Book Review

A Lesson in Love by Harper Bliss

We all have our auto-buy story premises. Age gap, or May/December romances, are one of my top three and I’m always on the lookout for the next great one. Harper Bliss wrote one of my very favourites a few years ago, In the Distance There is Light, and she’s actually written a bunch of others that I’ve enjoyed too. When I saw she had a new age gap romance coming out, I did a little dance of joy.

Victoria “Rory” Carlisle is excited to start her DPhil in English Literature at Oxford (DPhil is the Oxford equivalent of a PhD) and she wants Helen Swift to be her advisor. Because Professor Swift is an out lesbian, Rory believes she’ll be the best person to help guide Rory through the ins and outs of a dissertation about the evolution of lesbian characters in the 20th and 21st centuries.

“The way I see it”—she cocks her head—“you’re my only chance at doing this particular kind of in-depth research.”

I arch up my eyebrows. I know what Victoria Carlisle wants to research. She emailed me about it in astonishing detail.

“I wouldn’t put it in such black and white terms, Miss Carlisle.”

“Well, no doubt you know what I mean.” That wide grin again, accompanied by a wink this time. Goodness, this woman is forward. Like most young people these days, who carry themselves with a familiarity towards faculty that I’ve never quite got used to.

Of course I know what she means. “Professor Monohan has an interest in the subject you suggest.”

Victoria shakes her head. “She doesn’t really.”

Professor Sarah Monahan is the other lesbian in the faculty and Helen’s ex-girlfriend. The book doesn’t get into either of their literary specialties, which (I say with two English degrees under my belt) is a little odd. So, for some reason that is never explained, Rory wants Helen to be her advisor way more than Sarah, even though Sarah is a lesbian too, and Rory definitely isn’t interested at all in working with Alistair, a gay man who’s also in the faculty.

Helen Swift isn’t feeling the same passion for academia that brought her into it all those years ago. Rapidly approaching her 50th birthday, she has the mid-life crisis Porsche already. Now she’s considering the unthinkable—dropping down to part-time faculty so she can devote more time and energy to writing. After all, her cozy mysteries set in the town where she lives in the Cotswolds are selling like gangbusters and they’re the main thing fueling her these days. Helen wasn’t planning on supervising another DPhil candidate, but she’s interested in Rory’s topic and appreciates her enthusiasm, so Helen agrees to be her advisor, knowing Rory will be the last student she takes on.

It’s not long before Rory finds herself crushing on Professor Swift, even though she knows Helen has strong boundaries with students and, unlike Alistair and Sarah, never socializes with them. Of course, when Rory bumps into Helen at a pub in Chewford when she’s home visiting family, it’s the beginning of the end of the walls that Helen keeps around herself.

Helen starts the book at a crossroads, thinking everyone will say she should continue as a full-time faculty member, but knowing it’s time to follow her dreams. She’s kept her alter ego, HS Barr, under wraps and worries what others will think when they learn that Helen Swift, respected literature professor, is writing cozy murder mysteries with titles like Chewed Up in Chewford. For me, this is the most interesting aspect of A Lesson in Love because, alongside the romantic relationship development, we get to watch Helen grapple with coming out to some of the people around her as an author. I can’t say for sure whether it’s this state of vulnerability that lets Helen open up to Rory or if it’s just because of Rory being her bubbly, daring self. Regardless, once Helen finally stops keeping Rory at the usual arm’s length she reserves for students, she becomes intoxicated by Rory’s attention and flirting.

Rory definitely has some major hero worship going on with Helen, but her attraction is also genuine from very early in their interactions. She’s not fazed by their 22 year age difference and simply wants to get to know Helen better. Once they have that drink in the pub in Chewford, though, Rory is hooked. About 10% of the way into the book, I started picturing Helen as Gillian Anderson or Cate Blanchett, and once that happened, I couldn’t help thinking “Well OF COURSE Rory’s into her. Look at her!”

