Dearest Love--1995 Discussion Thread

This is a fun little book, written in the same year as The Bachelor's Wedding, so Betty Neels must have been having a little flowering Renaissance for herself. Here are some of the few, very few bits that Betty Debbie hasn't covered:

• An excellent line from this book comes when she hears his proposal: "...you are not suggesting this out of pity. Because if you are I shall probably throw something at you." The Waterford jug perhaps?[Betty Debbie] I think part of the reason this book works so well for me is the relative lack of deception on the part of both parties. They may not love each other, but they aren't shy about complimenting each other either...hmmm. There may be a lesson there. Husbands, compliment your wives. Wives, compliment your husbands. There is a charming little scene just after the wedding where they pull the car into a lay-by (British word alert!) and brush the rice and confetti off of each other - they laugh about it together and congratulate each other on a very successful wedding and look forward to a very successful marriage.
• I'm happy to know that Arabella had been proposed to before. And on the subject, it's interesting that she chooses to consult Titus (snigger). She says that he is the only person she knows...what about Dr. Marshall?
• When she cooks for herself she is being very self-disciplined. My husband is gone this week on a business trip and even though I have the kids to feed it's been frozen things from Costco on plastic plates put on a table wherein the craftiness of Betty Keira has exploded. I think Arabella must have run a very tight ship. When my husband is gone it's every man, woman or child for him/herself. I love when I have driving age children and can give them money and say "go buy a pizza". It's truly a wonderful thing.
• Grandmother Taverner's companion, Miss Welling, is a fun character. She is describes as someone who looks as though she is being regularly beaten. My jury is out on the subject of companions. There is a Latin quote (I lifted it out of Gaskell's Wives and Daughters so don't think I'm a reader of dead languages) : "Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus" (Never less alone than when alone). That's my view. A companion--and such a wet blanket too--would clutter up the landscape.
• Implied conjugal relations--I'm sure I wasn't the only one doing the math. Nine months for pregnancy, eighteen months later, carry the one...They didn't waste any time, did they? Titus and Arabella certainly weren't getting any younger. Can you imagine starting a family at age 41 - which is how old Titus would have been? Arabella would have been 28ish...which isn't too bad. Especially considering they definitely have some sort of "mother's help. Still, Titus would be well into his fifties before the kids were teenagers. Trust me, it isn't only babies that keep you awake at night...teenagers can have a similar effect. Chaperoning dances for teenagers is not for the faint at heart.