Novel 108: Frances Eleanor Trollope, That Unfortunate Marriage (1888)

 
Philip Calderon, Preparing for a Walk

Philip Calderon, Preparing for a Walk

 

A lively but virtuous young lady, raised by her unfashionable grandmother, is introduced into society by a fashionable aunt.


Frances Eleanor Trollope (née Ternan) (see Novel 033) here provides another collection of deftly handled comic characters caught in Victorian contradictions of class and wealth.

The novel “deals with ordinary people and characters in a fresh and graceful way.  Nothing could be more hackneyed than the basis of the plot; but there are some delightfully natural characters, and the current of interest is calm and pure throughout.” Athenaeum, December 15, 1888

That Unfortunate Marriage . . . yields to none of this lady’s previous works in point of faithful and observant portraiture, with all the quiet humour which accompanies thoroughly natural description of life and manners. . . .  One rises from the book with the feeling that one hardly remembers or cares what it has been about, in the delight of having formed a new and interesting circle of acquaintance, whose counterparts we know to exist in the world around us, and whose thoughts and ways have become so familiar that we could tell to a nicety what any of them would say or do in any given circumstances.” Academy, January 5, 1889

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/thatunfortunatem01troluoft

v.2 https://archive.org/details/thatunfortunatem02troluoft

v.3 https://archive.org/details/thatunfortunatem03troluoft

Crossword 107: Inner Lemons

 
Jessica Hayllar - The Lemonade Drink

Jessica Hayllar - The Lemonade Drink

 

People often ask me, “Why are you so wonderful?  What's your secret?”  Well, I'll tell you what it is: it’s my attitude! I always look on the bright side!  When life gives me lemons, I make a crossword puzzle!


Download this week’s crossword:

107-Inner-Lemons.puz

107-Inner-Lemons.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

107 Inner Lemons


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A crossword of mine will appear Sunday, December 8, in Universal Crossword, and another Wednesday, December 11, in the Wall Street Journal.


Novel 107: Margaret Oliphant, Whiteladies (1875)

 
Sir Luke Fildes, Naomi

Sir Luke Fildes, Naomi

 

An old woman is troubled about the succession of her ancestral estate.


Here is another novel by Margaret Oliphant (see Novels 007, 008, 056): the elderly, morally conflicted protagonist and the playful young woman who torments her are both outstanding creations.

“Mrs. Oliphant . . . avails herself of a most unpleasant plot to make a remarkably fine study of character.” Bradford Observer, December 4, 1875

“The characters are generally well-drawn and diverting. . . .  As a study of ordinary people, the book evinces a skill almost wonderful.” Scribner’s, May, 1876

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/whiteladies01olip

v.2 https://archive.org/details/whiteladies02olip

v.3 https://archive.org/details/whiteladies03olip

Novel 106: Elizabeth Glaister, The Perfect Path (1884)

 
James Sant, Meditation

James Sant, Meditation

 

A gambler’s daughter wants to be good.


Elizabeth Glaister (1840-1892) wrote five novels between 1873 and 1890.  This one has a lively style and an unusual comic heroine.

“Although the title of ‘The Perfect Path’ suggests too strongly something in the nature of a religious novel—one of the most terrible forms of literature—it is in reality a very lively story, in which the author, by keeping well within her powers, has succeeded.  The heroine is very graphically presented and makes a charming figure.” Athenaeum, February 16, 1884

“There are some good character studies in this entertaining story.” Morning Post, February 27, 1884

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/perfectpathnovel01glai

v.2 https://archive.org/details/perfectpathnovel02glai

Crossword 105: End Times

 
Marcus Stone, The End Of The Story

Marcus Stone, The End Of The Story

 

Are we nearing the end?  Is the human race on the brink of collapse??  Is there nothing left for us but a period of hopeless mass suffering amid war, and disease, and famine that will end only in our species’ extinction???

Oh well—here’s a crossword puzzle.


Download this week’s crossword:

105-End-Times.puz

105-End-Times.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

105 End Times


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A crossword of mine will appear Friday, November 29, in The Los Angeles Times (and The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle, etc.)


Novel 105: Noell Radecliffe, Alice Wentworth (1854)

 
Henry Tanworth Wells, Alice

Henry Tanworth Wells, Alice

 

A well-meaning man is led into disaster by unfortunate sexual impulses.


Another tale of love and adultery, of good people at the mercy of bad ones, by the great Noell Radecliffe (see Novel 005), a writer as brilliant as she (he?) is forgotten.

“The character of the heroine . . .  is conceived with singular delicacy, and sustained with admirable consistency and spirit.  Other personages are introduced whom we recognise as portraitures of real life.  There is Horace Ferrers, whom we all know.  Arthur Darrell . . . is a man and not a conventional hero.  Lady Emily . . . is a picture drawn by a masterly hand, and made effective not by bold strokes and dashing outlines, but by a quiet completeness that gradually brings out the portrait distinct and perfect as a living thing.” Critic, January 2, 1854

“Kind, good, simple, unforced, full of energy, full of feeling.” Athenaeum, January 14, 1854 

Download this week’s novel:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000422CA#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-582%2C-116%2C2595%2C2522

Crossword 104: Another Cavalcade of Crosswordese

 
Arthur Hughes, The Property Room

Arthur Hughes, The Property Room

 

Last year’s “Cavalcade of Crosswordese” was so enormously popular that I have decided to make a sequel.

