Sealed Letter

Scandalous charges, shocking countercharges, stained dresses, sealed letters --- these are the stuff of 20th-century sex scandals like the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, right? Not so, proves Emma Donoghue in THE SEALED LETTER, a novel set in the Victorian era, centered on a highly publicized divorce case that ruined lives and riveted an entire country. The book's central character is Emily Faithfull, nicknamed Fido. An enlightened preacher's daughter who supports herself through her printing business, Fido is at the forefront of the burgeoning movement for women's rights in England. But all her success, not to mention her reputation, is put at risk when Fido's oldest friend, Helen Codrington, returns to London from her husband's posting in Malta. Helen, with her fashionable style, good looks and flirtatious personality, seems like an unlikely friend for plain Fido, but the two are exceptionally close; before they left for Malta, Helen and her husband even invited Fido to live with them for a time. Reigniting their old friendship after years of separation, however, soon proves to be a challenge. More often than not, Helen is accompanied by a dashing military officer, and the two even use Fido's own house for their assignations, much to Fido's embarrassment and disgust. When Helen's husband becomes increasingly suspicious of his wife's associations (especially when she fails to respond to an urgent telegram sent to Fido's home), he initiates divorce proceedings. Helen, who is at a great disadvantage in the legal case, enlists Fido to provide evidence --- of an incident she doesn't even remember. As the case proceeds, Fido's entire professional career --- not to mention her relationship with Helen and her opinion of herself --- threatens to unravel. At the center of THE SEALED LETTER is a tense, revelation-filled courtroom scene, with unreliable witnesses, questionable testimony and outright lies. Just like today, the media has a field day with the evidence, providing readers with as many titillating details as they're able to print. In addition to providing an in-depth portrayal of the 19th-century legal system, the novel (and especially the sealed letter of the title) also raises interesting points about the psychological complexities that lie beneath many courtroom decisions. THE SEALED LETTER offers readers a fascinating exploration of Victorian culture and society, from the (negligible) rights of women to arcane divorce laws to attitudes about sex and sexuality. Readers shouldn't miss Donoghue's extensive author's note, which explains the historical background of the novel. However, this book is far more than simply a rundown of Victorian legalities and mores; instead, it is a perceptive, and at times poignant, exploration of Fido's attempts to balance her identity as an independent woman, a model to her generation, with her rapidly eroding love and trust for her friend, Helen. Donoghue manages to place Fido's story firmly in history without lo

Based on a true story, this novel starts out a bit of a sleeper, but subtly grows into a tour de force, a remarkable expose of misplaced affections and romantic hubris. When Emily "Fido" Faithful is approached on the streets of England by long-estranged friend, Helen Codrington, and the two discover their falling out is due to a series of misunderstandings, the friendship is given another chance. Helen, 36, is married to a military man twenty years her senior. After their first years of marriage on their Malta post, the couple returns to the continent, Helen's bitterness and disappointment difficult to hide; Helen is squired around town by young military man, Colonel David Anderson. Nor has Fido been idle in the intervening seven years of the lost relationship, an independent new woman who proudly embraces her role as a leader in feminist causes. Learning that Helen has a problem with her attachment to Anderson, Fido determines to save Helen from her baser self: "A gentleman is always a gentleman unless a lady forgets to be a lady." At this point the novel detours into the Victorian minutiae of women's successful projects for increasing their roles in society, Fido spearheading a definitive, if not lucrative newspaper to speak for relevant causes. She is surrounded by a bevy of like-minded souls, all caught up in the passion of their mission, none more so than Fido, who is a creature devoid of the experiences that so define Helen Codrington's daily life and pursuit of romantic entanglements. A strict moralist, Fido is easily seduced by Helen's insincere entreaties to help wean the married lady away from temptation. Fido takes this task seriously, only reluctantly realizing that Helen is remarkably duplicitous, trading on their former friendship to use Fido's home as a trysting place with her not-so-platonic lover. Her righteous outrage invoked at Helen's cynical abuse of their relationship, Fido is furious and conflicted. The monstrously diabolic Helen is an iconic masterpiece in Donoghue's clever hands, an instinctive manipulator of those she wishes to control, to bring to her cause or destroy by whatever means necessary. Once hooked, Fido becomes the unwilling pawn in a sensational divorce trial, all she has worked for subject to derision and calumny: "She's plain Miss Faithful of the rectory again, wheezing with fright." An outraged husband has suffered his final humiliation, requesting the court's intervention, the public privy to the sordid details of the Codrington marriage. And the public's appetite is inexhaustible, nothing too specious to deter avid consumption. Faced with the loss of her daughters and her reputation, Helen is reduced to fighting back in the most demeaning circumstances, her husband favored by the law, "a blunt instrument". The title is a tipping point in a courtroom drama that captures the imagination of citizens rich and poor, a grand gamble that yields a most shocking denouement. The result: truth is the victim of

