Thwarted Expectations

Case One: Brianna

Brianna Randall grows up in the middle of the 20th Century. She makes her way through school and starts college. She would have reasonable expectations of academic success, following in the steps of a father she loves and admires, and with a choice of good job afterwards.

Suddenly and unexpectedly she has all her understanding of who she is in the world turned upside down. She's not a Randall, she's a Fraser, the man she called 'Daddy' isn't, and the biological one lived 200 years ago!

That's going to confuse anyone, and probably make them 'bratish' and introspective too.

Left alone by her mother she continues on her former path, (albeit with a change of study) until out of concern for her mother, and possibly curiosity about her father and his family, she travels to find them and warn them of impending doom. She probably didn't think much beyond finding them, but then she finds herself with a husband and baby, stuck in domesticity 200 years before the world in which she grew up.

Case Two: William

The 9th Earl of Ellesmere grows up in indulgent luxury with an impressive inheritance and glowing future ahead of him. He wants to follow his 'father', adopted, but beloved, into the military and is commissioned an officer in a war in which he expects to be glorious and victorious.

Suddenly and unexpectedly he has all his understanding of who he is in the world turned upside down. He is not an Earl, his father is a pardoned traitor, and the man he called 'Father' knew this all along.

That's going to be a blow to anyone, and probably going to make them 'bratish' and resentful too.

He struggles on without his identity as soldier which he cannot inhabit due to technical circumstances and tries to deal with the blows his pride and his growing frustration.

Maybe we as readers, don't 'like' Brianna and William because we are just as confused about who they really are, as the characters are themselves.

Interestingly, when Brianna sees and meets William, she is adamant that he must know the truth. Lord John is aghast, of course, but who else could understand why this is, in fact, so important.

These two have a huge amount in common, and a father too. These two characters are the two who need to find each other and each other's understanding, in order to find themselves. Once they do, and I really hope Diana gives it to them then I think they might find themselves, and we might find out who they are, and see them become who they are, find we love them too.

Here's hoping.....