Book Review: The Flight of Gemma Hardy

*Spoiler alert*

I really enjoy reading retellings of classic stories, but I also think it is very hard to do it well.  The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey is a retelling of Jane Eyre set in the 1960s.  The first half of this book was fantastic! It was a perfect recreation of the original, up to when Jane left for Thornfield Hall, but I didn't feel like I was re-reading Jane Eyre word-for-word. It followed a similar pattern without copying and pasting its source material. The scenes at the boarding school were especially well written.  Because it wasn't set in the Gothic Victorian era, I was curious how Margot Livesey was going to interpret the tyranny of the teachers, as well as the death of her school friend (originally Helen).  Even though I knew the Helen-based character, Miriam, was going to die, I couldn't help but hold out hope that she would survive somehow.  When they introduced Miriam's Dad I though for sure that would be how she and Jane separate. But, alas, it wasn't to be.  Anyway, I truly enjoyed this part of the book and felt it was the best part of the story. 

The second half was not so great. Mr. Sinclair (Rochester) and Jane didn't really interact enough to believably fall in love.  Additionally, even though I'm glad Margot Livesey decided not to go with the crazy wife in the attic plot point, I was disappointed in her choice of Mr. Sinclair's BIG SECRET. It was confusing and rather innocuous comparatively.  Basically, Mr. Sinclair was afraid of the dark and so offered his sister to Seamus if he would switch places with him so he wouldn't have to be a miner. What Gemma was upset about was that Mr. Sinclair had lied to her about Seamus and his sister. Or something along those lines.  Really, this was a very contrived and confusing plot point, especially when Gemma spends the rest of story lying to a bunch of people so they like her and don't kick her to the curb. At this point I would have preferred a rehashing of the wife in the attic storyline.  

The one point in favor of the second half was Gemma's trip to Iceland to find her family.  This called back to the beautifully written character and story I cared about in the first half.  We were seeing honest communication and character development as opposed to checking off the plot marks that the story had since devolved into. 

Finally, I felt rather cheated at the end when Gemma and Mr. Sinclair "reconcile" because there was a lack of real conversation.  The story ends rather abruptly before they've really delved into the meat of their issues. To be honest, they've barely spoken to each at all, thus making me not care about what happens to them as a couple.  

In conclusion, while I enjoyed reading this book, I was hoping for more after the first half delivered so wonderfully.

Happy Reading,

Cordelia M. Blythe