'If life be a war, it seemed my destiny to conduct it single-handed.' Young and self-absorbed, Lucy Snowe travels from England in order to seek employment in a girls' boarding school in a small French town: Villette. After facing isolation and societal pressure, Lucy desires freedom, love and balance in her life. Ultimately, Lucy must make a crucial decision that will impact her, for better or for worse.
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'If life be a war, it seemed my destiny to conduct it single-handed.' Young and self-absorbed, Lucy Snowe travels from England in order to seek employment in a girls' boarding school in a small French town: Villette. After facing isolation and societal pressure, Lucy desires freedom, love and balance in her life. Ultimately, Lucy must make a crucial decision that will impact her, for better or for worse.
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Lucy Snowe isn't exactly a "lovable heroine" but a fascinating one... There's something about this book that keeps bringing me back to it. It could be that Lucy and Paul Emmanuel are two such idiosyncratic characters that it's hard to appreciate them at first glance. Hard sometimes even to like them. But that makes for a rewarding read, as we trace their relationship and the development of their back-stories. In the end Lucy is a strong, finely drawn character - somewhat prickly and strait-laced with fears and passions that sometimes peep through. She resists becoming an object of pity for the reader...even at the end, one has a feeling that Lucy will keep a stiff upper lip, so to speak, and survive.
