
“The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose,” had a plot that could hardly be considered remarkable: the child of rich nobles grows up with a peasant family and then finally discovers her true family. This rather cliché plot forms the backbone of so many books that it almost gets tiring. Usually the author finds a good way to conceal it behind twists and turns in the storyline. Mary Hooper, however, reveals the truth in the book's first few pages, then tries to enliven Eliza's story using sex. From reading “The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose” one would think that nearly everyone in seventeenth century London was either a prostitute, a mistress, a pimp, or something in-between. Surely there must have been a better way to breathe life into a worn out plot.
Unfortunately, I would have to say that “The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose” was rather disappointing to me.