Her parents are just so horrible – drugging her like that.  No.  Just no.   The fact is arranged marriages did and do take place, Cathy’s circumstances are different because she’s being kept in a place against her will but she’s a pawn in a bigger game that she’s not yet aware of.  It seems to me that she’s a very unusual choice for such an important match for these two particular families which gives me pause for thought.  At the end of the day she’s going to be no less easy to control now she’s married – I don’t think Will is going to give her bruises or beat her into submission and drug her after all!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Cathy isn’t suitable for the marriage I’m just wondering why these two particular families thinks she is when clearly they don’t approve of anything about her – why not choose her sister who seems desperate to please?  I really think something else is happening here.

It doesn’t really change my opinion to be honest – it’s not to say I don’t have some sympathy, I’m sure that fighting in the war must have been absolutely traumatic for him so that does make me feel bad for him but why did he choose that particular moment to open up to Cathy?  It seemed like a thinly disguised shot at ‘look, we have a lot in common’ or an even more thinly disguised shot at making her part from the family with good feelings towards them and recognition of what is expected now she’s marrying into another family – he even said he regretted not talking to her earlier – well, he had time to do so – so what stopped him.  I feel like I’m being very harsh on him but I can’t really forgive him for beating Cathy all the time.  I understand that the society they live in has different expectations but even so his behaviour just is awful to me.  You could even argue that given his own personal experience and anger at the situation he found himself in he might have had more sympathy for Cathy.

3. The wedding itself, and the honeymoon, brings some unavoidable truths with it, for Cathy and Will both. Does their behaviour in this part of the book change what you think of them/their outlook?

No, I think at the moment my feelings for the two remain the same.  On the face of it it would be easy to say that Will is trying – but that’s only to Cathy’s face, his own thoughts are quite a different cup of tea – he seems like he’s being compliant but at the end of the day he’s expecting to have a lot more freedom that Cathy – even a mistress already in the planning – not to mention constantly reflecting on his flings whilst on tour.  Cathy – well, at the moment she seems almost like her own worst enemy.  In fact the way she’s behaving makes me have doubts about how she ever managed to escape in the first instance.  I want to shake her and tell her to stop being like a headless chicken. And that charm – how totally ridiculous.  How can you put a charm on somebody that will cause a mark on them even if their own brother gives them a harmless kiss on the cheek?  What about if you have an accident and somebody has to help you – they can’t touch your skin (for example a doctor) without you being marked?.  If I was Cathy I would keep the gloves off and let everyone shake my hand – that way she’ll be covered in marks – I’m sure that the family wouldn’t want that any more than Cathy as surely it would be terrible for their reputation not to mention their future plans.

Ohh, I’m being so grumpy about the two of them – they both seem to be acting so immature though!