When family financial difficulties and scandal threaten to decimate
Charlotte Gleason's current and future social standing and security
in England, her family sends her to America with her personal maid
to secure the hand of the wealthy Tremaine heir. On the voyage
over, she concocts a plan to trade places with her maid - trying
her hand at living an independent life in New York while her maid -
Dora - assumes her identity and travels to the Tremaine's to see if
their son Conrad is the man for her. Needless to say, this quickly
becomes a sticky wicket as both young women are trapped in the
deception and surprised by the new lives they find.
I like Nancy Moser. I like historical fiction set in the Gilded
Age. I have truly enjoyed several of her novels and they have found
permanent spaces in my bookshelf. I'm afraid that Masquerade
hasn't. Moser seems to have focused more upon historical detail and
fashion (both fun in their own right) than she has upon character
development. Charlotte makes very choppy, and somewhat unrealistic
changes - mainly during her voyage to America. Dora is believable,
as is Conrad and the Italian family Charlotte (Lottie) finds refuge
with, but the others are sorely underdeveloped.
This in turn leads to unbelievable and hastily assembled romantic
developments and more of a 'fairy-tale' story feel than one of a
rich, fully developed novel. The budding feelings between two of
the characters that do NOT end up together is more realistic than
any of the characters that DO end up together. I don't want to
include a spoiler here, but after reading the author's note at the
end of the novel I can see why that is - the final pairing was an
unexpected development that occurred to her only once a good
portion of the novel had been written. I'm afraid it shows in the
writing.
That being said, this is still a nice story, and a sweet tale. The
spirit of the American immigrants included within its pages is
inspiring, but I'm afraid that despite the delectable cover (I was
so looking forward to this one) Masquerade reads as though it was
more hastily written than other works of Moser's that I have
enjoyed.
Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com