An orphaned virtuous young lady seeks to make her way despite her relatives’ selfish unhelpfulness.
Here is another novel by “Mrs. Alexander” (see Novels 001, 063, 113) with her usual vivid characters, dramatic situations, and gratifying if impossible plot.
“No one can read this book without being struck by the more than ordinary ability that it displays. . . . It is . . . written with a fluency, an ease, a knowledge of literary manipulation, and a ripeness of worldly wisdom that would seem to indicate the practiced hand of a mature writer. . . . There are many observations scattered about, too, which show that the author has had unusually rich opportunities for studying life in various phases. There is a knowledge of the bitter ways and clever makeshifts of poverty, as well as of the parade and hollow friendships springing up like mushrooms in a night round unexpected wealth . . .; while many of the characters are careful life-studies. . . . It deals with difficult questions with the quiet boldness of a Voltairean of the nineteenth century. . . . The character of Madeline throughout is of great psychological power.” Saturday Review, September 22, 1866
“A novel of much interest and power. . . . The work is remarkable for the fidelity of its pictures of domestic life, both English and French, which convey to the reader an irresistible impression of probability and reality, and of being presented by an eyewitness. . . . The story is full of incident and well-drawn character. ‘Which Shall It Be?’ is a novel of great literary and constructive merit, and evinces penetrating observation of character as well as lively descriptive power. As a story it excites vivid interest from the beginning, and sustains it to the end.” Examiner, October 12, 1866
Download this week’s novel:
http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014211328
(Right-click (or control-click, if you have a Mac) on the three “view digitized copy” links to download the novel’s three volumes in pdf form)
