Rivenhall's little sister comes down with a fever that might be typhus. Sophy rises to the occasion, while Charles's betrothed won't come near the place. Charles finds out about Sophy's "saving" of Hubert and admires her. Nice scene in which he does insult her and she cries, then pretends that the tears were fake and called on demand. Other than that, the predictable plot winds its way forward. I think, actually, that the entirely predictable nature of the plot is one of the reasons for the books enduring popularity and its high rating on Goodreads. It's a comfortable read--a cozy romance. All the characters are clear, likable, despicable, irresponsible, solid. Nobody surprises anyone. We, as readers, are like the author. We know where this is going. We watch the characters come out of the darkness into the light, rubbing their eyes. "How foolish--why didn't they see all that earlier." Reader is easily smug.
PUPPY Dysfunctional family has puppy that they need to get rid of. Mom places ad; family is coming over. Description of family. Mom: husband changed from long-haired attractive to stooped old man. Husband: talks constantly of living on a farm and doing what needs to be done, though he never lived on a farm. Conversations together: Sell and move to Arizona, get hooked on phonics for kids, buying a car wash. . . wonderful randomness. Straight-laced suburbanite comes to look at puppy. Seems like she will buy it, even though she is repelled by house. (Dog turds on carpet, filthy.) She is proud of how accepting she is until she looks out window and sees white trash's son tied by harness to a tree. Reader knows he is a menace to himself, darting across I-90, for example. Suburban mother beats hasty retreat, leaving dog to be (probably) drowned by dad who does what has to be done. Suburbanite remembers her own pathetic ch...
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