March read for Children's Books group - see an interesting discussion there.

ETA - done. I think that, after all my protestations to the contrary, I may have read this before. It's that forgettable. Now, it's possible I read an abridged version, but I doubt it, as I trust Project Gutenberg to so mark. And besides, there was plenty of the kind of stuff that often gets cut. So, I don't think anything was missing that would make it a more valuable book.

Rebecca was not drawn in a way that would make people who aren't just like her be able to empathize with her. I did sympathize, but I actually empathized slightly more with the aunts. If either had been drawn more complexly, I would have enjoyed it more - but the 'good cop bad cop' game they played was, imo, just plain wrong.

Mr. Ladd had a bit of a struggle to restrain romantic feelings for R, but he was always more fond of her as a 'niece' and 'protege' type figure, so their whole interaction was really nbd. Emma Jane knew she was nobody without R, so why did we have to spend so much time with her?

Nothing was rich, or heartfelt, or even worth exploring, imo. The only person who actually really grew was Aunt Jane, and that was only in the beginning when she learned to speak up to Aunt Miranda, if sufficiently provoked.

And don't get me started on the moralizing.