But don’t suppose I’m just blindly feeding the appetite of the masses. As I’ve said before, my purpose in making puzzles is to influence the public to share my refined tastes and correct opinions by alluding to them in my grid entries.  So I’ve got my favorite Norwegian city in here, and my favorite sandwich cookie (except for the Hydrox), and my favorite boxer, and my favorite bygone autocrat (doggone those Bolsheviks!).  Alas, I couldn’t find a place for my favorite detective-movie dog this time, or my favorite Shakespearean quotation, or any of my favorite musicians; but no matter, I think my past work has already done enough to raise the profiles of Asta, “Et tu,” Ono, Eno, and the ELO. They’re catching on!

“How can I help in this worthy endeavor?” you ask.  It’s easy.  Donate $12 (and get a 15x15 bonus crossword made entirely of words and phrases current in the Victorian era), or $13.50 (and get a 21 x 21 bonus crossword made of the usual stuff) or $15 (and get both).  Just click this button:

Donate


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A crossword of mine will appear Sunday, November 17, as the Universal Sunday Crossword (in, for example, the New York Daily News), and another Wednesday, November 20, in the Wall Street Journal.




Novel 103: Charlotte Yonge, The Trial (1864)

 
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Family Group

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Family Group

 

A young man is falsely accused of murder.


This is the sequel to The Daisy Chain, of eight years before (Novel 053).  Here Yonge moves beyond the domestic, including not only a murder but also an American episode, in which a few of her characters seek prosperity in an Indiana swamp while the Civil War rages in the distance.

“With the old Pre-Raffaelite touch Miss Yonge paints her portraits, quietly, faithfully, and as completely as she can.” Reader, June 18, 1864

Yonge “understands how to work the machinery of a large family—to show how the different members act and react on each other—in a probable and calculable manner.” Saturday Review, August 20, 1864

“In these days of exciting fiction, it is difficult to sustain public interest without doing violence to the more refined tastes of educated readers.  Much insight into human nature is needed, and no small amount of artistic power.  These desiderata are well supplied by the authoress of this story, and those who remember and admired her elegant style of writing will not be disappointed in her new book.” Manchester Guardian, September 6, 1864

“No one can deny that this lady draws the inner and outer life of a certain limited class of characters with a truth and reality almost unrivalled, or that her pictures of struggling middle-class interiors are finished with the fidelity of a Dutch painting.” Westminster Review, October, 1864

Download this week’s novel:

v.1  https://archive.org/details/trialmorelinksd03yonggoog

v.2 https://archive.org/details/trialmorelinksd01yonggoog

Novel 101: A.J. Barrowcliffe, Normanton (1862)

 
William Fraser Garden, Houghton Mill

William Fraser Garden, Houghton Mill

 

In a country village, two cousins both love the miller’s daughter.


Albert Julius Mott (?-1870) wrote three novels between 1856 and 1862 under the pseudonym A.J. Barrowcliffe.  This, the last, has an intricate plot which runs its course over five days in a small village.

“The author . . . is able to breathe life into the creatures of his imagination, so that they perform his bidding naturally, and do not require the visible presence of his guiding hand.  He has a thorough sympathy with nature. . . .  And he has a keen insight into the complex machinery of the human mind. . . .  Moreover, he possesses no small share of humour.” London Review, December 20, 1862

The author succeeds in “the production of a minutely finished and faithful picture of English country life. . . .  Mr. Barrowcliffe’s story is quite sufficiently interesting, and is developed with considerable skill; but certainly the most noticeable point in his book is the extreme polish and smoothness of his style.” Spectator, December 27, 1862

“An honest purpose, a graceful style, and a certain novelty in construction, make this a very good story.” Examiner, April 4, 1863.

Download this week’s novel:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000451B6#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-617%2C-130%2C2673%2C2592

Novel 100: Mary Louisa Molesworth, Leona (1892)

 
James Sant, A Thorn Amidst the Roses

James Sant, A Thorn Amidst the Roses

 

Two cousins grow interested in the same man.


Here, to follow last week’s Mary Molesworth, is the Victorian period’s other Mary Molesworth, Mary Louisa Molesworth (1838-1921), a prolific author mainly of children’s books, though she also wrote novels for adults, like this one—a quiet story based on plausible, entertaining misunderstandings of character and purpose.

“It is a very enjoyable book. The characters of the young men and girls who are the principal persons in the little narrative drama are, in the main, admirably delineated; . . . and the conversation, which is an important element in a tale of this kind, is specially excellent.” Academy, October 15, 1892

“The characters are well drawn, the incidents probable and well led up to, and the story interesting.  But the strong point of the work, after all, lies in the character drawing, especially in the subtle delineation of shades of diversity in disposition, amongst a family where all the members are chiefly remarkable for their amiability and worth.” Westminster Review, July 1893

Download this week’s novel:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000033A32