While I would aspire to be like the character of Elizabeth I identified closely with Juliet. I thought the authoresses did a wonderful job of presenting a likeable, realistic, woman and I suspect that that is the reason, in no small part of the book's success.
I loved her honesty when she wrote, "I much prefer whining to counting my blessings."
I share her fascination for looking in lighted windows at night as I pass by. I knew exactly what she meant when she said: "...it's families in sitting rooms or kitchens that thrill me. I can imagine their entire lives from a glimpse of bookshelves, or desks, or lit candles, or bright sofa cushions." Me too, Juliet!
I saw myself too when she said "I can be discreet when I really try." and again when she said of her godson, "Now he talks to himself, which I find terribly endearing since I do too." About Elizabeth's grace under pressure I shared her "hopeless admiration."
I was completely entranced by Juliet's way of dealing with children. She seemed to know exactly what they liked or needed. She seemed to innately understand that they have a high tolerance for the gruesome--otherwise why would fairy tales be so continuously popular? I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear of modern parents doing ridiculous things like insisting that every thing their children are exposed to is sanitized. Fairy tales rewritten without violence and to be made politically correct? I loved how practical Juliet was. She did not think that playing "Dead Bride" would scar Kit for life, or worry too much that the diabolical Jack in the box would permanently scar Dominic and result in years of therapy. No one was too concerned with Kit's self esteem and she seemed the better child for it. Ah, but luckily for children of that era they missed the over-protective child rearing nonsense that was to come a generation later.
I must wonder though, why it took her so long to see Mark for who he was when the red flags were furiously flying: "He's absolutely furious because I didn't give him an unequivocal yes. I tried to explain that I hadn't known him long enough and I needed time to think, but he wouldn't listen to me."
Run Juliet Run!
She finally "imagined a life of having to cry to get him to be kind" and decided to say no. Disaster averted.
I think it is Juliet's feminine humanness that makes her so endearing as the story teller, more or less. Letting us see those little glimpses of fickle and indecisive (maybe even timid at times ;)) moments that we are all so familiar with.
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