Novel 184: Anna Harriet Drury, Deep Waters (1863)

 
Abraham Solomon - The Bride.jpg
 

Abraham Solomon, The Bride


A gentleman accused of fraud in a bank failure is loved by two good women.


Here is another novel by Drury (see Novel 64), featuring, amid a great deal of virtuous suffering, an eventful plot and some well-drawn characters.

“A thoroughly readable story, well written and well worked out, if due allowance be made for the improbabilities of the plot.” Westminster Review, July, 1863

“The plot is original, and well managed throughout, the characters well conceived and sustained. . . . the style pure, simple, and unaffected, and the interest uninterrupted.” Continental Monthly, January 1864

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/deepwatersnovel01drur

v.2 https://archive.org/details/deepwatersnovel02drur

v.3 https://archive.org/details/deepwatersnovel03drur

Novel 183: Bithia Mary Croker, The Cat's-Paw (1902)

 
Sydney Prior Hall, The Maharani of Cooch Behar.jpg
 

Sydney Prior Hall, The Maharani of Cooch Behar


A virtuous young lady, orphaned and unwanted by relatives, is lured to India, where she has diverse adventures.


Here is another novel by Croker (see Novels 013, 073, 129), with a good (if somewhat episodic) plot, sharply defined characters, and a vividly realized setting.

The novel presents “the conditions and circumstances of Anglo-Indian life . . . as well as authors who take themselves more seriously. . . . The best part of the story is the picture of a third rate boarding house.” Athenaeum, March 1, 1902

“The book is fresh and vivacious; the pictures of Indian life are vivid and convincing.” Saturday Review, March 15, 1902

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https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh0mAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=editions%3AoGWMJUprgrUC&pg=PP12#v=onepage&q&f=false

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

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

Novel 174: Lucy B. Walford, Cousins (1879)

 
Edwin Longsden Long, The Cousins 

Edwin Longsden Long, The Cousins 

 

Three sisters react to the return of their wealthy and distinguished cousin from India.


This novel provides a generous sampling of its author’s characteristically deft social comedy (see Novels 018, 066, 121), despite a sometimes annoying plot.

“There is a resemblance in the manner of handling to Miss Austen’s manner, especially in the first volume; and when it is said that Cousins does not come too discreditably out of the comparison, we need not say that a very high compliment is thereby paid to the author.” Academy, July 26, 1879

“It is, in part at least, a very good novel—one of the best that we have read for a long time.  The situation . . . upon which it turns is . . . novel and . . . has great capabilities. . . .  Its great attraction lies in the delicacy of the character drawing, in the charming domestic sketches in which it abounds, and in the natural and easy dialogue which is so rare an accomplishment with novelists.  The first volume, which is far the best, will remind many readers of Miss Austen’s work, and it would be impossible to give it higher praise.” Manchester Guardian, August 18, 1879

Its “success is, in our judgment, decided”; it is “as careful and honest as it is modest and pure.   The purpose of the story is kept in view throughout; there are no tricks of style or language, and there is no padding.” Saturday Review, August 30, 1879

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/cousins01walfo

v.2 https://archive.org/details/cousins02walf

v.3 https://archive.org/details/cousins03walf

Novel 171: Cecil Clayton, Azalea (1876)

 
Margaret Sarah Carpenter, Lady Harriet Hamilton 

Margaret Sarah Carpenter, Lady Harriet Hamilton 

 

A girl, raised to the age of twelve in the Italian Alps by the widowed daughter of a Jewish silk-merchant, is on her mother's death adopted by her English uncle.


About Cecil Clayton nothing is known, except that two novels appeared under this name, Effie’s Game in 1873 and this one three years later.  It has some excellent characters, a good style, and a pleasantly untroubled plot, as though the author were too soft-hearted to inflict much pain on her (or his?) creations. 

“Azalea is a story which, without having anything new either in plot or characters, is distinctly easy and pleasant to read, in consequence of its thoroughly cultured and well-bred tone.” Academy, September 9, 1876

“People whose nerves have been shaken by overwork or anxiety, people who wish to forget that there are such things as passion and suffering in the world, should read this smoothest of all smooth tales, and enjoy the society of the innocent persons.  The worst characters in Azalea are sometimes flippant or a little peevish, but their failings are never allowed to interfere with the tranquil happiness of the hero and heroine.” Saturday Review, September 16, 1876

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https://books.google.com/books?id=o2tTPrSSiosC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=azalea%20cecil%20clayton&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q=azalea%20cecil%20clayton&f=false

Novel 169: Arthur Locker, Sweet Seventeen (1866)

 
James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Visitors to London

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Visitors to London

 

An orphan girl, adopted by a London doctor, has rival lovers.


