Miss CarolinaC was the 2nd Runner-Up of the Historical Fiction Smackdown! As such, she got a review of a story of her choice as a prize! And she wisely chose “Charlotte and the Cypher”, the first submission for the SD.
For those who aren’t familiar with the rounds, this was the very first round we had, where the contestant were required to pick a few pictures and were assigned one particular object to be included in a Victorian/Regency short story. Miss Carolina was assigned with the “lamp” and chose the 1901 painting “Adieu”, the “Rainy Day” and the “Three Girls”.
In Carolina’s story, she made a very clever little Mystery inside Historical Fiction. It tells the story of Charlotte Arden, the wife of a minor officer who is constantly away in the sea. He goes to her one day and announces he was promoted to flag-captain, clearly a very significant thing for him, though Charlotte is a tad disappointed. He announces he must leave and spend a few months away, but before he does so, he leaves her a gift: a cassolette, in the shape of a lamp. Charlotte does her best to hide her disappointment, for it was not her taste of gift
The next day, when she goes visiting her younger sisters, they find out a piece of paper inside the cassolette, with a strange message in code. Charlotte is puzzled by it, it was very unusual. Thinking it was a love letter or maybe something important that couldn’t be said in a normal letter, she spends the night up trying to solve the code. After much thinking, she manages to crack the first line: “Dear Charlotte, if you can read this, you are the cleverest woman.” That managed to irritate her, thinking her husband had taken her for a fool, and she writes an angry letter.
Two months after those events, James Arden goes back home, to find an annoyed wife. He explains to her the importance of that cypher, and more importantly for Charlotte, how impressed and amazed he was by his wife.
It’s a really sweet story, with a romantic touch. It’s interesting to see the interaction between husband and wife. Charlotte visibly hopes her husband will step up and do something great, and she tries her best to show everyone else that her marriage to a nobody is a burden she has to carry. But in truth, she cares about him, noticing things like the imperfect embroider of his initials made by himself on his linen sea-bag. It’s sweet to notice how she is expecting a love declaration by him when she finds the letter too. And above all, the ending works very nicely (we won’t spoil it here!)
Something else it’s important to remark: Carolina was one of the most (if not the most) authentic writers in the whole competition. She knows how to do her research, and she has an amazing eye for observation. For this story, she made sure that the image she was assigned to was authentic, and was able to determine its true nature: a cassolette, not a lamp! Also, she made sure to carefully study the images she chose. Taking by the “Adieu” painting, she noticed the ranking of the officer portrayed, his apparent age and the size of the ship assumingly assigned to him. Considering all that, she brilliant created her scenario: too young to be a captain of such a big ship, yet somehow important enough to be wearing epaulettes: an Admiral’s flagship! That was a brilliant move!
The vocabulary she’s used was very appropriate for the time; she made sure to include word and spellings correspondent to the Regency times, but in a way that could be understood by any reader.
It scored very highly, because it was a delightful surprise for a first round. Instead of the usual Regency romance, with women suffering for their overseas husband, Carolina made her character a heroine with her own issues and her own tasks. All in all: Bravo!
Check out Carolina's story "Charlotteand the Cypher"! We have put the link to it on the External Link spot up there. Also, check out her other Historical Fiction entries and her stories: she is indeed a very talented writer, and she gave us wonderful entries to read! Don't forget to follow her and tell her how very aweome she is! :D
