Novel 132: Alice Price, A Wilful Young Woman (1886)

 
George Elgar Hicks, Woman's Mission - Companion of Manhood

George Elgar Hicks, Woman’s Mission - Companion of Manhood

 

The virtuous daughter of a country lawyer is scorned by her selfish, worldly mother.

Here is another novel by Alice Price (see Novel 021), much like its predecessor in its engrossing but implausible plot and its well-defined characters.

“A very readable story. . . .  Mrs. Price has drawn her dramatis personae with some power and vigour, and nobody could possibly find this novel tedious.” Academy, November 20, 1886

“This is an excellent tale, and shows by a conspicuous example, which some of our lady-novelists might profitably note, that it is quite possible to rouse a strong interest in a love-story without even an allusion to unlawful passion. . . .  There are, we think, defects in the plot. . . .   But, on the whole, for sound sense, good feeling and taste, and a style which can be both pathetic and humorous on occasion, this is a book which cannot easily be surpassed.” Spectator, January 29, 1887

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/wilfulyoungwoman01pric/

v.2 https://archive.org/details/wilfulyoungwoman02pric/

v.3 https://archive.org/details/wilfulyoungwoman03pric/

Novel 131: Anonymous, Hanworth (1858)

 
Heywood Hardy, The Meeting in the Forest

Heywood Hardy, The Meeting in the Forest

 

A young lady loves a nobleman, whose interest in her friend she misinterprets.

The author of this forgotten novel is identified neither in Fraser’s Magazine, where it was serialized, nor in its separate publication as a book—a pity, because it’s a good one.

“One of the best photographs of English society as it now exists.” Illustrated Times, October 9, 1858

“It is a pleasant story of society, written with good taste and unquestionable skill.” Examiner, December 25, 1858

“Unobjectionable pleasantness is a quality which carries books, as it does human beings, quietly and happily through the world, but it does not give room for much discussion. . . .  The girls are like real girls, but there is nothing marked about them.  The nobleman, who is a high-minded love-creating coquet, is not an impossibility.  There is no clever writing, no description of scenery, no boring of any sort. . . .  From beginning to end the story goes on quietly, evenly, and agreeably, showing a considerable power of observing family life, a subdued sense of the ludicrous, and an unusual turn for writing intelligible and consecutive English.” Saturday Review, January 1, 1859

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https://archive.org/details/hanworthorigpub00hanwgoog/

Crossword 130: Eat Your Vegetables!

 
Valentine Cameron Prinsep, The Queen was in the Parlour, Eating Bread and Honey

Valentine Cameron Prinsep, The Queen was in the Parlour, Eating Bread and Honey

 

Many of us more advanced constructors, in addition to expressing our special identities, prefer to exclude from our puzzles bad things (like the NRA) and to fill them instead with good things (like our favorite celebrities), with the purpose of causing solvers to transfer their support from the bad things to the good things.  When I started making crosswords, I didn’t know I had this power over solvers, and I let the odd bad thing slip in, usually for the purpose of making the grid easier to solve; but I’ve learned better—what solvers expect and deserve from me, I’ve come to realize, is not guessable content, but cultural uplift and moral correction.

Now I’m appalled at how many OREOs we constructors routinely allow into our grids, not to mention OLEO (long a source of trans fat), and PIE.  So this puzzle is meant as a corrective; it’s filled with foods that are not only healthy, but trendy too! Those solvers who regulate their diet by crossword answers (have you wondered why you’re eating more fish since solving Crossword 127?) will thank me, decades from now, in their heart-healthy hearts, when, before taking their daily five-mile jogs, they read the obituaries of their Oreo-gobbling, pie-stuffed peers.

Download this week’s crossword:

130-Eat-Your-Vegetables!.puz

130-Eat-Your-Vegetables!.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

130 Eat Your Vegetables!

Novel 130: Robert Buchanan, Foxglove Manor (1884)

 
John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, The Temptation of Eve

John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, The Temptation of Eve

 

A charismatic clergyman loves an agnostic squire’s wife.

Well known also as a poet, playwright, and critic, Robert Buchanan (1841-1901) published nearly 30 works of fiction, mostly in the last twenty years of the century. Despite some very silly plot twists at the end, this one provides a convincing portrait of self-deception and depravity.

“A very powerful study.  Mr. Buchanan has firmly grasped the character of a man of a sensuous and even refined imagination, but without moral fibre. . . . He has drawn the central figure with consummate skill, and told his story with great vigour, directness, and rapidity of narration.” Athenaeum, September 13, 1884

“As a study of morbid anatomy it reaches the highest level to which work of that kind can possibly attain.  From a dramatic point of view there is genius” in the handling of our reaction to the main character. Graphic, October 4, 1884

“It touches on that mysterious region in which the love of men to God is seen to have a deep and hidden connection with the mutual love of man and woman; and if we cannot pay it what would be the immense tribute of saying that it deals adequately with such a subject, we may at least declare that the attempt is marked by power and by a profound pathos, and associated with nothing unworthy.” Contemporary Review, 1884

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/foxglovemanornov01buchuoft/

v.2 https://archive.org/details/foxglovemanornov02buchuoft

v.3 https://archive.org/details/foxglovemanornov03buchuoft

Novel 126: Ellen Pickering, The Quiet Husband (1840)

 
Thomas Phillips, William Blathwayt IV and His Wife, Frances Scott

Thomas Phillips, William Blathwayt IV and His Wife, Frances Scott

 

A virtuous young lady, raised in luxury but suddenly orphaned and poor, is taken in by her mother’s former lover.

