Misfortune

Here is a book that is great for the summer. Super entertaining, engaging, and incredibly written, Misfortune will be a book that will give you a new perspective on gender identity.

Set in Victorian-era England, effeminate Lord Geoffrey Loveall is returning from a trip in the city and comes across an abandoned baby brought to the local dump to die. Seeing this as the solution to his problems to produce a male heir of Love Hall, the grandest of grand places to reside with a people of the land so doting, Lord Loveall adopts the child as his own. Unfortunately, Loveall will also not let the love for his sister who has been dead for many many years rest, so he raises the boy as a daughter. With the help of the live-in librarian Anonyma, Rose has a perfect childhood. [Spoiler] When Rose begins to go through puberty, in comes all of the unwelcome family members bringing in drama with the potential to dismantle the perfect world Lord Loveall and Anonyma have made for Rose. As things are revealed, Rose begins declining on all fronts, going through an identity reset that impacts all of Love Hall like never before.

I recently saw a shared post from a dad influencer who is showing an effective way to parent. It said “fix the inner child before you break the child you made”. This is basically the first half of Misfortune, the second half being the child that was “made” having to put themselves back together. It was so sad to see this lived out for someone that was having relational issues with a single parent, only to turn around and center an abandoned newborn in their fantasy that they are stuck in and cover it with a wonderful upbringing with the hope that it lasts forever. You have to pity all of the characters because of their own little misfortunes that somehow bring them all together, but Lord Loveall takes the cake as he set it all into motion. [Spoiler] The worst part of it? He dies before having a proper conversation with Rose about the gender he was born as, leaving Anonyma to manage all of the family drama and Rose’s decline, when all she wants to do is to be around books and research her favorite poet, Mary Day.

I appreciate Anonyma, though. I liked her from her first appearance. Her love for books stemming from the relationship she had with her father. Her obsession with Mary Day is very fan-girl. To me, Anonyma is someone who probably never wanted to be a parent, but used her love of books to create a bond with Rose and parent from there. As time went on and Rose goes on his identity journey, Anonyma is also pulled away from books. Ovid’s Metamorphosis is mentioned throughout Misfortune especially the second half. It seems to me that books become a version of Rose to Anonyma. She is given this library to catalogue and manage and care for, there is a point in time where it is taken from her and for a hot minute she does not know how to go on, until with the help of friends finds a way to restore all that was good.

I liked how Misfortune was something that came back full circle to a positive ending. People got their comeuppance, great discoveries were made, and self assurance was secured.

I would read this again and encourage others to read this as well. There are some disturbing sexual moments in Misfortune, as a caution. If you would like to read Misfortune, you will be able to find it here.

9/10