A Family Affair
The narrative for this novel takes place at the close of Queen Victoria’s reign in an industrial northern town in which the widowed John Truesdale, the local Registrar, is singlehandedly raising his young family (a boy, a girl and an adopted second daughter) with the assistance of his sister-in-law, the well-loved and respected Anna, herself a widow. Anna and John fall passionately in love but cannot marry because of the Deceased Wife’s Marriage Act which, at that time, forbade such a union. The story of how the lovers contrive to manage a full sexual relationship without detection is told with both tenderness and humour and is one of the many engaging storylines.
Jane Stubbs has created a charming and absorbing group of characters whose unpredictable paths are both engaging and plausible. Even the appalling Dorothea is developed in a way which makes her history rounded and convincing. Nasty, yes. Stupid, yes. But believable and even slightly endearing.
A Family Affair is a rule-breaker, but I found it captivating in its own idiosyncratic way.
(Ed. note: This review has been updated to correct a factual error.)
