Rolling at the posted speed of 5 miles per hour, I followed my parents' Mini Max camper toward their reserved camping slot somewhere north of Kalamazoo, Michigan, where we were to set up and tent camp for our weekend vacation. Other recreational vehicles squeezed into the resort's campsites like competing titles at a bookstore, and within minutes, my spry son and his grandparents were cycling off to enjoy one of the last few comfortable days of outdoor swimming to be had in 2022. I am rather averse to chlorine and stagnant water, so instead I meandered around the camp store with my wife and found myself perusing a give-and-take miniature library that was housed just outside of it. One thing I'm glad of in our Creator is his lack of external prejudice, and one thing I'm in need of refining is my external prejudice. In this camping case, I completely judged a book by its cover, picked it up, and allowed Siri Mitchell to have my attention for the time it took to read the inside flap of She Walks in Beauty, Bethany House Publishers, 2010. Intrigued, but not so easily taken by a few publisher-polished words, I flipped open the book and scanned for story clues on the random page, page 354 in this case. I landed on the sentence, "We had been cut." Interesting, I thought. Two more random flips, and I still discovered no profanity which was a good sign as to the quality of the author, "A rising star in Christian historical fiction," according to Library Journal. Further flipping unveiled a promising tale that looked to be written in Jane Austen or Anne Brontë style, and so Siri Mitchell's book found its way under my arm back to my parents’ RV slip where I relaxingly started reading what turned out to be a campfire page turner.
In She Walks in Beauty, Clara Carter, the unknowingly beautiful seventeen-year-old, is slowly imprisoned by her circumstances of becoming a debutant one season sooner than she had expected to be introduced. Her figurative jailers, none other than her father and aunt, care far more about her future security than she does, and as Clara begins to dream of attending college in the late 1800s in New York—which was really a thing at the time believe it or not—her dreams are categorically dashed by her hard-headed aunt. Clara seems to be the 1891 version of a present-day young adult, who would rather skirt the adult and stretch out the young. All reader’s opinions aside, reading a book and pondering life in Clara's case is much preferred to debuting herself for marriage. I say Clara was slowly imprisoned figuratively because a corset soon constricts Clara's waistline, the parlor confines Clara to sitting and waiting for meaningless conversations, for hours, and lengthy operas and dancing balls take Clara's weekdays and weekends alike, captive. Yet captivation is something Clara Carter has going for her, which pulls her out of her early stubbornness and pushes her into the promising spotlight of becoming the wife of a select heir who is to inherit a family fortune. The late-in-life lessons conducted by her picky aunt on conversation, dishware, and dancing come in handy, and her innocent hope to not stumble or forget her dancing steps by closing her eyes during her first waltz turns her into the talk of the town and soon into the debutant to emulate. With Clara's fame comes society's interest, and with fresh access to high-society, society on par with the Vanderbilts, comes heart-wrenching competition and insinuating news that unravels the truth of Clara's motherless past.
Though I could send a volley of arrows attacking the plot line or scrape back the skin of certain characters to show their lacking muscle, She Walks in Beauty is a must read, and for me a will-reread novel. The character of Clara Carter simply shines. This sweet and resilient heroine in how she innocently tries, innocently fails, and innocently succeeds makes her growing-up moment galactic! Only after reading two-and-a-half other novels did I realize this, that Clara Carter's nebula was still appearing in my night sky, and I like star gazing. Furthermore and as trivial as it may sound, as a self-conscious, rather reticent conversationalist, I learned something from Clara, specifically from Clara being instructed to practice talking to the obnoxious house Pomeranians for as long as she could. The lesson: I sometimes disturb people in how serious I am when I converse, and though there may be a time for poverty-solving conversations, the need for friendly ones on mutually pleasant topics may in fact be more useful in day-to-day life. So, thank you Siri Mitchell for spackling my bedroom ceiling like Starry Night and having Clara example how effective small talk can be at bringing life to a dinner party.
Sorry to say, the Kalamazoo campfire conversations were less than what they should have been as I tore through the pages of She Walks in Beauty, but the next time I try the waltz with my wife and I find her eyes closed I'll know whom she's trying to emulate.
Keep talking to entertain,
—JH
Photo Credit: All rights reserved
Cover design by Jennifer Parker
Cover photography by Mike Habermann Photography, LLC
Cover background courtesy of the Alexander Ramsey House, St. Paul, Minnesota
Visit Siri Mitchell’s Website for information on purchasing a copy of She Walks in Beauty: http://www.sirimitchell.com/historical/she-walks-in-beauty/
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