The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

I was lucky enough to be sent a pre-publication copy of The Fortune Hunter via Twitter. I had never read Daisy Goodwin's novels just her collections of poetry so this was a first for me and I was pleasantly surprised.

I like historical fiction and love the Victorian period particularly so what caught my imagination first were the historical details. I love clothes so the intricate descriptions of Victorian clothing for the women in the novel were very enjoyable. The detail of protocol was interesting too; when and where certain clothing was worn and the class hierarchy were all fascinating and accurate. In a world where the only detailed protocol we still use is probably at our weddings it is amazing to think that this is how the upper classes lived their everyday lives. Having studied Victorian art as well as literature I was fascinated with the details of the heroine Charlotte Baird's hobby of photography and then gradually I fell in love with Charlotte herself.


Charlotte is an heiress of the Lennox fortune and is a target for fortune hunters everywhere. Far from being the usual simpering Victorian heroine Charlotte is more of a bluestocking girl. She is educated and very intelligent. Instead of being caught up in the social whirlwind favoured by her brother and sister-in-law Charlotte does not much care for clothes, parties or the famous Lennox diamonds she owns but does care passionately for her hobby of photography. Meanwhile her brother and his wife engage in the social life she dislikes as the guardians of her fortune they live from the interest until Charlotte marries and takes the reins for herself (or more likely her husband does). At a party Charlotte meets the handsome and infamous Bay Middleton who is a horseman, hunter and famous playboy in his social set. They seem an unlikely match but Bay is drawn to Charlotte's quiet manner and intelligence. She is not a great beauty so those around her are very keen to protect her from what they see as fortune hunting. Yet Bay seems sincere about his fondness for Charlotte until a rival appears on the scene. It is not easy when your rival is the Empress of Austria.

Elizabeth (known as Sisi to close friends) was married when she was 16 to the Emperor of Austria. They had nothing in common but Eizabeth soon became known as one of the most beautiful and fashionable woman in 19th Century Europe. Her passion in life is riding and she arrives in England for the hunting season with a string of ponies and huge household. She cannot be rivalled in the hunting field but in England she does not know the terrain. Worried that she will lose her way or at worst, take a bad fall, it is suggested she should have a 'pilot'. A pilot is like a guardian who hunts alongside her, making sure she knows the way and getting her home safely. Bay Middleton is in a rest period before attempting his life's ambition to win the Grand National and he is suggested for the role with the Empress. On the day of the hunt and for their first glimpse of the royal visitor Charlotte has set up her camera. She aims to capture the hunt in all their glory and is also tempted to take a photo of the Empress who is renowned for her hatred of photographs. Sisi knows she is not the unmarked beauty she was ten years ago and is at great pains to salvage her complexion by swathing her face in veal during the night. Charlotte takes a shot which the Empress deflects by holding up her fan, but the photo shows something else; Bay's face shows his immediate and total enchantment with Sisi. The photograph has the potential to break Charlotte's heart.

This book has the ability to grab you and keep you reading. I started one day and read right through to finish the following night. I missed sleep to find out what would happen to Charlotte. The book has just enough detail to anchor you totally in the upper class Victorian circle depicted without bogging the reader down in swathes of description. It moved quickly and had me rooting for Charlotte all the way through because I felt a kinship with her; not quite beautiful, but patient, kind and modestly talented it is hard not to like her. By contrast Sisi is exposed as a frightened and spoiled woman who is used to getting what she wants without having to fight for it. She is worried about losing her looks and this is her main frailty. Sisi needs Bay in a way Charlotte does not; Sisi is fragile and melancholy and needs something to break the suffocating formality of her role whereas Charlotte, though heartbroken, has a plan to survive and live life her own way. I would say that the character of Bay loses out to the women in the novel. He is not as vividly drawn as the Empress and I didn't feel anything for him. I started to feel sorry for the Empress even as I disliked her and Charlotte infuriated me with the passive way she was dealing with Bay's obvious affair with the royal visitor. Despite being shamed publicly by Bay's behaviour she keeps her cool right up to the point of the exhibition at the academy and the displaying of that photograph. I won't reveal the end, only to say that I half wished to read about Charlotte's adventures as a photographer and pioneer in the USA!