Review of "A Rose for Virtue", by Norah Lofts

I liked the opening line not for its content but for the way it makes me feel like I’ve just stepped into a room at the end of someone’s conversation. Starting in the middle of some action – in this case a conversation – is always a good way to hook the reader.

While I like Hortense’s first-person narrative, at times I had to re-read certain sentences to grasp their meaning. It’s a good style overall, but it features an element of confusion. Or maybe that’s just me.

I liked how the story tracks Napoleon’s fall and rise from Hortense’s viewpoint, though this does have drawbacks, namely that many exciting or dramatic events are “told”, not “shown”.

The most dramatic event that Hortense witnesses first-hand is not handled as well as is could’ve been. Without giving anything away, the scene involves two women and a waterfall. It starts of tense and frightening, but ultimately the scene lacks all sense of threat and drama. The consequences are not convincingly portrayed, either. I didn’t feel like I was there. It felt like reading a news report.

This is essentially a story of relationships, be they sexual, platonic, or otherwise. This aspect is what the author is best at. I felt sorry for Hortense being married to such a man as Louis Bonaparte. He’s a paranoid nutcase.

Just as I appreciate the novel’s first line, I equally appreciate the last line. Again, not because of its content, but from a creative writing point of view.