Atlantic Crossings 2: The Shuttle

I’ve already said that I struggled with this book and thought it would never end. Such a shame, as The Secret Garden is still one of my favourite books and I have enjoyed others by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Shuttle was first published in1907. It’s been reprinted as Persephone Book 71 but I got it as a free download for the Kindle. I’ve been told that the Persephone edition is abridged; possibly some of the worst passages have been cut and
people who’ve read that version won’t understand my issues with the book.

The ‘shuttle’ of the title moves between the United States and England, weaving their peoples closer together. We have vibrant New York, full of noise, bustle and phenomenal wealth (for a few) contrasted with a decaying rural England that is nevertheless very beautiful. Our American characters are the millionaire Vanderpoels: wise father, dim mother, pretty but feeble Rosy and her younger sister, the sharp child Bettina, who is the real heroine of the novel. For England, stand up Sir Nigel Anstruthers (boo! hiss!) a pantomime caricature of a Sir Jasper and Lord Mount Dunstan, equally on his uppers but thoroughly decent.
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