Amelia Webster by Robert Rodi on August 1, 2020
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 216
Format: eARC
Source: Giveaway
Goodreads
Amazon, Barnes & Noble
The small village of Rovedon, Hertfordshire has a marriage problem: it’s home to three eligible brides, but only two available bachelors. And both of these young swains are courting Amelia Webster — the richest, proudest, and most advantageously connected of the three ladies. The love lives of all involved depend on which suitor Amelia accepts — and which one she rejects. Enter a dashing newcomer: a roguish charmer named Henry Beverley, who upsets the fragile romantic equilibrium and makes a serious dent in Amelia’s iron-clad self-confidence. It’s only the first in a series of upheavals that reaches a crescendo of cringe-inducing humiliation. Will Amelia rise again? And who will want her, if she does?
Eight brief letters, amounting to less than a thousand words, doing little more than introduce a handful of characters that make up the piece of Jane Austen Juvenilia upon which this delightful romp of a tale is based. The author gleaned what details might be had and expanded them into a full amusing story. This is the author’s second foray into Austen’s teenage writing pile and for my part, I found it a resounding success.
Amelia Webster was a short epistolary piece made up of the aforementioned letters that were each less than a paragraph long. In essence, it was a fragment at best, but Robert Rodi turned it into a story that was Austenesque in flavor while still spotlighting his own robust, witty, and down-right hilarious writing.
And, whether on purpose or not, he wrote the story in such a way that I felt like I was actually reading a teenage Austen’s early writing attempt if she had fleshed it out into a complete story. The players in the piece are types rather than individuals who seem to follow a pre-determined path. But, the author doesn’t stick with the script and paints in nuances after a time that catch the reader’s attention showing people can and will surprise one including shaking up the plot with some fun twists.
The tale itself has several principal characters who share the narration though Amelia is the central figure. I was laughing from the early pages because Amelia is such a brat and so oblivious to how everyone sees her or the fact she is nothing special outside her village. I was prepared to detest her as a bullying mean girl, but she journeyed down quite the bruising road of self-discovery and in the end, I had a change of mind.
Around Amelia, there are other hilarious characters. George’s plot to avoid being stuck married to her and his mooning about over a distant Italian beauty who he only saw briefly from a distance and tried to immortalize in dreadful painting attempts had me giggling nearly as much as their antagonistic quarrels whenever they did encounter each other.
The rogue, Henry Beverley, who doesn’t have a penny to his name and beguiles people into taking care of his needs and wants, turned out to be the real surprise when all was said and done. He was the cat among the pigeons ruffling all their feathers and I had him pegged- until I didn’t.
Shocking Diana was the author’s own character who kept things lively.
And shining as a jewel to me among all the others, Maud, the older of George Hervey’s sisters was calm, poised, and didn’t miss much. I liked her from the start and thought it was fun how her part of the story finished so she got a bit of adventure in her life.
The language, descriptions, character dialogue, and mannerism were all in step with Regency period which was an added enjoyment for me. The plot could feel a little loose at times, but I suspect that was more the issue of so many principle characters and all the plot threads needing to be developed and completed.
It all came together in a fantastic Regency Era romp that was satirical, mirthful, and witty all in one. Because this is based on an Austen early effort, I would caution potential readers to not conclude it is anything like her later, more polished, novels. Personally, I compare the lively tone more to Tom Jones when it comes to the style. So, it was greatly amusing and I can recommend it to those who want to read a comedic classical adaption tribute.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner #NatalieJenner @stmartinspress.bsky.social @sophiarose1816 - May 11, 2025
- The Real Pink Panther by Robert Sellers #RobertSellers@sophiarose1816 - May 7, 2025
- 🎧 Starship Bandits by Jonathan Yanez, Ross Buzzell @JonathanAYanez #RossBuzzell #PhilThron @tantoraudio.bsky.social @sophiarose1816 #LoveAudiobooks #KindleUnlimited @tantoraudio - April 30, 2025
What an interesting book! It is really interesting how the author put this one together and it sounds like it was a really fun read.
Yes, he was pretty clever to build a whole novel-length story from a few letter scraps.
Oh it looks fun!
It was so entertaining, Melliane. 🙂
Oh, I’d love to read it, perfect for #JaneAustenjuly, thanks, great review !
Haha, that is splendid that I gave you one for your #JaneAusteninJuly event, Iza. 🙂