History Literature / Misfortune

* IncestIsRelative: [[spoiler: Esmond and Nora, his aunt, and then again with Prudence, his sister.]]

* OutWithABang: Edwig Osbern dies this way.

* ComingOutStory: Sort of.

* HotLibrarian: Anonyma is supposedly this.

* ProperLady: Rose.

''Misfortune'' is a novel written by Wesley Stace, also known as John Wesley Harding. The story follows the life of a baby found abandoned in the road by the wealthiest man in England, Geoffroy Loveall, who then takes the child home to raise as his own. The baby, named Rose Loveall, lives a privileged and happy life with her mother and father and two best friends, until a dramatic reveal is made to her and her family that changes her life forever. The novels deals with issues of womanhood, royalty versus poverty, transgenderism, and homosexuality, and makes many homages to Greek and Roman mythology along the way.

* AbusiveParents: From a certain viewpoint, ''every parent in the story is this''. Geoffroy spends much of his time cooped up in his playroom, rarely spending time with Rose. Anonyma was the mastermind behind raising Rose as a cisgender girl, partially to satiate the depressed Geoffroy, but mainly to enact a social experiment of sorts on her own child. The Osberns harass and bully their children at every turn. Even Lady Loveall, who dies early in the story, is depicted yelling at Geoffroy, expressing disgust at his need to mourn his younger sister, and, after discovering that Rose is AMAB, [[LaughingMad laughs Geoffroy out of the room, yelling after him that nothing he does works, before dying.]]
* AmbiguousGender: [[spoiler: Rose. Although she spends the majority of the novel struggling to understand her own gender identity and coming to terms with it, the reader is never really made privy to how she identifies. The only clue we are given is that she openly expresses her difficulty with posing as a man while speaking to Prudence, and continues to use the name Rose and she/her pronouns even on her death bed.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Anonyma's favorite poet is Mary Day, and her work is mentioned often throughout the story. [[spoiler: This comes up much later - Anonyma, through careful research and studying of the Mary Day's poetry, discovers that "Mary Day" was actually the pseudonym for Marguerite d'Eustache, the secret third wife of the Bad Lord Loveall. Bryony [=McRae=], who was Rose's biological mother, was actually Bryony Day, and her husband was killed by Esmond Osbern, under the orders of Lady Loveall, making Rose the great-great-grandchild of Mary Day, and therefore rightful heir to Love Hall.]]

* AmbiguousGender: [[spoiler: Rose. Although she spends the majority of the novel struggling to understand her own gender identity and coming to terms with it, we are never really made privy to how she identifies. The only clue we are given is that she continues to use the name Rose even on her death bed, and seems to still be using she/her pronouns.]]

''Misfortune'' is a novel written by Wesley Stace, also known as John Wesley Harding. The story follows the life of a baby found abandoned in the road by the wealthiest man in England, Geoffroy Loveall, who then takes the child home to raise as his own. The story deals with issues of womanhood, royalty versus poverty, transgenderism and homosexuality, and makes many homages to Greek and Roman mythology along the way.

* FreudianExcuse: Geoffroy was traumatised by the death of his beloved little sister, Dolores, and never recovered from it. He saves Rose only to use her as a ReplacementGoldfish for Dolores, and could not accept her being AMAB, thus part of the reason why Rose was raised to believe she was a cisgender girl.

* GuineaPigFamily: Rose is this for Anonyma, who was very interested in the dynamics of gender and womanhood and used Rose to test out the results of raising an AMAB child to believe they were a cisgender girl.
* IncestIsRelative: [[spoiler: Esmond and Nora, his aunt.]]

* MeaningfulName: Dolores' name could be a reference to Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, or Our Lady of Sorrows.
** The story's title itself - Misfortune, or Miss Fortune as Rose is referred to in the novel.

* EverybodyWantsTheHermaphrodite: Rose is frequently hit on by people of all genders.

* FreudianExcuse: Geoffroy was traumatised by the death of his beloved little sister, Dolores, and never recovered from it. He saves Rose only to use her as a ReplacementGoldfish for Dolores, and could not accept her being biologically male, thus part of the reason why Rose was raised as a girl.
* FunWithAcronyms: The organization of Hamilton, Anonyma, Hood, and Angelica[[spoiler:/Anstance]] - the HaHa.
* GuineaPigFamily: Rose is this for Anonyma, who was very interested in the dynamics of gender and womanhood.

* KarmaHoudini: Anonyma, who is the reason Rose goes through her LossOfIdentity, is depicted sympathetically by the book and receives no punishment by any character, not even anger from Rose. Also, Crouch, [[spoiler:who writes "BOY" all over the house and in Rose's room to reveal the truth of her sex, is given the position of housekeeper she so desperately wanted.]]

''Misfortune'' is a novel written by Wesley Stace, also known as John Wesley Harding. The story follows the life of a baby found abandoned in the road by the wealthiest man in England, who then takes the child home to raise as his own. The story deals with several social issues, and makes many homages to Greek and Roman mythology along the way.

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Geoffroy was traumatised by the death of his beloved little sister, Dolores, and never recovered from it. He saves Rose only to use her as a ReplacementGoldfish for Dolores, and could not accept her being biologically male, thus part of the reason why Rose was raised as a girl.]]

!''Literature/Misfortune'' contains examples of: