Frederick Daniel Hardy, The Necklace
A self-assured social upstart makes her way in the world.
For Trollope, see Novels 029, 079, 138. This is the first installment of a trilogy featuring the title character.
Readers “will be presently enchained in the interest of the tale; for Mrs. Trollope’s usual merit—that of directness of purpose, and a strong belief and interest in her own subject—does not forsake her in the present instance. . . . The tale proceeds naturally, cheerfully, steadily, till the third volume is half over; when a harlequinade of forced combinations and improbable adventures commences. . . . The Widow’s earlier achievements are a genuine and amusing comedy. . . . The account of her earliest exploits . . . is almost worthy of the authoress of ‘Pride and Prejudice:’ higher praise we scarcely know how to give.” Athenaeum, January 5, 1839
“To be sure the writer’s vulgarism, prejudices, and forced combination of melo-dramatic circumstances . . . mar the character of the work; but more than one of the personae dramatis, especially ‘The Widow,’ are originals, and yet truth-speaking portraits. The localities where the story developes itself, such as Clifton, Cheltenham, are capitally sketched, with all their provincial ambitions, scandals, and shabbiness.” Monthly Review, March, 1839
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