*Editorial Book Review*
THE ROAD TO HARMONY
(Beyond Harmony)
by Randall F Burgess
Publisher: Tru Media Management & Artist Development
Page Length: 420
For readers who cherish sweeping historical romance in the tradition of Pride and Prejudice, and long for more, Beyond Harmony: The Road to Harmony, Book One of the series, begins an unforgettable journey inspired by a remarkable true story.
Sarah Cavendish, a kindred spirit to Elizabeth Bennet, possesses everything society insists should satisfy a young lady - wealth, privilege, refinement, and a future already chosen for her. Yet there are longings of the heart that neither fortune nor family can ever silence.
Some roads promise comfort. Others demand the courage to leave everything behind.
When the heart is finally called to choose between certainty and love, there can be no returning to the life left behind.
Inspired by the extraordinary lives of the author's great-great-grandparents, The Road to Harmony is the first novel in the Beyond Harmony trilogy, a sweeping historical romance of courage, sacrifice, hope, and enduring love, set against the twilight of the Regency era in Britain and Ireland, as a new age waits just beyond the horizon.
A must-read for any Pride and Prejudice lover, looking to feel that emotional slow burn love story told through Three unforgettable volumes.
For all their rags, she thought, they look more certain of one another than I have ever felt in any ballroom. Love in tatters, perhaps, is truer than comfort in silk.
The high life of opulence means nothing to Sarah Cavendish without fulfilment. London society presents her with a life of luxury, but Sarah’s mind is awake to more than lavish balls and mingling with society in the hopes of securing a future through marriage. She has studied fermentation, her thoughts set upon her father’s work in glasshouses since she was young, and her plans and ideas extend well beyond hiding behind the title and work of a potential husband.
Outside of the privileges of the upper class, systems are failing. Imports from Ireland are beginning to struggle, with the long periods that produce spends sitting on ships causing loss of product, and famine has begun to breed unrest. Finding a solution presents more than one issue to solve. Transport times are one thing, but a starving population suggests resistance and defiance. Solving transport appears to be only the beginning of a much larger problem.
The Road to Harmony, Book 1 in the Beyond Harmony trilogy, by Randall F Burgess, presents an insight into the turbulent times before the Great Famine, as England and Ireland begin to face each other in a bid for power over grain and meat, from the perspective of one woman whose mind is already working to find a solution to a problem that has yet to occur.
The depiction of this period of history, as the Regency era begins to come to a close, has been penned with great attention to physical detail. The settings of households, the lavish layouts of tables laid to receive guests, the rustle of skirts at social gatherings, even down to the rich colour and flavour of homegrown strawberries, have been laid out within this story with great care. The novel is rich with descriptions that live and breathe within the pages, painting a rich illustration of the life Sarah has grown up in. Although, at times, the narrative can feel a little interrupted by such intense and complete descriptions, they do paint a full setting for the story to take place within, allowing the reader an opportunity to imagine the scenery in explicit detail.
A woman who undoubtedly knows her own mind and is not afraid to make her opinions clear, Sarah stands out. She is a free spirit, but one who must restrain herself from many confrontations to preserve her family’s standing in society. The Cavendish family is close-knit. Sarah is incredibly close to her parents, especially her father, and her governess has stayed on and become something of a confidant to Sarah. As a character, Sarah is difficult to truly understand until you get further into the novel and begin to learn who she truly is. I found Sarah really came into her own in the second half of the novel, leaving behind balls and masked interactions in favour of standing proudly beside her father and showing the world that she possesses knowledge equal to, if not greater than, her male counterparts, and is just as capable of proving her worth as they are. The historical consequences of bringing a woman into business have been handled well within this story. Sarah’s presence makes many men uncomfortable, and concerns that a woman stepping into a man’s role will lead to mistrust and a loss of reputation show a very real gender inequality that existed during this period of history. I found this aspect of the story incredibly interesting. Sarah’s determination, mixed with the fears and apprehensions of those around her, portrays a society that was not ready to shift its way of thinking or its unwritten social principles.
Sarah has benefitted from following in her father’s footsteps. Acting like the son he never had, Sarah finds herself taught all the things Henry Cavendish may have taught to his heir, learning about the intricacies of the glasshouse, the best soil compositions for better yields, and the complexities of growing a crop to its fullest potential. Under her father’s guidance, it seems Sarah has avoided many of the social constructs that would have otherwise been a necessity for a daughter in this period of history. Sarah has reached the age of thirty without marrying, remaining at home and working with her father instead of securing a husband and future. This is not something that her family seem unconcerned about, for it is mentioned several times that her parents are worried about her future, and that of the business, which cannot pass to a daughter. However, there is no immediate pressure for Sarah to marry. I found this aspect of the novel rather peculiar. For the time period, Sarah is not a young woman, but rather a spinster, and marriage, however much unwanted, was a necessity for her parents to secure a future for Sarah and for the business.
There are several historical aspects of this novel that let the story itself down. It can be difficult to pinpoint when the story is set, for although chapter headings mention 1833, the historical events suggest that the novel is set several years later. Sarah and her father are experimenting with different strains of blight-resistant potato plants, in case the fungus should become prevalent in Ireland, ten years before the pathogen was even initially recorded. The inclusion of Mr Benjamin Guinness, although intriguing through the depictions of the St. James’s Gate Brewery, suggests that Benjamin is the sole proprietor of the company, despite not taking over from his father until 1839. Inaccuracies such as these create a warped timeline that, despite occurring in a novel of social intrigue that keeps its audience’s attention through character interactions, calls the setting of the novel into question, suggesting its events are actually set much later than stated.
A novel that draws in its readers with a headstrong, smart and resilient female protagonist, The Road to Harmony by Randall F Burgess is an intricate novel of richly intelligent descriptions, let down only by the lack of clarity over the historical events that occur. Left on a cliffhanger that leaves the reader guessing what may happen next, this is a series that truly has potential, but one that would certainly benefit from some clarification over the year the story is set in.
The Coffee Pot Book Club
