Novel 016: Mary E. Mann, Moonlight (1898)

 
James Tissot, The Shop Girl

James Tissot, The Shop Girl

 

A young woman, daughter of a once-prosperous farmer, is forced by his bankruptcy to seek work in a shop, where she is courted by the local veterinarian.

Mary E. Mann (1848-1929) wrote nearly forty novels between 1883 and 1918. Here she provides (in just one volume)  memorable characters, an unusual setting, a bright style, and an engaging plot.

“Written in a brief, simple, unemphatic style, with never a note forced anywhere, this story yet produces a wonderfully strong effect. . . .  Commonplace persons, with average standards of conduct and quite unideal, even vulgar instincts . . . are neither rated nor made fun of; merely observed with a wise tolerance and with a tender sympathy for the joys, and the sorrows, and the weariness they share with the more gifted tithe of humanity.  This altogether uncritical yet observant attitude gives us a sense of novelty, and convinces us of the writer’s uncommon power.”  Bookman, January 1899

“An excellent style, a command of natural, crisp, and vivacious dialogue, a firm grasp of character, and a dramatic imagination.”  Speaker, February 25, 1899

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http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000043B84#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-822%2C-133%2C3099%2C2658

Novel 015: Theo Gift, Lil Lorimer (1885)

 
John Bagnold Burgess,  The Church Door

John Bagnold Burgess,  The Church Door

 

A young lady, neglectfully raised by her disreputable English father in Montevideo, finds herself in trying social circumstances.

Dorothy Boulger, née Havers (1847-1923) published some 17 works of fiction under the pen-name Theo Gift between 1874 and 1901.  She spent her late teens and early twenties (1861-70) in Uruguay, a setting carefully realized, along with some convincingly conflicted characters, in Lil Lorimer

“A charming and romantic novel. . . . The . . . characters are invariably lifelike. . . . The author has painted South America with a realistic fidelity.”  Morning Post, April 16, 1885

The “descriptions of Urugayan town and country life . . .have all the appearance of being reproduced from original experiences”; The plot is true “to the complex realities of life.” Graphic, May 16, 1885

“The descriptions of life in that part of South America are both instructive and entertaining. . . .  The character-drawing . . . is also good, and the plot . . . is simple and natural.  But the story depends for its interest less on dramatic episodes and startling surprises than on portrayal of character and analysis of motive.” Spectator, July 25, 1885

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v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000421B0#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-493%2C-1%2C3557%2C2104

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003C53A#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-396%2C0%2C3383%2C2000

v.3 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003AEA2#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-390%2C-1%2C3356%2C1985

Novel 014: Julia Rattray Waddington, Janet; or, Glances at Human Nature (1839)

 
Frank Stone, Friendship Endangered

Frank Stone, Friendship Endangered

 

An unassuming, affectionate young lady is envied by her older sister

Julia Rattray Waddington (1801-1862) wrote only four novels, all between 1838 and 1842.  This one, illustrating the passion of envy, is notable for its vivid and original characters; one of the best, a middle-aged unmarried woman living in a small town, seems possibly autobiographical

It “contains passages of feeling and sparkles of humour, subdued in tone, but still true to life.” Athenaeum, January 26, 1839

“The result of watchful observation in collecting the materials, and of much care, thought, and pains, in working them up . . . Its merits are—a nice and miniature delineation of those persons and of that life with which the mass of novel-readers are familiar; much truthfulness of dialogue; a keen but never malicious satire . . . the whole being embodied in a story which sometimes runs and never drags.” Spectator, January 26, 1839

“The story is made up of such incidents and feelings as characterize every-day life. . . . There are abundant proofs that the writer is a close observer of mankind and manners, habitually reflective, and a good natured satirist.  The dialogue is often particularly clever and effective.”Monthly Review, February, 1839

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http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph013983847

Novel 013: B.M. Croker, Katherine the Arrogant (1909)

 
James Tissot, Without a Dowry 

James Tissot, Without a Dowry 

 

A young lady, raised in aristocratic wealth but left penniless by her heedless father, persuades an aged friend to hire her as servant and companion.

Bithia Mary Croker (1848?-1921) wrote nearly 50 novels between 1882 and 1920.  This charming post-Victorian social comedy has motorcars and electric lights.

“A good story on a theme which always attracts, the woman who has to conquer the world.” Spectator, March 27, 1909

“An excellent story; crisply and vivaciously written, and thoroughly interesting from start to finish.” Bookman, April 1909

“It is written with an appearance of ease and competency of touch tending to disarm criticism.” Athenaeum, April 17, 1909

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https://books.google.com/books?id=53IOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Novel 012: Catherine Gore, Mrs. Armytage (1836)

 
John Lavery, Elizabeth Welsh

John Lavery, Elizabeth Welsh

 

A proud, rich widow seeks to control her children.

Catherine Grace Frances Gore, née Moody (1799-1861), one of the most popular and esteemed novelists of the early Victorian period, wrote over 50 novels between 1824 and 1858.  Mrs. Armytage dates from the year before Victoria’s accession; its compelling and original main characters more than make up for some implausible plotting.

The novel provides “a capital and very agreeable picture of society in its various shades,—the trifing, scheming, laughter-and-scandal-loving exclusives; the respectable, unpretending, domestic nobility; the smaller Yorkshire squires; the family oddities which grow up in a remote provincial neighbourhood.  Most of the characters too are exceedingly well drawn,—effective yet without the exaggeration in which a more vulgar artist would have indulged.”  The style is “light, rapid, sparkling, and pointed, the combined result of natural wit, much observation of life, and considerable practice in writing.”  Spectator, July 9, 1836

Gore excels “in depth as well as nicety of observation, in the various portraiture of manners, and in the connecting with peculiar force minute traces of artifical character with strong movements of natural passion.”  Examiner, July 24, 1836

The novel shows “acute penetration into the motives by which individuals and even whole classes of society are actually though not openly impelled. . . . The character of Mrs. Armytage is conceived with delicacy and discrimination, developed and sustained with admirable consistency and effect.”  Morning Post, August 1, 1836

We “wish that Mrs. Gore could change her sex, and become M.P. for some borough . . . for she displays all the brilliant elements of one in every page. . . . Her information is abundant, her shrewdness wonderful, her tact excellent, and her perceptions of character delicate, and happy in the extreme.”  Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, February, 1837

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem01gore

v.2 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem02gore

v.3 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem03gore