A virtuous young lady, engaged to one man, falls in love with another.
Isabel Goldsmid wrote two brief books—this one in 1839, and a Christmas story, “Shadows and Sunshine,” in 1850. The latter begins “Christmas!—hallowed Church, blessed home festival!”—and so it would seem unlikely that its author is the Isabel Goldsmid (1788-1860) who married her first cousin, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, a leading banker and social reformer known among other things for advancing the cause of Judaism in Victorian England. But I haven’t found any traces of any other Isabel Goldsmid. The novel offers a first-person narrator (introduced by a censorious editor) who oddly combines romantic sentiment and detached amusement.
“The single volume before us has many claims to our indulgence. . . The tale is a boná fide love-story, feelingly told.” Literary Gazette, March 23, 1839
“The subject chosen by our authoress . . . is as old as the world itself . . . yet the handling and the general arrangement evince an original genius. There is a quiet humour and shrewd observation in many parts which speak of an acquaintance with varied society, and the power of turning opportunities to account. That important social qualification, good-humoured satire, appears to be her leading characteristic, yet there is much of real feeling touchingly expressed.” Morning Post, April 2, 1839
A (somewhat) contrasting view:
“The incidents . . . are hackneyed, but the authoress has wisely kept clear of all the clap-traps of superhuman generosity, and impossible reconciliations. She has painted life, not exactly as it is, but that portion of it to be found in the vale of tears and shadows.” Athenaeum, April 2, 1839
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