The Sealed Letter is another one of those books I just couldn't put down--and then felt bereft when I finally finished it. Set in London in 1864, the novel is loosely based on a scandalous divorce case, and features facts stranger than fiction: a stained dress (sound familiar?), fabricated evidence, and scandal more scandalous than the sensationalist novels of the period. It's a novel in which supposed friends turn against one another, in which servants even turn against those they serve. Helen Codrington is a wife and mother, born and bred abroad, who craves some excitement in her life. Never thinking of what might happen, she embarks on an affair with Captain David Anderson. Late in the summer of 1864, Helen runs into her old friend Emily "Fido" Faithfull, a crusader for women's rights, who's surprisingly... conventional, all things considered. When Harry Codrington finds out about Helen's affair, however, the lives of these three characters change drastically. The novel's point of view vacillates between Helen, Fido, and Harry. It's a stunning, well-written book, which explores the way in which lies affect the lives of each of these characters. It's also a fair representation of mid-Victorian mores; although it's tough for us today to understand, divorce was much, much more scandalous and socially crippling in an era that placed a focus on the family and the woman's role in that family. It's strange, too, to a modern reader, the laws that governed divorce in 19th century England (for example, the two primaries were prohibited from testifying). Each of the characters is well-written, and Donoghue gets into the minds of each of the main characters with ease. She never tries to infuse this book with a modern sensibility. It's a compelling book that I couldn't stop thinking about between sittings and after I'd finished. My only problem with this otherwise superb novel is the fact that the letters are all written in a cursive script that's hard to read. But that's only a technicality.

This summer seems to be a time of novels for me. There's been a particular abundance of riches where historical settings have become popular again, and I have been eagerly reading my way along. Today's choice was a vivid, insightful story built around a Victorian scandal -- the divorce. Nowadays, a divorce hardly seems to cause a ripple in our society, but in the nineteenth century, a divorce was a very public, very messy, and unpleasant experience. In her new novel, The Sealed Letter, author Emma Donoghue explores the impact of such a decision on one middle class family, through the eyes of the husband and wife, and their friend, Emily Faithfull. Nicknamed 'Fido' as much for her character as her last name, Fido meets up with an old friend suddenly in a London street. It's been more than seven years since she's seen Helen Codrington, and in all that time Fido hasn't seen any communications from her. It's more than a surprise for Fido, it's a shock to see her old friend. Helen hasn't changed a bit. Away with her husband in Malta, Helen is still the gay, charming woman that she has always been. She claims that she never recieved any of the letters that Fido has sent, blaming it on the wretched postal system of that distant island. And she seems to be eager to resume her friendship with Fido. Despite her misgivings Fido is glad to resume that friendship as well. For Fido is unusual among women in Victorian London. She has remained single, working in the Cause of equal rights and opportunities for women in both the home and workplace. She has set up her own printing business, The Victoria Press, and has even been granted the distinction of a royal warrant. Finally, there is Helen's husband, Henry Codrington, an admiral in the British navy. He's served with distinction in the Fleet, and now has been rotated home to a desk job. While he's chafing at not being able to serve aboard a ship, he's trying to make the best of it. Through the thoughts, actions and letters of these three, the reader gets to have an intimate view of a Victorian marriage, where husband and wife were restricted by social norms, intimacy was rare, and especially reputation was considered important. Women had few rights, and many seem to be content with their lot, spending their days in social calls, raising their children, and charitable work. For Helen, her days are frivolous, spending too much money, avoiding her husband, and making attempts to be a mother to her two daughters. She makes choices that are impulsive at best, and one is about to bring her comfortable world to an end. I don't want to reveal much more. I have to say that Donoghue's writing is wonderfully evocative of the period, filled with details of life for the well-to-do, the customs of the time, and most of all, the minds of three people in a very complicated relationship. All three of them are given very distinct voices and motivations and I found their story to be both compelling and heartbreaking.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has read any of Emma Donoghue's earlier novels that The Sealed Letter is an astonishingly well written and compelling novel. Based on a notorious nineteenth century divorce case, The Sealed Letter explores ideas about friendship and feminism, marriage and motherhood, honor and dishonor with wit, compassion and eloquence. I will call The Sealed Letter a courtroom drama as long as you promise not to imagine for a moment that there is anything of the formulaic in Donoghue's sure hand. A book to read and reread, to savor for its language and its history, its compelling characters and heart-stopping plot. An altogether worthy successor to the extraordinary Slammerkin and the splendid Life Mask.