BEST BOOKS ON...
MARRIAGE PROPOSALS
THE bestselling author suggests key novels to help you through the trickier times in life.
SO THE details of the climactic scene of the latest national fairytale have now been revealed: it happened in the kitchen of a cottage over the roasting of a chicken.
High romance in the midst of the ordinary, as a portent for future happiness, could not be more perfect. Although it’s not known how the chicken turned out — it may still be in the oven, what with one thing and another — we can tell that Harry and Meghan will be fine.
In classical fiction, the proposal sets the tone for the marriage, which is why even the best heroes have to do it twice. Mr Rochester and Mr Darcy both blow it the first time: they have to go away, change, then do it again properly for Jane Eyre and Lizzie Bennet to finally marry them.
In Anna Karenina, Kitty turns down Levin: he’s the right man for her, but she’s got daft, grand ideas. His second attempt, though, writing on a blackboard, is sweet, unaffected and perfect for the woman she’s become. It sets them both up for a good life together in the country, away from the roar of society.
A sense of the practical is always welcome — a proposal is a moment, but marriages are long. In Love In The Time Of Cholera, Florentino writes to Fermina asking her to marry him. She doesn’t reply for one month, then two: she’s thinking it over, properly.
He sends her a flower to remind her and finally she replies: ‘Very well, I will marry you if you promise not to make me eat eggplant.’ Always good to clear these things up at the start.
The question can be popped by the woman, of course, although examples in romantic fiction are rare. But in The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Juliet’s made up her mind; Dawsey’s a bit slow on the uptake, so she gets on with it.
‘Would you marry me?’ she calls, while he’s up a ladder. ‘I’m in love with you, so I thought I’d ask.’ He’s so overcome with joy, he falls and sprains his ankle — a metaphor, and another portent for future happiness. And very happy they, too, prove to be.