Enthusiasm
Fiction
By Polly Shulman
Reviewed by Heidi Riegel
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
“Ashleigh’s planning to crash a dance at the Forefield Academy, and she wants me to come with her.”
Julie is stunned after hearing this from her best friend Ashleigh, but what can she expect? Ashleigh has just begun acting like a person straight from the time of Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice. Ashleigh insists on dressing and speaking in a Victorian manner, addressing Julie as “My dearest Julia” and so- on. Julie knows that once Ashleigh has found a new passion, there is no changing her mind. Ashleigh decides that the best place to find proper young men is the nearby boys’ school. They search through trunks of dresses in Julie’s mother’s antique store, finding suitable apparel for both of them. Julie finds herself at the prep-school dance without tickets or an escort, only with Ashleigh, also lacking the same. While at the dance, they meet some charming young men. The dashing Charles Grandison Parr and his friend Ned Downing befriend the girls. Julie is immediately attracted to Grandison Parr, but Ashleigh also seems to fall for him, believing that Julie likes Ned.
This book is romantic, adventurous, and comic, all rolled into one. Polly Shulman, although this is her first novel, weaves a great story around the much loved novel by Jane Austen. Her characters are realistic, with Ashleigh being way more outgoing than her self-conscious friend Julie. Ashleigh is kind and caring to Julie. She had given up many of her new passions to prevent Julie from feeling poorly about herself. The story starts a week before school, giving Julie time to try to convince Ashleigh not to embarrass them both the first day by wearing old-fashioned clothing. It concludes towards the end of the school year, giving plenty of time to develop the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
