A Fair Barbarian
3.5/5
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About this ebook
In Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Fair Barbarian, cultures clash when an affluent American heiress makes a splash in a sleepy British village. Octavia Bassett, a spirited young woman who hails from the untamed outback of Nevada, shocks and offends many of the staid aristocrats she encounters -- but she manages to capture a few hearts, as well.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an English-American author and playwright. She is best known for her incredibly popular novels for children, including Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden.
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Reviews for A Fair Barbarian
13 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A young, beautiful American heiress descends upon a tiny sleepy English town. Burnett loves gender and class stereotypes; there is nothing she likes more than to write about a lady's delicate features or a man's strong arms, and certainly every member of the lower classes is flatteringly awed by their betters. Nevertheless, the American Octavia Bassett manages to upset the usual mode just a little--when she is asked to marry a handsome, well-bred and rich Englishman, she refuses with composure. I love the scene:
'"You don't want _me_," she said. "You want somebody meeker,--somebody who would respect you very much, and obey you. I'm not used to obeying people."
"Do you mean also that you would not respect me?" he inquired bitterly.
"Oh," she replied, "you haven't respected me much!"
"Excuse me"--he began, in his loftiest manner.
"You didn't respect me enough to think me worth marrying," she said. "I was not the kind of girl you would have chosen of your own will."
"You are treating me unfairly!" he cried.
"You were going to give me a great deal, I suppose--looking at it in your way," she went on; "but, if I _wasn't_ exactly what you wanted, I had something to give too. I'm young enough to have a good many years to live; and I should have to live them with you, if I married you. That's something, you know."
He rose from his seat pale with wrath and wounded feeling.
"Does this mean that you refuse me?" he demanded, "that your answer is'no'?"
She rose, too--not exultant, not confused, neither pale nor flushed. He had never seen her prettier, more charming, or more natural.
"It would have been 'no,' even if there hadn't been any obstacle," she answered.
"Then," he said, "I need say no more. I see that I have--humiliated myself in vain; and it is rather bitter, I must confess."
"It wasn't my fault," she remarked.'
I love her! There's nothing more refreshing than someone who is aware of the values of her peers, but recognizes their limitations and that they are important only in relative terms. The plot of My Fair Barbarian is not complex or surprising, but it is short and sweet. It is also a good showcase for Burnett's ability at writing Victorian literature that lacks a surprising number of the usual pitfalls of that era--the sentences contain only a few clauses each, the dialog is impressively natural, and the characters are personalities of their own, rather than archetypes acting out a morality pagant. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting, amusing, fluff. Burnett writes well, but I prefer her childrens' stories - at least, what seems pleasant and indeed somewhat precociously mature in Sara Crewe is childish and slightly annoying in Octavia Bassett. She enjoys her goodies - diamonds and fine dresses; speaks her mind without much considering the company; and does both without any intention of annoying or embarrassing those around her. But this free and easy young American lady, dropped into a staid, sober and straight-laced English town (village?), causes upsets in all directions. The end result is pretty good - a tyrant loses her grip on her granddaughter and the town, and a stuck-up brat (prat?) gets a salutary lesson in his own (lack of) importance to others. I don't know if either lesson will stick for any length of time, but at least Lucia is out from under. And a nice happy-ever-after at the end - one wedding and one in the offing. So - pleasant, absolutely nothing against it, but nothing much to say _for_ it either. I may reread, if I'm in the mood for fluff. Or not.