Novel 179: Mary Louisa Molesworth, She was Young and He was Old (1872)

 
Sophie Anderson, Portrait Of Young Girl

Sophie Anderson, Portrait Of Young Girl

 

A virtuous young lady marries a middle-aged attorney to please her dying mother.


Here is another novel by the other Molesworth (see Novel 100), with well-defined characters placed in a carefully developed, interestingly uncomfortable situation. 

“We have read it with a pleasure which is due partly to the inherent interest of the subject, hackneyed as it is, but mainly to the quiet dignity of the style, and a certain sub-acid flavour discernible throughout.” Molesworth has “hit off many of the weak points of provincial life.” Athenaeum, January 27, 1872

“The author . . . is an exceedingly graceful writer, with a good deal of literary taste.  Her pair of sisters have evidently been a work of love, and some pride as well.  We may congratulate her on a success.”  The main character “is certainly made so life-like that we have learned to look at her with her creator’s partial eyes.” Saturday Review, June 15, 1872

Download this week’s novel:

http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014012488