A virtuous young lady flees from her persecutors in London to a fisherman’s cottage on the island of Sark.
Hesba Stretton (1832-1911), née Sarah Smith, wrote over sixty works of fiction, most of them children’s books which, despite their evangelical purpose, were immensely popular: Jessica’s First Prayer (1866) sold well over a million copies. Her odd pen-name was made up of the first initials of her own and her four siblings’ names, and the name of a Shropshire village.
“The best novel of the week. . . . In descriptive writing the authoress must be given a high place, and there is a good deal of life in the story.” Athenaeum, February 15, 1873
“A fascinating story, which scarcely flags in interest from the first page to the last”; it is “not a great book” but “we are ready to confess that since the publication of ‘Jane Eyre,’ we can hardly remember a novel which has excited in us a more continuously absorbing interest.” British Quarterly Review, April 1873
“This is a tale of unusual merit and interest. . . . Everything about The Doctor’s Dilemma is worthy of praise. The tone of feeling is sound and wholesome, the story interesting, and the characters drawn with much force and distinctness.” Spectator, July 5, 1873
Download this fortnight’s novel:
v.1 https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003FD20#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-619%2C-126%2C2693%2C2502
v.2 https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003FD26#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=-1%2C-203%2C2598%2C2413
v.3 https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003FD2C#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=0%2C-192%2C2526%2C2347
NB: The British Library’s website remains unavailable, affecting the links above and many others on this site. Someday, we hope, it will return. Meanwhile: a one-volume American edition is available here: