By Meg Cabot
Avon Books
254 pages
Available at Goodwill Bookstore
Teen romances often take a backseat to more "serious" books, mostly having an impression of the flightiness often associated with its intended readers. A sad fact, this one, because it allows for many a good read to slip through young – and possibly beginning – readers’ hands. Nicola and the Viscount is one such book.
Written by Meg Cabot, author of the immensely popular The Princess Diaries, which was turned into a successful movie, Nicola and the Viscount goes the way of traditional teen romances with its formula characters and plot – and yet, it manages to rise above the mold with which it was cast. Set in 19th-century London, it proves to be a good taste of what life was like for teenage ladies back then, sampling societal behavior, fashion and romance for high-society 16-year-olds sans the dreary air of a history lesson. Readers will get a taste of what was considered scandalous in the 1800s, for instance: a lady could never dance more than two dances with a young man to whom she was not engaged without sparking rumors; or a gentleman should never ask a young, unmarried woman to meet him alone in a public place. The book also contains passages on how young ladies were expected to behave: always be polite, even with undesirable relations; never giggle nor snort; take good care not to have a string of jilted suitors.
The book’s endearing, spirited and poetry-loving protagonist, Nicola Sparks, is a sixteen year-old orphan, who, thanks to a small yearly income from a bit of property left by her father, manages to send herself to a boarding school, which becomes her path to London high society. After graduating, she accepts an invitation to live with one of her classmates, who, conveniently enough for Nicola, happens to be the sister of Lord Sebastian Bartholomew, the young, handsome man who promptly asks to her marry him. Being the young romantic she is, Nicola has only praises for Sebastian, whom she christens "the God" in his blond-and-blue-eyed beauty – until her best friend’s brother, the irritating, poetry-hating mathematician Nathaniel Sheridan, begins to cast doubt on Sebastian’s character. More than being a plain romantic triangle story, however, there is an interesting twist: Lord Sebastian’s father, who is in the forefront of the booming railway business, has set his eyes on building a railroad right across Nicola’s childhood home – a property she refuses to part with at all costs.
There is a lesson Nicola and the Viscount imparts: the importance of distinguishing what is a mere superficial, passing fancy and what is a deep, respectful friendship from which love could blossom. – Althea Lauren Ricardo