Hello everyone!
Can you believe it's December already?
I honestly can't, it's gone by SO fast, and when you think about it, it literally feels like we only just turned around after last New Year's to begin 2021, but now we're finishing it up and heading into 2022.
It's completely bizarre and something that I wasn't expecting!
Then again though, this last month of the year is usually pretty magical, or it attempts to be, so why not try to enjoy it while we can, right?
Especially with ALL the current craziness, it's basically enough to turn anyone away from mainstream media.
So without further ado, let's get right into it, shall we?
A Holiday by Gaslight, by Mimi Matthews, is here to start the show.
Now I've been doing these Christmas-focused blogs for a few years, which means I've accumulated a large number of them. I could technically link some down below, but instead, I'll direct you to the top of this page and a very nice, bright spot on the labels tab where it says CHRISTMAS. If you click on it, you'll find ALL the posts I've ever made over the holiday season!
That said, let's now look at what this Holiday by Gaslight has to offer us, shall we?
Sophie Appersett is one of two sisters in the family, who's hit some hard times because her father tends to overspend on innovative ideas and techniques, and has actually spent her dowry on installing gaslights into Appersett House, a marvel in the UK at the time.
So she's been courted for the past two months by one Edward Sharpe, not that she's really had much to enjoy with that.
See, our Ned here is quiet and grim and doesn't string more than five words together in a sentence, because - wait for it - he's following advice from what sounds like the worst gentleman's book on courtship ever, despite the fact he practically fell in love with Sophie the moment he saw her.
Sophie calls an end to their courtship, hurting both his pride and his feelings, but most importantly sending her father into a rage because, guess what? Now he won't be able to modernize anymore since he has no money to spend!
No, he doesn't all that much care for his daughter, not really.
Sophie's mother takes a slightly different approach in that she appears to utilize a bit of reverse psychology on the girl, who ends up inviting Ned (the name he's normally called by) and his parents to spend Christmas with her family down at Appersett house, where there will be a house party for the holiday and they could, potentially, ACTUALLY get to know one another.
Since the party falls right at the time of Prince Albert's untimely death, it also gives her the opportunity to invite Ned's business partner as more people decline the invitation, which will turn out important later, but for the time being, suffice to say that it's only on the grounds of Appersett House that their courtship ACTUALLY begins.
They finally start to talk like normal people and show more of the emotion that's been missing for the past two months. Ned also promises Sophie three kisses, one under the mistletoe, one under gaslight, and one beneath the stars.
What's a girl to do but fall in love with him on the spot, I ask you?
It's a beautifully written second chance courtship as they circle closer and closer together, all in the face of facts such as her father only really wanting him for a son-in-law because he has money (he's not of the same class as Sophie and keeps getting that thrown into his face) and the fact that this same father won't ever want to stop either spending or modernising, making Sophie terrified that Ned will end up resenting her for what her family is doing to him.
Ned himself tries to placate her, given that he's a big boy and he's worked all his life to get to the point he's at now (his parents owned a clothing store and he helped there, with one smart investment when he was old enough that turned into his fortune), but they're kind of interrupted when Ned's business partner reveals he's proposed to Sophie's younger sister.
THIS causes a minor outrage among the family, though it dies quickly when the money starts getting mentioned again, since the girls' father has by now spent the other dowry, too.
The sister, who spends most of the book as a spoiled little termagant, now turns triumphantly to Sophie and says she needn't sacrifice herself for the family anymore, because SHE has saved them all with her choice of husband.
This of course puts a bit of a halt to anything Ned and Sophie might have wanted to build for themselves, but luckily our Sophie is resourceful and gets Ned alone in a horse-drawn carriage under the stars (two kisses later, that is) where she asks him if he'd marry her, right then and there, despite the fact she has no dowry and her family has been pretty much terrible (not to mention HIS mother doesn't approve of Sophie, convinced she's going to break her son's heart).
Ned is shocked out of his wits, but considering he loves the girl by this point he agrees and the two of them share news of their engagement the next day (after he gets the ring on her finger), looking forward to a future where neither one of them really has to worry about Sophie's father or the blasted Appersett House for a bit (though one of the new husbands is going to inherit it, but that's beside the point).
And with a little Christmas magic, the book comes to a close!
Lovely, emotional, and a great exploration of two characters who seem to be wildly different from one another though it eventually turns out they have much more in common than they thought, Holiday by Gaslight is one of those books I imagine a reader could pick up again and again and never get bored of.
I mean, it's Victorian London, it's snowy, it's under the soft light of the gas being pumped through, and it's got the dreamy quality with the dresses and horses and carriages.
With all the traditions we know and love, and that actually make their appearance in history for the first time (the Christmas tree was actually a continental invention before it came to the UK), this one is a magical, short read perfect for a snowy afternoon when the light, fluffy white stuff is falling outside, and you're curled up under a blanket with some hot chocolate.
10/10 recommend, and I'm sure I'll be picking up more books by this author in the future!
xx
*image not mine
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