Return to Oz

I was wandering through Waterstones one day looking for new books to read. See I’m a person who tends to buy a book by it’s cover. The cover is the first thing I noticed. What drew me in was the lovely woven Victorian corset, with intricate details and a pretty font with a creative book title.

If a cover is striking triggers something in me, I usually buy the book without reading the blurb,.I do though have to get a good feel of it by reading the first few pages. Then I go on my merry way. I like pretty book covers, that’s my kick. It may not be a good to ‘judge a book by it’s cover’ but it works for me. I have found some pretty good books (and dull ones this way).

I started reading it and I have to say I enjoyed it. Louisa Cosgroves is our 19th Century heroine. She is determined and fierce to get her own way. Which is what I like. It helps to get the story moving when the character has something to fight for. She wants to be a doctor like her father. This is a time when it was virtually impossible for women to be anything other than a wife and a mother, maybe a maid or a nurse. It was awesome to read Louisa’s early years. They really made me understand her better.

She is then sent to Wildthorn Hall, an asylum. She is betrayed by people she loved and thought she could trust. She meets people she grows as a character. Some characters came across as flat and as though their words were from Louisa’s mouth such as Tom, Aunt Phyllis, Grace.

That is until we get to the end which I thought was a big let down. For me, it was resolved far too quickly, it felt like all this growing as a character was all for nothing. She reverted to her old ways of thinking. A bit too happy too. It felt like I was reading Sophie Kinsella after a while.

The subject of her sexual identity wasn’t thought about once, maybe briefly but it was just a passing thought. Which really needed to be addressed I thought. It was a pivotal role in this character’s development. This was a time when it was forbidden. People were sent to mental institutions for this kind of thing as it was considered a mental illness.

I know it is common practice these days, for people to put prepositions at the beginning of sentences, even in books. I myself do it but I do find it highly irritating, I try to avoid it. When reading a book it tends to stop me in my tracks. I also get irate when I read a book, it uses prepositions correctly (as a linking word) but then it uses a comma by a preposition. It is really unnecessary, a preposition is there for the reader to give them a breather anyway.

Overall I was quite happy with this book and I give it four out of five stars. Due to a few flat characters and a rushed ending which could’ve lasted another fifty pages. I would like to recommend it for anyone who loves things that don’t adhere to social normalities.