Big ole spoilers up in here. Stay tuned at the end for my take on Catherine's Lemon Tarts!
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Before a young girl fell down a rabbit hole, the people of Hearts were without a queen. While other ladies dreamed of becoming royalty, Catherine Pinkerton, daughter of the Marquess of Rock Turtle Cove, only wanted one thing: to own her own bakery. She knew that convincing her parents would be the hardest part, but with no marriage prospects on the horizon, she thought she could persuade them. But when the king begins to court her and she instead starts to fall for his court joker, Catherine learns that her fate has been carved into stone for a long time. Her journey to becoming the Queen of Hearts is one of love, loss, and heartbreak.
"You see, they can each produce a few notes."
I seriously did not expect to like this book. Alice in Wonderland is very near and dear to my heart, so I thought someone else's interpretation of the setting and characters would do it an injustice-- and now I feel bad for thinking so! I think I just had to get Lewis Carroll out of my head-- if I looked at it like someone was ripping off his work, of course I was going to dislike it. But once I finally settled into my seat and reminded myself that this is Marissa Meyer's story, I really began to love it. It's a wonderful stand-alone novel that somehow still has all of the meat of a series. Her character's are incredibly crafted-- I really can't remember the last time I read a book with such clearly constructed protagonists. I think that, specifically, is what really made this book so special.
"As it so happens, Mr. Jest, I've sometimes come to believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
My main problem with Heartless in the beginning was that there didn't seem to be a voice of reason. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice serves as our guide and shows the contrast between worlds. It's easy to see how wrong things are when you have one person saying "hey this seems strange" or when you get to view something unnerving through their eyes. It is their reaction that helps bridge the connection in your mind. So when the book started and I realized that our narrator, Catherine, was born and raised in this world and thought nothing weird of it, I assumed things would be a bit... muddled, I suppose? I was just afraid that the narration would be unreliable, if that makes sense. But I quickly realized I was wrong-- she did a good job of explaining her world with a sense of confusion and awe while also still having a good grasp of it. It was a nice balance between insanity and Alice-- we still see Hearts with nearly-fresh eyes, but our leader isn't constantly going "what's going on?!?" if you know what I mean.
"It is a dangerous thing to unbelieve something only because it frightens you."
I really came to love Catherine-- I know I say this about all the lovely ladies I read about, but sometimes there are characters who just really speak to you. For me, Tris Prior has always been one, Aelin Galathynius and Tella Dragna are two others, and Catherine Pinkerton is my newest love. It especially hurt to learn how wonderful she was, knowing how far she will have to fall to become the angry, bitter, murderous Queen of Hearts that we know from Carroll. She is brilliant, witty, full of love and ambition, hopeful, kind, brave, selfless, and gentle. She struggles between what she wants for herself and what she knows her parents want for her. Even though they've never been kind to her and only used her to gain notoriety, she still wants almost nothing more than to make them proud. My heart breaks again and again for her, because she truly, truly, deserves to be happy.
They were all a little mad, if one was to be forthright.
Within this book we not only get the origin story of the Queen of Hearts, but we also learn the backgrounds of several other characters! We meet Margaret Mearle who speaks in morals, and it is easy to see that she will become the Duchess later on. Mary Ann is one of Catherine's maids and also her best friend. It took me a minute to figure out why the name sounded familiar in terms of Wonderland, but it all came rushing back to me at the end when Mary Ann betrayed Catherine and was forced to take a job as the White Rabbit's housemaid. Remember that? How he's always calling out for Mary Ann?? Continuing on, we learn way more about the Hatter than I ever expected-- 99% of this story is during his pre-mad days. Him, Haigha (the March Hare), Jest (the court joker) and Raven (... a raven), all came from the land of Chess, where the White and Red Queens rule. They are in an eternal battle, never winning and never losing, but deaths continue to occur on both sides. The only hope they have to end the war is by bringing back the heart of the Queen of Hearts. You see where this is going? Catherine has been prophesied to be the Queen, so that's the original reason Jest tries to become close with her. After that, chaos and devastation ensue.
She pulled her arm back and gasped. She was gripping the handle of a sword. No-- the Vorpal Sword.
An important plot point to mention is that the Jabberwock has suddenly come to Hearts and has been terrorizing its inhabitants. Everyone thought it was a myth until it showed up at their door. I originally thought that it was there to serve as a sort of metaphorical plot device-- like every time the monster strikes, it really means something else. I'm not sure if that makes sense. But regardless, it was a foolish hope of mine because it did have a legitimate role in the plot. Turns out, the Hatter brought some strange seeds from Chess and when no one would buy them from him, he threw them in a pumpkin patch owned by Peter Peter and his wife. Mrs. Peter ate them and began changing into the Jabberwock! Gasp! No one knows this except Sir Peter, and he does his best to keep it a secret. And what is the only thing that can kill the Jabberwock? Why, the Vorpal Sword, of course! But if you are unaware, the sword only responds to royalty. So who is the only person able and unafraid to wield it? Catherine Pinkerton.
"A heart, once stolen, can never be taken back."
