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

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

Download this week’s novel:

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