The Book Whisperer Moves Out of Her Comfort Zone

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen creates two worthy opponents in Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth is bright, witty, and suffers no fools. The sparring between Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam turns to sparks and the two fall in love. In Lakeshire Park, Megan Walker created Amelia Moore, a character similar to Elizabeth Bennet and Peter Wood, a character a bit like Darcy.

Lakeshire Park is similar to Pride and Prejudice, too, in that Amelia Moore and her younger sister Clara must find suitable marriages for at least one of them or be destitute. Amelia and Clara currently live with Lord Gray, their mother’s second husband. Lord Gray makes it clear to the young ladies that he dislikes them and will leave them nothing when he dies. He promised Arabella, their mother, before her death that he would see them into good marriages. Beyond that, he feels no obligation to them. In fact, he does not even keep that promise.

In the course of the story, readers learn that Lord Gray had been in love with Arabella, but she married their father. Years later, after Mr. Moore’s death, Lord Gray and Arabella do marry, but Lord Gray resents Arabella’s daughters and mistreats them by being cold and unfeeling toward them.

Fortunately, Amelia and Clara are invited to a house party at Lady Demsworth’s home, Lakeshire Park. Clara is especially delighted because she has fallen in love with Lord Ronald Demsworth, the widowed Lady Demsworth’s only child. They met when Lord Gray begrudgingly allowed Amelia and Clara to be part of the season in London with his sister Evelyn as chaperone.

Amelia breathes a sigh of relief in hopes that this party will secure her sister’s marriage to Lord Demsworth and they will be saved. Of course, Clara must have a rival for Ronald’s affection. Georgiana Wood, a privileged, childhood friend of Ronald’s is a member of the party as well and she has set her mind to marry Ronald. Georgiana and her older brother Peter will figure heavily in the story.

Amelia meets Peter Wood in an unfortunate circumstance when they are both on their way to Lakeshire Park. Clara has left her short gloves in the inn where the pair ate lunch. Horrors! A young lady with no short gloves! Amelia goes into a shop only to learn that the glove maker has retired and the only pair left in the store is on a table in the back of the store. When Amelia finds the table, she also discovers Peter Wood, as yet unknown to her, holding the gloves she wants for Clara. They get into a verbal tiff with Peter taking the gloves and leaving the store. Peter has promised his sister to find gloves for her.

Imagine Amelia’s surprise when she discovers the man who so rudely took the gloves he found first is part of the house party at Lakeshire Park. He is Georgiana’s older brother. Amelia is determined to dislike Peter and shows her distaste for him at every opportunity.

Amelia confronts Peter by telling him that he should stop putting his sister forward in Ronald’s path because Clara is in love with Ronald. Peter responds that Georgiana also wishes to marry Ronald. These two admissions create an uncomfortable pact for Amelia. Peter proposes that he will back off if she agrees to spend every afternoon with him. Reluctantly, Amelia agrees because she knows how important it is to secure the marriage for Clara, not only for their mutual future, but also because Clara loves Ronald.

Walker does well in depicting the parlor games of the day the young adults play in the evenings after dinner. She also shows the dependence upon good manners and proper chaperones when the men and women mix.

Women’s dependence upon marriage becomes the paramount focus of Lakeshire Park. Thank goodness in modern times, women can make their own way and married or not have a fulfilling life of their own making.

Megan Walker grew up in Poplar Bluff, MO. She now lives with her husband and children in St.Louis. Learn more about her and her work on her Web site: https://www.authormeganwalker.com/.