The chemistry between Rory and Helen is one of the best elements of the book, building slowly until things turn explosive. Their first kiss is A++ hot and the sex scenes are excellent, especially because they drive the relationship development. That said, I wish Helen and Rory had also spent more time just talking to each other. Instead, with the exception of when Helen eventually tells Rory about wanting to shift gears on her career, we see each of them talking more about stuff that matters with Sarah and Alistair than they do with each other. Their situation isn’t quite instalove, but it comes across as being more about want and unavoidable attraction than anything else, and while their HEA is lovely despite that problem, I’m still a little sad I didn’t get to see more substance to their relationship as it developed.

People who don’t like first-person stories should also know that the book is told in the first person, present tense, alternating between Rory and Helen. I liked getting to see into both of their perspectives, especially Helen’s because she has so much changing, growing, and decision-making to do throughout the book. These perspective shifts also mean it should satisfy people who say they don’t like first-person narratives because they only ever get to know one character. That is definitely not an issue with A Lesson in Love, and both of their perspectives are so distinct that I doubt anyone would need the chapter headers that say who we’re following.

So, did A Lesson in Love hold up to my expectations? Unfortunately no, though I still enjoyed it. Maybe it’s not fair, but I can’t help but compare all new age gap romances from Harper Bliss to In the Distance There is Light, in the hopes that I’ll get that lightning in a bottle again. Even so, for people who like British romances that aren’t particularly angsty, A Lesson in Love will be a good choice.

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A Lesson in Love by Harper Bliss

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  1. HeatherS says:

    Thanks for the great review! I really like the premise of the book. I was super intrigued by this one and considering it… until I saw it was written in the first person. Major bummer. Even if the perspective shifts back and forth between the two characters, I still really like to feel like I’m on the outside watching the story – like a movie or tv show – than to feel like I’m in each character’s head. Does that make sense?

  2. Isua says:

    Sounds like a lovely book and I’d read it if I could get past the “GRAD SCHOOL PROBLEMS AHOY YOU NEED A NEW ADVISOR RIGHT NOW” airhorns going off in my brain. I sincerely hope that the HEA involves Helen not being on Rory’s thesis committee in any role and them riding off into the sunset together after Rory’s triumphant thesis defense that Helen wasn’t part of.

  3. Starling says:

    Yeah, hard pass on this one because the ethical and power differentials between grad student and advisor are huge and there’s such a troubled history of harassment and exploration. To me, it’s like a romance between a priest and a late-teen congregant–the presence of pervasive real-life abuse makes fantasy romance a no-go.

    But this is me as a grad student with an advisor; people not in Grad School Hell should feel free to enjoy what sounds otherwise like a charming romance.

  4. Tam says:

    IF YOU ARE A PROFESSOR, YOU CANNOT SLEEP WITH YOUR STUDENT. This is SO unethical and wrong and just – wrong! No!

    I have an Oxford DPhil, I usually enjoy well-written books set in Oxford, but oh my goodness, this would be thrown at the wall SO hard if I’d idly picked it up.

    One of my graduate flatmates did start sleeping with her (much older, far more established) supervisor, and honestly, it killed her academic career. It was widely believed that he was writing her thesis for her. Even when she progressed to her doctorate with another supervisor, people were still whispering that he’d helped her get her funding. It was grim.

  5. Lily says:

    I used to love romance fandom because readers could distinguish between fantasy and reality and did not feel the need to shame others for not having their squicks. I have an MA and I can tell the difference between what seems like a sweet , harmless fantasy and reality.
    Power abuse in academia does not arise from a romance but from a hierarchical structure and awful job market.

    Just let someone enjoy a fantasy even if it’s not yours.

    Hard pass on these reviews.

  6. Tam says:

    I’d argue that the rampart power abuse in academia makes it even more ill-advised to have a sexual relationship with a student you’ve supervising.

    I understand what you’re saying about fantasy vs reality, but honestly, I think I’d have a similar kneejerk reaction to a romance between, say, a licensed therapist and their patient.

  7. Great Grey Owl says:

    Yea, I agree with the other posters about the student-professor relationship. When I was an undergrad, we had a famous professor and his wife (who was a graduate student) come to my campus and give guest lectures.

    She was quietly supportive of his lecture. But when it was her turn, he corrected her and answered some of the audience’s questions for her. I suspect that he was mad that her lecture was crowded while his lecture wasn’t crowded. So it is hard for me to find such relationships romantic.

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