David Alfred Bywaters's Crossword Cavalcade & Fortnightly Victorian Novel Recommender. Every Saturday! Either a new language-torturing puzzle or an old novel by an unjustly neglected Victorian author. Why waste time on other amusements?

Novel 063: Mrs. Alexander, Ralph Wilton's Weird (1875)

Abraham Solomon, First Class, The Meeting
Abraham Solomon, First Class, The Meeting

An aristocratic officer, threatened with disinheritance unless he marries well, is attracted to a mysterious girl.

Here is another, shorter novel by Mrs. Alexander (See Novel 001), with an easily guessable but entertaining plot and an interestingly complex heroine.

“In spite of the plot being . . . commonplace, the story runs well in the artistic hands of the author; the characters are definite, the heroine charming, and the result agreeable to the reader.”  Athenaeum, April 3, 1875

“The characters . . . are well sketched”; “the story, though slight, is . . . one which from its brightness and play of fancy is sure to please.”  Morning Post, June 4, 1875

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/ralphwiltonswei01hectgoog/page/n4

v.2 https://archive.org/details/ralphwiltonswei00hectgoog/page/n4