The marriage plot

AnOther interviews Naoise Dolan about her novel The Happy Couple.

KT: It’s clear that your love of Victorian literature has shaped the narrative style and setting of The Happy Couple, but do you think we’ve moved beyond the necessity for the marriage plot in contemporary fiction?

ND: [...] I think as well, though, that Victorian fiction itself doesn’t rely nearly so heavily on the marriage plot as current popular conception assumes. Certainly for the men – Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, Hardy – there’s not always a wedding at the end, and when there is, it’s there as a sort of full stop; it’s, for sure, culturally telling that they add it, but the novel wouldn’t suffer if you cut it out. George Eliot does round off even her mature works with marriage, but she extensively probes the institution before that point, and by Villette Charlotte Brontë has dropped the ‘Reader, I married him’ entirely. So I don’t think fiction develops linearly; I think at any given point in the history of letters, there’ll be some writers doing some things and other writers doing other things, and how we characterise that particular moment says more about our own concerns than anything else. (Katie Tobin)

The List recommends 'The Best Period Romance Dramas' after having watched  Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and one of them is

Jane Eyre (2011)

A far cry from the brightness of Bridgerton, this adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's famed novel "Jane Eyre" is a gothic and brooding story. Played by Mia Wasikowska, the titular character leaves her abusive childhood in search of independence. She finds herself working as a governess for Mr. Rochester, depicted by Michael Fassbender, a cold and withholding man. As time passes by, their friendship transforms into a deep passion. As they grow closer together, Mr. Rochester's penchant for secrecy puts Jane in a difficult position, forcing her to learn the importance of staying true to herself. (Elizabeth Okosun)

Voz Portucalense (Portugal) reviews Emily from a theologian approach. Both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are included on a list of '50 classics from (almost) everyone's high school reading list' compiled by Sioux City Journal.