Two middle-aged women vie for a bachelor; meanwhile, a virtuous young lady is besieged by scoundrels.
Henry Milton (1784–1850), Frances Trollope’s brother, Anthony and T.A. Trollope’s uncle, wrote only two novels, of which this is the first. It amusingly combines farce and melodrama.
He is like his sister in providing “the same literal truth in the descriptions of common life; the same tendency to caricature in the humorous, and to melodramatic exaggeration in the serious parts.” The Spectator, May 2, 1840
“His talent is equal for the serious or the comic, the one, however, sometimes verging into the melodramatic, the other occasionally approaching the burlesque.” The Morning Post, May 9, 1840
Written in “an easy and agreeable style,” the novel shows a “lively sense and good humour, . . . excellent knowledge of ordinary life,” and “nice discrimination of character in its ludicrous as well as its quiet aspects.” The Examiner, May 31, 1840
Download this week’s novel:
v.1 https://archive.org/details/rivalry01milt
v.2 https://archive.org/details/rivalry02milt
v.3 https://archive.org/details/rivalry02milt