Arthur Locker (1828-1893), a journalist and editor, published five novels between 1863 and 1874.  This one begins in Australia, where the author spent some years, but is mostly set in middle-class London.

“Those writers of prose fiction who season their pages with mysterious crime and repulsive vice, should study the modes by which Mr. Locker captivates the imagination of his readers with scenes alike humorous and innocent.  Instead of making them endure his characters by rousing a morbid curiosity as to the sequel and result of a startling commencement, he leads them to enjoy his story by inspiring them with personal interest in its characters.  From first to last the book is fresh with nature and unconstrained pleasantry.  The actors are neither tame nor commonplace; the incidents bear no resemblance to the conventional arrangement of story-tellers; and yet the drama impresses us with a sense of its fidelity to human nature and society in such a manner that we seem to encounter old friends and familiar faces in every scene. . . .  The world described is that of the middle and lower grades of our great middle-class—the world of professional men and merchants, clerks, and petty tradesmen; and with never-flagging humour does Mr. Locker set forth the ways and tempers of the various persons who are made to illustrate this comparatively humble life.” Athenaeum, November 10, 1866

“The author . . . has produced one of the most agreeable, if not one of the most instructive, tales of fiction of the season.  It is graceful and unpretending.  It discloses no profound philosophy, displays no erudition, professes no high moral aim, but amuses and delights by the natural exhibition of character under varied circumstances and unexampled situations. . . .  Mr. Locker weaves his love story with gentle tissues.  There are no wild flights of passion, no desperate deeds of vengeance, nor suicides; all is natural, fluent of feeling that is subdued and rational, and issuing in results probable, pleasing, and in harmony with the means employed.  One of the charms of Mr. Locker’s novel is its realism, with sufficient sentiment and fancy to link the real with the ideal.” Morning Post, December 11, 1866

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v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000458D0#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=-116%2C0%2C2833%2C2094

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000458D6#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=-119%2C0%2C2848%2C2104

v.3 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000462BA#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=-111%2C0%2C2842%2C2101

Novel 165: Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Herbert Chauncey (1860)

 
Walter Field, Men were Deceivers Ever

Walter Field, Men were Deceivers Ever

 

A faithless lover is secretly pursued by a vindictive father.


Sir Arthur Hallam Elton (1818-1883), a baronet and member of Parliament, wrote only two novels, of which this is the second. The characters are interesting, the style good, and the plot involving, though it ends with odd abruptness, seeming to hint at a sequel that never came.

“We congratulate Sir Arthur Elton and the public” on his “brilliant success. . . .  Among the distinguishing merits of the novel . . . are the freshness and artistic construction of the story.  It is full of variety, yet its unity is perfectly preserved, unbroken by a single episode.  Its interest increases in intensity with an even progression from the first chapter to the last.” Spectator, August 4, 1860

“There is a largeness and simplicity in the conception of the plot, which is worked out with facile dialogue and in a narrative that never flags.  There are no tedious descriptions, no second-hand moralities, all is action and passion well presented.” Examiner, October 13, 1860

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/herbertchaunceym01elto

v.2 https://archive.org/details/herbertchaunceym02elton

v.3 https://archive.org/details/herbertchaunceym03elton

Novel 164: Amelia Perrier, A Good Match (1872)

 
George Elgar Hicks, Maud

George Elgar Hicks, Maud

 

A spirited young lady resists her cruel baronet uncle’s plan to marry her to a wealthy pork-dealer.


Amelia Perrier (1841-1875) wrote two novels during her sadly brief career, of which this sprightly social comedy, featuring a refreshingly assertive heroine, is the second.

“‘A Good Match’ is very brisk and vivacious, and sparkles with arch humour.  Its heroine . . . tells her own story with a keen sense of fun in its recital. . . .  The charm of the story is its freshness, vigour, and dash. . . . The two volumes bristle with little keen, sharp sayings.  But beyond the charm of manner there is a deeper and truer charm . . . which is the thorough unaffected contempt of the writer for all that is base and cruel and mean.” Examiner, June 22, 1872

“Miss Perrier’s pen is perfectly unlaboured; she writes with ease, and apparently, out of a merry heart, in which the humour is untainted by cynicism; and it is a relief to sit down with two little volumes like these—trifling though the story is—after wearing through novels and tales innumerable, wrought, with much painstaking ability, out of their authors’ profound misconception of their own ability. . . . It reads like what it pretends to be, the autobiography of a healthy-minded, handsome girl, too courageous to be cowed by the kicks and cuffs of unloving relatives.” Spectator, November 2, 1872

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v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000004D724#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-889%2C-125%2C3203%2C2480

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000004D72A#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=4&xywh=-71%2C-147%2C2766%2C2142