Ellen Pickering (1802-1843) wrote some sixteen novels before her early death.  If you don’t allow yourself to be annoyed by the plot here (especially the tediously mysterious lovers’ misunderstanding), you’ll enjoy the various carefully developed characters placed in striking situations.

“The quick eye and clear intellect to observe, and the ready pen to convey to others in a pleasant manner the impressions received, are the gifts of which Miss Pickering makes such good use.” Literary Gazette, June 6, 1840

“While we object to the story as being rather too improbable, to the dénouement as occurring merely at the author’s arbitrary pleasure, . . . we . . . pronounce the story . . . to be one that rivets the attention; serving also as the vehicle of numberless happy sketches as well as pointed and telling truths.  The lady has an admirable knack at dove-tailing just reflections in the progress of the narrative, and perhaps still more artlessly, to appearance, in the course of close and rapid dialogue.  With what a keen eye does she mark, if not a very wide world of life, at least distinct and important segments in its circle! with what a delicate hand does she delineate character!” Monthly Review, July, 1840

Download this week’s novel:

http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014559115

Crossword 125: E Emotion

 
Walter Langley, Silent Sorrow

Walter Langley, Silent Sorrow

 

Here’s another crossword which, though made like all my crosswords to endure forever, is nonetheless at the same time keenly focused on the present moment.  A few weeks ago I made a puzzle on the topic of the general retreat (by those who can afford it) from the pandemic onto the internet; now here’s another, on that trend’s darker emotional consequences.

Are you indignant at the obscurity of this crossword’s base phrases? at the randomness of its substitutions? Are you tempted to compose an angry complaint? There’s no need! This crossword includes within itself its own outraged response! The 15 letters involved in its substitutions (either as replacing or replaced) can be anagrammatically rearranged into the terse but telling phrase, “Hate E Emotion Gag!”

Download this week’s crossword:

125-E-Emotion.puz

125-E-Emotion.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

125 E Emotion

Novel 125: Theo Gift, An Innocent Maiden (1883)

 
James Charles, Study of a Girl in White

James Charles, Study of a Girl in White

 

A murder places an innocent girl in a difficult dilemma.

For Theo Gift, see Novel 015.  In this brief novel, the characters, though mostly types, are compelling, and the plot is deftly handled.

Gift’s “idea of an innocent English girl is much more complex and natural than the mere selfish, silly chit who plays the ingénue in most novels. . . . Both the men are very well drawn. . . .  There is nothing depressing in this very pretty, refined, and carefully written book.” Academy, March 1, 1884

“Theo Gift’s last heroine is a very charming little maiden indeed, whose story may be recommended for its purity of tone and unaffected style.  Nor does it want a fairly constructed plot. . . .  Theo Gift always seems in kindly sympathy with the people of whom she writes.” Morning Post, March 13, 1884.


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https://archive.org/details/aninnocentmaide00boulgoog



Novel 124: Anthony Hope, Mr. Witt's Widow (1892)

 
William Powell Frith, Mary, Queen of Scots Bidding Farewell to France

William Powell Frith, Mary, Queen of Scots Bidding Farewell to France

 

A man suspects that his cousin’s fiancée, a rich young widow, might once have been a thief.

Anthony Hope (Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, 1863-1933), best remembered for The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), wrote thirty-some other novels, beginning in 1890; this is a delightful social comedy, well paced and smartly phrased.

“All the characters are neatly sketched, and Mr. Hope’s dialogue is crisp and pointed.  Altogether, this lively and piquant story is good reading.” Saturday Review, May 7, 1892

“The story is good both in conception and in execution.  The style is just suited to the subject.” Spectator, June 11, 1892

“The development and denouement afford rich material for a first-class society comedy, and at the same time the story is clever and exceedingly enjoyable.” San Francisco Chronicle, October 30, 1892

Download this week’s novel:

https://archive.org/details/mrwittswidowfriv00hopeuoft

Novel 123: Isabella Neil Harwood, Raymond's Heroine (1867)

 
George Hayter, The Honourable Mrs. William Ashley

George Hayter, The Honourable Mrs. William Ashley

 

After her father is ruined by an absconding financier, a girl is adopted by her rich aunt.

Isabella Neil Harwood (1837-1888) wrote five novels in six years (1864-1870) before turning to drama.  This, her third novel, has a good plot with surprising turns and some complex characters.

“Domestic life has its depths, as well as its shallows; and the dreadful significance and mystery of life is that none of us know how noble or how vile we may be. To detect this secret strength of mere humanity is a great merit, and one possessed in a high degree by the book now before us.” Saturday Review, April 13, 1867

A “substantially good novel. Home and the world are its theme, but they are treated in no threadbare sentimental fashion. . . . The story . . . is original and well-constructed. . . . The development of character . . . is natural although artistic. . . . The dialogue is natural, and its narrative always well written.” Examiner, April 13, 1867

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000044C46#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-2046%2C-126%2C5523%2C2501

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000044C4C#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-2023%2C-125%2C5479%2C2481

v.3 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000044C52#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-2047%2C-126%2C5523%2C2501