---
product_id: 252180941
title: "The Sealed Letter"
brand: "mariner books"
price: "KSh8905"
currency: KES
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
category: "Book"
url: https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/252180941-the-sealed-letter
store_origin: KE
region: Kenya
---

# The Sealed Letter

**Brand:** mariner books
**Price:** KSh8905
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Sealed Letter by mariner books
- **How much does it cost?** KSh8905 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.ke](https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/252180941-the-sealed-letter)

## Best For

- mariner books enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted mariner books brand quality
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## Description

Full description not available

## Images

![The Sealed Letter - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51mhNU3G4PL.jpg)
![The Sealed Letter - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41sxg84F8jL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Entertaining & Suspenseful Courtroom Drama
  

*by J***A on Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2013*

Although it doesn't pack the emotional wallop of 

  
Room: A Novel









  
  
    
   or 

  
Slammerkin









  
  
    
  , "The Sealed Letter" is another fine novel by Emma Donoghue. It's a historical potboiler focusing on a scandalous divorce case in 1860s London. There are four central characters - the wife, her lover, her friend and the cuckolded husband - whose motives will keep you guessing until (and even after) the climactic courtroom scene.Like all of Donoghue's work, "The Sealed Letter" has clever plotting and sharp dialogue. Her usually dynamic pacing is off here, however, and parts of the book drag. The writing could have been tightened up and the story completed in less than its 389 pages. The way Donoghue structures her novels is very interesting. This one is divided into chapters named for legal terms related to the development and adjudication of the divorce case: "Prima Facie," "Feme Covert," "Actus Reus," "Subpoena," "Counterclaim," etc. (All are translated and explained.) In addition to the intriguing characters and drama, Donoghue uses the story to highlight the precarious legal status of women at the time and the emerging movement for women's education and employment. She can always be depended on for a great story with added layers of social and historical perspective. "The Sealed Letter" is not Donoghue's best, but I thought it was pretty good.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    The Dawn of Sufferage in England
  

*by G***R on Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2014*

This is an excellent book about women's rights in the middle 1800's in England.  It's based on true events and it explores two women's relationship with each other, as well as exploring the attitude toward women in this era.  The author has done a tremendous amount of research, and the result is a book that is factual as well as entertaining.I have read other books by this author and they have been as good as this one.  I highly recommend this book, as well as others by Dr. Donoghue.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    (4.5 stars) A more demur style from Donoghue and a smaller scope but a fasinating historical tale of trust and divorce
  

*by L***A on Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2008*

There is no doubt that divorce is a blame game at the heart of it. Nor is there any doubt that there is a single person in this country who hasn't had experience with divorce in some way-either personal experience or from their own or their parent's divorcing or friends, family members or neighbors. Hey, we even get to participate vicariously in celebrity divorces these days. Since divorce was first legalized hundreds of years ago it has morphed from a rare and tragic event to just another method of mass entertainment and ultimately a way to feel superior to those who failed at what is culturally viewed as one of the most important inter-personal relationships.It's not all that rare to read about divorce in historical fiction, especially because of the huge amount of fiction focused on the Tudors. But it is rare to get a truly complete description of the historical process, which obviously differs greatly from today's proceedings. And that is exactly what "The Sealed Letter" is. A complete description of the divorce process as it was in 1864. The novel is even arranged in legal terms that describe each one of the processes leading to the proceedings being initiated and the circus that followed them.This book tells the story of an extremely notorious divorce in English history that captured the attention of the country. Containing multiple allegations of adultery, neglect, alienation of affection, sex in public, attempted rape of a drugged, innocent virgin, and even allusions to lesbianism and circumstances that bear remarkable similarity to the impeachment case against President Clinton. I have no doubts that were the case of Harry Codrington versus Helen Codrington happening today that it would generate just as much interests.But it wasn't the actual divorce case that made this novel so interesting-especially to me. It was the characters and the time period. The book is divided up in third person narrative between the three main players in the divorce (in actuality the divorce has three or four parties to it but one of them never appears in the book and one never narrates) Harry, Helen and Emily "Fido" Faithfull. Seven years before our story begins these three lived under the same roof with Fido, as Helen's best friend, often mediating to keep the troubled and obviously miss-matched marriage together. But as Harry was a navy man the Codrington's were posted abroad and Helen and Fido lost touch.Only to re-connect later on a London street, almost as if by magic. The two attribute their lack of communication to a poor postal system and pick up where they left off-with one major difference-Helen has a constant tagalong now, a handsome young man Colonel David Anderson. It soon becomes apparent to Fido that something is going on between them and her supposedly bosom friend is being less than honest about it.But as Helen's true personality and secrets unfold all three are drawn into the strange divorce process the Victorians used. What follows is fascinating not only from a  historical perspective about gender politics but as a measuring stick to how well you can ever truly know your friends, your spouse...and how fragile trust, bonds and vows really are.Unlike Emma Donoghue's other historical novels 

  
Slammerkin









  
  
    
   and 

  
Life Mask









  
  
    
  , "The Sealed Letter" only implies sexuality and is in no way descriptive of lesbianism, sex or violence. But this newer demur writing style takes nothing away from the story (though I have to say I found "Life Mask" more interesting because of its larger scope) and this book will be joining the above mentioned and 

  
Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins









  
  
    
   on my bookshelf.Four point five stars.And if you want more about the historical divorce process then 

  
Stealing Athena: A Novel









  
  
    
   is a good place to find some more non-Tudor legal action-though it is far from the main focus of the book.

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*Product available on Desertcart Kenya*
*Store origin: KE*
*Last updated: 2026-02-21*