Miss Prudencia Prim, seeking a new challenge, applies for the role of Librarian in the village of San Ireno de Arnois. Despite the fact that the advertisement specified no qualifications, and the fact that Miss Prim has her fair share of degrees, she is offered the post. She soon discovers that the villagers and her employer will have a lasting effect on her life. Miss Prim, a librarian, comes to the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, a place more eccentric and enlightening than she’d imagined. A delightful tale of literature, philosophy and the search for happiness.

 

The main focus of the story is the relationship between Prudencia and her employer. We only ever know him as ‘the man in the wingchair’ and he challenges Prudencia’s ideas on literature, dismissing her beloved Austen and snubbing Little Women. He raises his nieces and nephews in a way that is alien to Prudencia at first, teaching them Latin, Ancient Greek, Philosophy and Theology. The children appear quite strange to her in the beginning. However the time she spends with them makes her aware of the fact that there ways of living and loving other than the norm.

 

The village itself has a mystical charm to it, much like the story. There is obviously something outside the norm about the residents and as the story unfolds Prudencia learns more of how the village was founded, and how it has evolved.

 

One of the main ways Prudencia awakens is her eyes are opened to love, and the idea of marriage. After seeing her parents marriage she had always told herself such a relationship was not for her. When the village Feminist Society decide to find her a husband ,she at first balks at the idea. Then, as she discusses it with her friends and thinks more on the situation, she becomes aware of the reasons for her opposition to matrimony and explores her feelings to find out what she truly wants.

 

There is a surreal, mystical air to the story. It is shot through with little philosophical ideas and sly observations. Some things are brought closely into focus, for example Prudencia is clearly the main character. Others seem to be more obscure and dream like. Prudencia’s employer is only ever referred to as ‘the man in the wingchair’ giving him the feel of some type of wil o’ the wisp.

 

Whilst reading this book I was reminded of Jane Eyre. No there is no Bertha in the attic, but the transformation of a person, as Jane emerges from Lowood attendee to a strong, capable, independent woman, is mirrored, albeit in a different way, by Prudencia. The interactions and arguments between Prudencia and ‘the man in the wingchair’ reminded me of the conversations Jane would have with Rochester and both are clear in their love of such debates.

 

An enjoyable story, that much like the village and its inhabitants to Prudencia, works its magic on you.

Best read: The Eloquence of Blood, by Judith Rock.  Another murder mystery featuring Jesuits and ballet, set in the Paris of Louis XIV. 

 

Right under that: Sabriel, by Garth Nix, and A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab, both fantasy titles with unusual magic systems and good world-building.

 

Weirdest: The Awakening of Miss Prim, by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera.

 

Worst: April Lady, by Georgette Heyer, which I'm tempted to down-grade to 2.5 stars, for the gratuitous anti-semitism.  (Are any money-lenders in Regency London, per Ms. Heyer, not Jews?  Are any of them decent people?)

A strange little novel (only about 250 pages), but a quick read for a warm June afternoon.  (I read over a third of it waiting for my mother to get done in the South Carolina Room at the library, actually.)

 

Set mostly in a small village (my assumption was Spain, the blurb says France) that is inhabited entirely by eccentrics, it has a certain amount of charm.  Perhaps someone who is more spiritual than I am would find it even more so - I cannot really say.

 

I am, however, with the Man in the Wing Back Chair (one of the major characters has only this name) on the topic of Little Women. 

Tired of the clamor of the city and her mind, Prudencia Prim heads to a remote village to apply for a position as a librarian for a gentleman's private collection. This she does despite meeting none of the expectations an qualifications in the advert. When she is given the job she is surprised over and over again by the residents of both the house and the village. Neither is what she expected to find and she is unsure of how to behave when she does get to know both, despite having very strong opinions on the way things ought to be.

This was an unexpected gem of a novel! Utterly enchanting, it definitely rates up there with some of the best novels of the year. Originally published in Spanish in 2011, it was just released in English in 2014. I am disappointed to only just now be discovering it and that as yet I have seen no other reviews. Prudential and all the other residents of this novel charmed me, but what I loved most is that they are realistic. No one . Is without their flaws, there is no one is perfect or perfectly hateful. While thereis a romance, this novel is so much more than that. It is overflowing with ancient knowledge, philosophy, critiques on modern education and society, references to great literature and poetry, theological debates, and perhaps best of all study of the human psyche. I picked this book up off my library's new books shelf on a whim, but it is definitely one I will be buying both for my permanent collection and friends and family.

Title: The Awakening of Miss Prim
Author:  Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Format: Egalley from Netgalley.com 

 

Synopsis

 

My rating: 1 of 5 stars 

 

My review (as published at Read, Run, Ramble):

Thank you Atria Books via Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Note: Did not finish this book – stopped around 53%

Well, this book just wasn't for me. I tried, but I wasn’t able to get to a point where I really cared about the plot, the characters; anything.

It felt, at first, like The Sound of Music or The King and I, but I quickly learned it didn't have the same charm. The premise is a good one and it seems to be winning many over, but I felt like it was rigid and boring. The characters were all quite annoying and lacking in depth. All of them. By the halfway point I hadn't met a single character that I liked, more or less cared about. When it became clear to me that reading the book was more of a chore than an enjoyment, I decided it was time to be done.

*I almost wonder if anything was lost in translation since this was originally published in Spanish (I believe that was the first published language).

I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I am not compensated for any of my reviews.