Slow to get into because epistolary books are tough for me to swallow, but once the action started around the end of the first third I was immersed. I think it's a weird book to read in 2018 -- it feels antiquated in some of its attitudes about colonization, imperialism, and feminism, but also gives a little peek into a history I know very little about. A subdued, heartbreaking story about the shuttering of a heart in order to live one's life freely.