Sara Jeannette Duncan

A bit like A.M. and C.N. Williamson's travelogue novels, but with even less plot.
In this book, Mamie Wick of Chicago, USA, travels by herself to London to see the sights, with the full approval of her family. This being the late 1800s, I was pretty floored by this specimen of independent female travel. I enjoyed the beginning of the book as Mamie sails over to England and meets a couple of people who will be instrumental to her there, but as it wandered on it lost momentum.

There were some clever quips, though, such as:
'I shall not make a single travelling acquaintance!' I said to myself as I sat down--and I must say I was disappointed... However, I said nothing, of course, and found a certain amount of comfort in my soup.

And some insightful writing that resonated with me and my memories of exploring a different country for the first time:

And he always talked very impersonally. At first this struck me as a little cold and uninterested, but afterwards I liked it. It was like drinking a very nice kind of pure cold water--after the different flavours of personality I had always been accustomed to.
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The very names on the street corners held fascination enough, and each of them gave me the separate little thrill of the altogether unexpected. I had unconsciously believed that all these names were part of the vanished past I had connected them with, forgetting that in London names endure.… (more)

I'm honestly not even sure how I feel about this book.

It's honestly amazing. The characters are so interestingly described and complicated. At times I thought them too complicated, but other times they just seemed so real due to their complexities.

My feelings for Elfrida were constantly changing, and I like that. Fondness, sympathy, pity, love, hope, hatred, confusion. And it's really amazing that all of these emotions are also felt by the other characters.

At times it's a hard and difficult read, especially since it's so hard to even find a copy and the only one I could find is full of typos, but I do think it's worth it. There's just so much interesting stuff in there.… (more)