Title: Enchantress of Numbers
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction
Other books that I have read by this author:
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker: A Novel
, The Spymistress: A Novel
, Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule, Fates and Traitors, Mrs. Lincoln's RivalSynopsis: Having a famous father and the scandal of a public separation of her parents have led to an unconventional life for Augusta Ada Byron. Doing what she felt right, Ada's mother fills her time with math and science, telling the governesses to never encourage Ada to use her imagination, lest she becomes like her unstable father. Ada is only allowed to hear or read Lord Byron's poetry when in her mother's company, and even then only rarely. As time goes on Ada learns that she can use math and science in conjunction with her imagination to create things beyond imagination.
My Thoughts
This is the first novel by this author that is not set in the United States during the American Civil War. Each of them had a moment where characters from the other novels crossed paths, which was cool to see different perspectives of the same events. Enchantress of Numbers started off by giving the story of the marriage of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke and the birth of their daughter. It was very unsettling and a bit depressing how poorly Annabella was treated. After that, the description of Ada's young life was a bit slow and repetitive. I'm not sure if that was the intention to emphasize the redundant, sheltered life Ada lived. It also progressed very slowly and while the time span was given at the beginning of each chapter, the passing of time was hard to follow, especially when she was very young.
By the time the story picked up I was more than halfway through the book and felt that her adult life and accomplishments were not as fully fleshed out and more of the story should have been devoted to that time in her life. When I realized there were only a few pages left I was disappointed. I really liked that some of the minor characters Ada also became quite famous, like Charles Dickens. I also enjoyed that each chapter title was inspired from a line written by Lord Byron.
Overall, this was not my favorite novel by this author but interesting to learn about this little-known person in history.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
This is the first novel by this author that is not set in the United States during the American Civil War. Each of them had a moment where characters from the other novels crossed paths, which was cool to see different perspectives of the same events. Enchantress of Numbers started off by giving the story of the marriage of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke and the birth of their daughter. It was very unsettling and a bit depressing how poorly Annabella was treated. After that, the description of Ada's young life was a bit slow and repetitive. I'm not sure if that was the intention to emphasize the redundant, sheltered life Ada lived. It also progressed very slowly and while the time span was given at the beginning of each chapter, the passing of time was hard to follow, especially when she was very young.
By the time the story picked up I was more than halfway through the book and felt that her adult life and accomplishments were not as fully fleshed out and more of the story should have been devoted to that time in her life. When I realized there were only a few pages left I was disappointed. I really liked that some of the minor characters Ada also became quite famous, like Charles Dickens. I also enjoyed that each chapter title was inspired from a line written by Lord Byron.
Overall, this was not my favorite novel by this author but interesting to learn about this little-known person in history.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
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