The Victorian and the Romantic

A Memoir, a Love Story, and a Friendship Across Time

De: Nell Stevens

Narrado por: Nell Stevens

In this tale of two writers, Nell Stevens interweaves her own life as a twenty-something graduate student with that of the English author, Elizabeth Gaskell. Although they are separated by more than 150 years, Nell finds herself drawn to the Victorian novelist by their shared experiences of unrequited love—Gaskell for an American critic she met in Rome, Nell for a soulful American screenwriter living in Paris. As Nell’s romance founders and her passion for academia fails to materialize, she finds herself wondering if the indomitable Mrs. Gaskell might rescue her pursuit of love, family, and a writing career. Lively, witty, and impossible to put down, The Victorian and the Romantic is a moving chronicle of two women, each charting a way of life beyond the rules of her time.

So promising, but...

I love the idea of this book, particularly the connection the author feels with Mrs. Gaskell, more than a century away. But the suspicion that it was, essentially, just a long, sad story about the breakup of a romantic relationship and the difficulty of doing work you don't like very much grew to the point that I gave it up 2 hours before the end. Her field of interest, apparently so novel, given her attachment to Mrs. Gaskell, turns out to be mostly her sad romance and her failure to motivate herself to work on her doctoral dissertation. I just got tired of listening to her and wanted to suggest that she get some career counseling. Her prose is charming, however, and her narration is skilled.