This is my 1000th post from CBR6-CBR16. Amazing. Not my 1000th review, because I’ve posted a lot of challenge and diversion posts over the years too.
I loved The Earl Who Isn’t. I had to lie down and process my emotions more than once while reading. I’m not going to get into the specifics, because that would spoil the emotional journey for those who haven’t read it yet. Courtney Milan is such a lovely author. I know when I open one of her books that I’m going to be swamped with swoony feelings and feel more hopeful about the world at the end of it.
In the pervious two Wedgeford Trials books, Andrew Uchida has been a cheerful fixture in Wedgeford. In The Duke Who Didn’t, he introduced us to the idea of the commons not as a tragedy, but as a triumph of community. He runs a the seed exchange which allows residents to pool resources to strengthen the wellbeing of the community. In The Earl Who Isn’t, we learn that Andrew sees himself as a potential threat to Wedgeford, that if the truth about his parentage comes out, he’ll have to leave for the safety of the people and place he loves. Lily Bei, for whom he has been pining, returns after 7 years away and immediately throws Andrew into crisis, announcing that she has proof he is the heir to an earldom.
The Earl Who Isn’t is such a lovely exploration of belonging, rootedness, community and selfhood. Andrew feels like a threat to the place where he has roots and Lily thinks she was sent away for being a problem. It takes them a while to figure out that their feelings are not one sided and that they are not a danger to the other. Lily figures it out faster, of course.
I once made an ass of myself in a Discord chat with Courtney Milan by regurgitating what I learned in law school about “the tragedy of the commons.” She quite rightly dismissed my wisdom by saying something like that was made up by men who wanted to justify taking common land for private use. In the years since I’ve learned more about the harm of colonization, indigenous land management, and community building. So, once again, just because your professor said it with the voice of authority doesn’t make it true. One of the things I love most about Courtney Milan’s books is that she writes about social issues by showing them in action in her characters’ lives. They never swamp the story because they are part of the lived experience of the characters.
I’m going to end with a quote:
“You learn a lot about a person by the gifts they give,” Mrs. Uchida said. “Our deepest gifts—the ones we give over and over to complete strangers—are the things we most need ourselves.”
I received this as an advance reader copy from the author. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.