Dinah CRAIK : Olive

'Sybilla considered beauty as all in all. And this child - her child and Angus's, would be a deformity on the face of the earth, a shame to its parents, a dishonour to its race.'

First published in 1850, Olive traces its eponymous heroine's progress from her ill-starred birth to maturity as a painter and wife. The crippled child of parents who are disgusted by her physical 'imperfection', a curvature of the spine, Olive struggles to take her place in the world as artist and woman. Published three years after Jane Eyre, Olive's swift fictional response to Charlotte Bronte's novel raises questions of family, race and nation.

 

I chose to read this Victorian novel because it was recommended to me and because I'd heard it was some sort of retelling of Jane Eyre, so it fitted my Brontë mania project. Two stones, one bird (poor bird).

And yes, once I reached the end, I saw all the parallels : the plain heroin, the older love interest with a secret, the character with a foreign origin and other things I won't mention here not to spoil those who would want to read this.

At the beginning, I found the story wise and very Victorian, proper and all that, but with a twist that I found original : the way that Olive's parents grew apart. I don't think I have read about this before in Victorian literature. The consequences, yes, how it happened, no. Then I was interested by the profession that Olive chose : she became a painter (The tenant of Wildfell Hall's heroin also became a painter, Dinah Craik had a fondness for the Brontës ?) but I would have loved to read more about her art. At the end, Olive kept working even though she's married (as in The professor). All good things, unusual.

The rating isn't better because : one, mostly the style was a little too bombastic for my taste, too romantic ; second, it delt a lot with religion, faith and religious doubt (like the father in North and South - it's my last reference, I promise !) and I'm not religious at all. The way that a character with a foreign origin was portrayed was at the same time lively and cliché : I could believe in her existence, but once in a while, I'd love to see a born and bred English character act with the same passion and lack of restraint - and that lack of restraint goes a long way here. I also found it odd that there never is any dialogue between Olive and Harold about Sara, none at all ?

On the other side, Olive is a darling, loving and caring - a Victorian angel with a plus. A heroin with a deformity is a rare thing for that era. The relationship between her mother and herself is tenderly described and heartwarming. The love between her and her love interest is completely believable. Catholics are not described under a bad light, and for a British author of the XIXth century (a clergyman's daughter furthermore), it's a good point ! Apparently, Dinah Craik had a thing against young men who kept quoting poetry - Lyle is nice, but life teaches him "manhood".

So, I couldn't rate it less that 3.5 because there is originality here even if the writing was at times emphatic. If it wasn't for the style, I would have rated it higher.

One quote that I enjoyed very much :

'Olive moved a little aside. Very meek was she (...). Yet by her meekness, she had oftentimes controlled them both. She did so now."

See what I mean ? Interesting, this notion of control for such a meek character ^^