Rules of Marriage

by Sheila Bishop

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449238199
• ISBN13: 9780449238196
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Bishop didn't write typical romances

Years after she wrote her last book, Bishop remains one of my favorite "romance" authors. Though she certainly deals with love, she wrote of the problems of fashioning enduring relationships, not merely of cementing an initial attraction by marriage. Just out of the schoolroom, Charlotte marries the somewhat older, dashing Kit early in the book. As a young married woman, she wants to amuse herself and dazzle in society; Kit is certainly an ornament in society, but also a social-reforming member of the House of Lords who takes his responsibilities seriously. Though deeply in love, their ways of life and different expectations of each other create tension and, ultimately, a serious breach. What happens when the initial infatuation wears off and an immature woman must adapt to life with a man in a different stage of life? What happens when a married woman has committed an act her husband finds unforgivable, at a time when women had little power? Bishop's books deal with women in unorthodox situations at times when social codes were different from the present: mistresses who have been abandoned by their lovers; mistresses who marry their lovers and struggle to gain family acceptance; women who commit adultery; women who learn after years of marriage that their husbands were not in love with them at the start of the marriage. She started writing in an era of short women's novels, before the modern romance pattern evolved in the 1970s, and she deals in short novels with issues that many contemporary readers don't expect to find in "romances." However, I have always appreciated that she could deal with deep and lasting attachment as something that requires constant work and adjustment rather than as a simple passage over a line into happily ever after.

I'm glad I stuck through the end

The story started out nicely at the beginning, but I found I was getting annoyed and impatient with the heroine half way through it. I thought Charlotte was a spoiled, stubborn, senseless chit who was making one blunder after another, which was a change from supposedly a spirited, understanding young lady described at the beginning of the story. I have thought about given up the reading, fortunately, I persevered. The rest of the story was a welcomed change, it showed a great character development in Charlotte, where she grew into a care, loving landowner and marchioness; she also started to understand the social cause that her husband championed, therefore the process of amending their marriage relationship. This definitely was an interesting and unusual plot. It touched on social, political, economical, and infidelity issues. This actually turned out to be a pretty good read. Ms. Bishop's writing ability also contributed it. I do recommend this book, but do be patient though.