in achieving exactly what she did set out to do. The result is entertaining and easy to read. I understand that the current volume is the first of a three part deal between the author and her publishers so there is little doubt that the saga of Mrs Lightfoot will run and run and I look forward to her future outings!

Oh, this book is almost perfect. I adored it.
I particularly love books set in this era and it is so authentic and believable. I was absolutely fascinated with the history.
Apart from that, the story is extremely gripping. I couldn't put it down. I was desperate to know what happened to the characters and if Hetty had been conned by George and the ambiguity surrounding that relationship kept me hooked and therein lies the novel's only fault in my opinion; that the ambiguity remained for me at the end.
That aside, I think this is one of the best written and most enjoyable novels I've read in a long time. It reminded me very much of The Crimson Petal but I actually think that Hetty's story was more engaging.
I have read so many pretentious and dull novels recently that have received glowing reviews that this was a breath of fresh air. I absolutely loved it and I hope other readers enjoy it as much as I did.