She Rises by Kate Worsley

She Rises by Kate Worsley

Bloomsbury, 2013.

Overview: Louise Fletcher is a young dairymaid who is suddenly sent to the “big” port city of Harwich to be a lady’s maid to a captain’s daughter, Rebecca Handley. Before she leaves, her mother asks her to find out what happened to her brother, Luke, who was presumably press-ganged into service to the British navy. The story follows both Louise and Luke’s struggles, but Louise’s attraction to her mistress is what drives her story forward.

My reaction: This book was very well done. After finishing it, I was not surprised to read that Sarah Waters, one of my favorite authors (who I reviewed here and here, and the Lesbrarian here and here), actually mentored Kate Worsley, as She Rises has a similar attention to historical detail (albeit in a century and a half earlier than the majority of Waters’ oeuvre), a delicately balanced dual plot-line, and a CRAZY plot twist. Like in Waters’ Affinity, I did catch multiple hints of said CRAZY plot twist as I read, but when it was confirmed, my mind was still blown. I wish I could get into a whole discussion about that, but I will resist the urge to spoil it! 

To give you fair warning, She Rises is not an easy read. It definitely is no modern lesbian romance dropped into Harwich, c. 1740, which led to some serious discomfort for me more than once.  The internalized misogyny and gender norms in particular made me think; I realized that it was much more realistic to write the story like that, but a little part of me wished that the characters had been able to free themselves of society’s more repellant mores. 

That said, I could write a paper on the ways that class and gender and sexuality intersect in this novel, and it’s always a pleasure for me to read a book that not only has a compelling storyline, but real substance.