Katherine and Her Sisters
Katherine and Her Sisters is a story by Lady Emily Ponsonby. The tale focuses on the three Dacre sisters, Katherine, Anne, and Rose, in the middle of 19th century England. The novel is contained in 3 volumes, covering about 577 pages.
The story opens with a young Katherine Dacre receiving a bedside charge from her dying stepmother to care for her two younger, half- sisters, Anne and Rose. Katherine pledges herself to see to their care protect them from her moody and often ill-tempered father. Little does she understand at the time just how much personal sacrifice this promise will cost her.
Move ahead several years. Katherine is now a young woman. She is not considered beautiful, but her kind, unselfish nature, good temperament, and devoted care of her younger sisters make her beloved in her small community. Her sisters, though still children, are fair and pretty, most especially the eldest, Anne, whom all remark will grow into unusual beauty. Anne is quiet and retiring, and of a very delicate nature. The youngest, Rose, is what can only be termed a hypochondriac. She is more outgoing than her sister but of a weak physical constitution.
The news that the local estate of Brackleigh, abandoned nearly twenty years earlier by its owner, Mr. Hope, is to be let for the summer to the Brandon family, is met by the community with disappointment. As a young man, Mr. Hope left his estate to rebuild the family fortune in India. His vague and distant reputation has grown into something of a hero status within the community, and all are constantly looking for his return, but none more so than Mr. and Mrs. Frankland, and elderly couple who have known Mr. Hope since his boyhood. Mrs. Frankland’s niece, Janet Grey, an attractive girl some years younger than Katherine, has come to live with them after the death of her mother. Her uncle’s favoring of Katherine and constant praise causes a long-seated hatred to grow up in her heart against the Dacre girls, and thus our antagonist is born.
With the Brandons arrival at Brackleigh, our hero enters the scene. George Trevethlan, a young lawyer from London, accompanies his friend, Harcourt, whose marriage to Caroline Brandon is shortly to occur. He first sees Katherine at church, and her tender attention towards her sisters catches his eye. The author tells us that “it has, of course, been discovered that he is going to be a lover”, and so his respect and admiration of Katherine grows until he finally makes his proposal.
Katherine’s duty to her sisters, and her fear of leaving them alone with such a negligent, ill-tempered father force her to sacrifice her happiness to protect them, and so, the two part, both broken hearted.
Again, we fast forward many years. Katherine is now in her late twenties. Anne is, as has been expected, a great beauty of seventeen, and Rose, following an illness has been left an invalid at fourteen. Katherine is still silently pining for Trevethlan, who reminds her now and again of his constancy by sending her small tokens of affection. Anne’s first brush with love is an ill-fated one, but her next admirer, the young cousin of Janet Grey, is a promising prospect. Nigel is a well-educated gentleman, but his high principles and higher expectations cause trouble and heartache for the two lovers. Janet Grey, who is secretly in love with Nigel, is determined to undermine and put an end to his attachment with Anne, and her malicious scheming puts Anne’s very life in peril. Rose, meanwhile, has determined to win her father’s affections and take over the management of the household, in order to free Katherine from her self-imposed commitments. Mr. Hope’s return to Brackleigh after a thirty year absence adds some extra drama, and, in true Romantic form, helps to tie up all the story’s loose ends.
The story was an enjoyable one. The author seemed to jump right into the important details of the story, and avoided unnecessary descriptions and dialogue, for the most part. Katherine reminds one much of Anne???, the heroine of Jane Austen’s Persuasion—quietly pining, attentive to her self-imposed duty, and steadfast in her faithfulness. Anne Dacre’s innocent naivety was touching and occasionally a little irritating. Rose’s childhood melodrama was humorous, and her later quiet assertion over her father was enjoyable to witness. The book somewhat surprised me in the importance the author placed on the relationship between a father and his daughter. Several of her statements quite echoed the modern dialogue of the impact a healthy father-daughter relationship has on a girl’s self-esteem.
This was the first of Emily Ponsonby’s novels I have read, and I am looking forward to reading more.