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 083: Emma Robinson, Cynthia Thorold (1862)

Sir Francis Grant, Lady Katherine Isabella Manners, Countess Jermyn
Sir Francis Grant, Lady Katherine Isabella Manners, Countess Jermyn

A young lady is displaced at her father’s death by a vulgar ship-chandler.

Emma Robinson (1814-1890) wrote fifteen novels between 1843 and 1867, most of them historical; this, however, is contemporary, an odd combination of farce and ghost story, written in a sometimes tortured but always lively style.

“The plot is dramatic enough, and would make an excellent farce.  As a story it is very entertaining.”  Caledonian Mercury, July 26, 1862

“Unlikely scenes...described with dash and spirit.”  Athenaeum, September 13, 1862

Download this week’s novel:

https://books.google.com/books?id=okBWAAAAcAAJ&dq