Okay, obviously I have to discuss Jest... It's so hard, I loved him so much. He was such a great character-- him and Catherine were so beyond perfect for each other from even the very first moment they met. I loved them together so much that I even hoped they would end up on bad terms and that would be the end of it-- I wanted Catherine to be heartbroken and betrayed because I knew the alternative would be so much worse for her AND for me. They finally get their sweet moment together where the truth comes out and we learn that he was originally trying to steal her heart, but then fell in love with her and therefore could not complete his mission. Catherine planned to reject the king's proposal so her and Jest could be together, and it all seemed like it would work out. But then, Mary Ann told Cath's parents what was going on between them and rather than let Cath's reputation be ruined, Jest lied to everyone and said he had put a spell on Catherine and kidnapped her. He managed to escape custody, but he was a wanted man and could no longer show his face in Hearts anymore. Thinking that if she couldn't be with him, she could at least help him with his mission, Catherine agreed to marry the king and planned to give her heart to Jest. However, when he figured out another plan that involved them running away to Chess together and stopping the eternal war in another way, it seemed we had a little bit of hope. To get there, they must go through the Looking Glass, which is guarded by three sisters. They have carved a prophecy into stone for Raven, Jest, Catherine, and Hatta: Murderer, Martyr, Monarch, Mad. They try to shake it off, but when they reach the entrance to the Looking Glass, Catherine comes face to face with her greatest temptation-- she sees through a mysterious doorway that Mary Ann has been kidnapped by Peter Peter and he's going to feed her to the Jabberwock! Cath cannot abandon her friend, even if she betrayed her earlier, so she goes through the doorway, promising to be right back. Of course, all of them follow her. They are able to free Mary Ann and Catherine slays the Jabberwock. But Peter Peter wants revenge, so he beheads Jest right there-- Right. There-- and runs away.
Murderer, martyr, monarch, mad. So far as she could tell, only one of the prophecies had come to pass. Jest was martyred. Jest was dead. Jest.
In a daze, Catherine is brought back to her family. She blames Mary Ann for getting herself into trouble because otherwise she wouldn't have gone to help her. She blames Mary Ann almost entirely for Jest's death. Cath's only wish now is to get her revenge and kill Peter Peter. Though the king is now afraid of her and no longer wishes to be married, Catherine talks her way into a wedding with him and becomes Queen. She later visits Hatta and we find out that he has given up on running from Time because he too is devastated over Jest's death. Before our very eyes, Time catches up with him and he finally goes mad. Now three parts of the prophecy have come true-- martyr, monarch, mad. At the castle, Catherine is surrounded by white roses, and since they remind her of Jest, she declares that only red roses will be permitted from now on. Her heart is broken and she is full of nothing but rage and sorrow. In the middle of the night, though, the three sisters visit her and promise that they can bring Peter Peter to her if she gives them her heart in return.
"But hoping," he said, "is how the impossible can be possible after all."
This book destroyed me-- I've genuinely been in a weird daze for the past 24 hours. I think it's harder when you know the outcome will be devastating; You try so hard to avoid falling in love with the characters, so when you inevitably come to care for them, every moment is so much more heartbreaking. I've always loved Alice in Wonderland, but have never cared for the Queen of Hearts. I love a good villain just as much as the next guy, but she never really appealed to me. Now I can't help but be a little obsessed with her, even if this isn't the origin story Lewis Carroll intended. But to me, I think this book is canon for her, and I will never be able to see her the same way I did before Heartless. In the end of the book, Peter Peter is brought before Catherine. She willingly gives her heart to the sisters and is left with no more feelings of sadness or heartbreak. She feels only rage. Also longing to avenge his old friend, Raven becomes the Queen's Executioner. The final piece of the prophecy falls into place-- murderer.
"For the murder of Jest, the court joker of Hearts, I sentence this man to death." She spoke without feeling, unburdened by love or dreams or the pain of a broken heart. It was a new day in Hearts, and she was the Queen. "Off with his head."
CATHERINE'S LEMON TARTS
Three luscious lemon tarts glistened up at Catherine. She reached her towel-wrapped hands into the oven, ignoring the heat that enveloped her arms and pressed against her cheeks, and lifted the tray from the hearth. The tarts' sunshine filling quivered, as if glad to be freed from the stone chamber.
Here's how mine came out:
These tarts were very tasty. Nice and fresh, lemony, and a bit buttery too. They paired really nicely with the shells for a sweet and sour dessert. I cut the recipe in half and only made two personal sized tarts because I'm running out of fridge space and can't eat these treats fast enough! They still came out delightful and I'd be happy to make them again another time!
Though Catherine made a french tart in the novel (it went in the oven) I made a simpler no-bake version with lemon curd. I'd still like to believe that I did her tarts justice!
The recipe I used suggested garnishing the tartlet with fresh fruit, but I decided to stick with what Catherine uses in the book: a healthy dusting of powdered sugar!
Lemon Tart Recipe: https://challengedairy.com/recipes/pies-crisps-and-cobblers/lemon-tartlets
If you didn't know, I bake something from a book every week and post live updates on my Instagram. Tune in to @picklesandpages every Wednesday to check it out!
NEXT READ: The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh
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