Novel 221: Mrs. Alexander, Her Dearest Foe (1876)

 

William Etty, Crochet Worker

 

A man’s widow is disinherited in favor of a kinsman.

Here is another excellent novel by the excellent Annie French, née Hector, for whom see Novels 001, 063, 113, and 168.

“The situation is striking, and is admirably described”; and the main character’s inner conflict “is given with much power.  The minor characters, too, are excellent. . . .  In fact, the whole story is as clever and readable a thing as we have lately seen.” Spectator, May 27, 1876

The author “is always good-humoured even when satirical, and she is discreet in her sympathy with her characters”; she “is always bright, amiable, and amusing”; the plot “is excellently done; there is not a touch too many, not an indication too broad, but all is painted in with the lightness and delicacy which distinguish Mrs. Alexander’s style, and which we find wonderfully refreshing after so much that is heavy . . . in modern literature.” Saturday Review, June 3, 1876

A contrasting view:

“Mrs. Alexander will not add to the reputation her earlier books earned for her by the present novel, though it is a fair enough story as times go. . . .  The two [main] characters are rather coarsely drawn.” Athenaeum, April 22, 1876

Download this week’s novel:

https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014209880 (Right-click (or control-click, if you have a Mac) on the “view digitized copy” links to download the novel’s three volumes in pdf form)

Crossword 220: Abandon Ship!

 

Edward John Poynter, Cave of the Storm Nymphs

 

The inspiration for this puzzle, at 17 Across, was an actual true-life experience that really happened to me!  It’s another example of this uncanny ability I have to elevate the sordid miseries of the human condition into the realm of transcendent art.

Download this week’s crossword:

220-Abandon-Ship!.puz

220-Abandon-Ship!.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

220 Abandon Ship!

Novel 219: Edmund Hodgson Yates, Broken to Harness (1864)

 

Charles Burton Barber, An Elegantly Dressed Horsewoman Approaching a Fence, Seen from Behind

 

A fashionable girl marries a journalist; a female horse trainer has love troubles.

Edmund Hodgson Yates (1831-1894) managed to offend seriously both William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope in his work as a gossip journalist.  He wrote some nineteen novels, of which this, his first, was perhaps the most popularly successful.  Its most distinctive feature is its representation—sometimes fascinating but sometimes tediously knowing—of contemporary society. 

“We have read it with lively interest, and we lay it aside with an agreeable sense of refreshment.” Athenaeum, November 26, 1864

“We cannot do more than state the almost unexceptionable excellence of all these volumes contain, and add our impression of the value of the many moral lessons the author has conveyed in Broken to Harness.” Manchester Guardian, January 17, 1865

A (slightly) contrasting view:

“A spirited, effective tale of to-day, full of people one understands, who do things they are likely to do . . . with incidents which excite without being improbable”; but while the “subordinate characters” are “alive . . . the higher characters are not.” Spectator, November 26, 1864

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/brokentoharnesss01yate

v.2 https://archive.org/details/brokentoharnesss02yate

v.3 https://archive.org/details/brokentoharnesss03yate

Novel 218: S. Vere, Lady Helena (1877)

 
 

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, The Ball

A millionaire falls in love unwisely.

If anybody knows anything about S. Vere, aside from her (?) authorship of this one short novel, I have been unable to discover it.  In fact, I have found only a single review, which is excerpted below.  The novel’s characters are well delineated, even if its plot is clumsily didactic.

“The story is carefully and tastefully written, and the character of the proud, wayward, but noble-hearted Lady Helena is well drawn.” Academy, August 18, 1877

Download this week’s novel:

https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph013880008

Crossword 217: Birding

 
Henry Stacey Marks, A Select Committee

Henry Stacey Marks, A Select Committee

 

I warn you frankly: this week’s puzzle contains puns.  If you don’t like puns, however, don’t despair: you can make your own pun-free bird-themed puzzle.  Here’s how!  Take words that can appear before bird—“black,” “red,” and “blue,” say—make new phrases beginning with these words, like “black hole,” “red herring,” “blue cheese,” whatever—finish with the revealer “early bird,” and voilà!  Or find phrases with bird names in the middle—“lo(w ren)t,” “Dan(te Al)ighieri,” “ge(t it) in the neck”—and finish with the revealer “birdcage.”  Or find phrases with bird names at the ends—”du(mp tru)ck,” “cr(iminally ins)ane,” “fin(ishing tou)ch,”—revealer “stuffed bird.” A good software program will take care of your grid, fill, and clues, and you’ll end up with something as pun-free, and fully as inspired, as many a puzzle you’ll find any day in the major crossword venues.

Download this week’s crossword:

217-Birding.puz

217-Birding.pdf

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217 Birding

Novel 217: Katharine S. Macquoid, Patty (1871)

 
Henry Nelson O'Neil, Painting con Amore 

Henry Nelson O’Neil, Painting con Amore 

 

The beautiful daughter of a miserly gardener craves money and social position.

Katharine S. Macquoid (1824-1917) wrote some fifty novels between 1862 and 1898; of this one she was particularly proud:  in 1898 she was still identifying herself on her title pages as “Author of ‘Patty.’”

“A pleasant novel; not, perhaps, of the highest class, but, on the whole, well imagined, and satisfactorily worked out.” Athenaeum, December 2, 1871

“The authoress of this novel combines several very unusual excellencies.  The materials of the story and of the plot are derived from the commonplaces of fiction, and from the events of ordinary life. . . .  A group of imperfect, abnormally defective humanities, all distinguished by strong impulses, lack of ballast, and subtle selfishness are brought into contact. . . .  There are many admirably drawn portraits, there is in it a high moral tone blended with a fine appreciation of natural and artistic beauty, and a blessed absence of cant.” British Quarterly Review, January, 1872

A contrasting view:

“All the characters in it, all the interests which it involves, are small. . . .  It is impossible to care very much about the human beings in the story”; however, it “stands considerably above the level of the average novel.  The literary skill which the writer displays throughout is of no common kind, and there are fine things in the narrative.” Spectator, February 24, 1872

Download this week’s novel:

v.1 https://books.google.com/books?id=TLUxAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=macquoid%20patty&pg=PP5#v=onepage&q=macquoid%20patty&f=false

v.2 https://books.google.com/books?id=wtRTAAAAcAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=editions%3ALVryvbxfYesC&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false

Novel 215: H. Bouverie Pigott, Grace Clifford (1865)

 
George Frederick Watts, Rachel Gurney

George Frederick Watts, Rachel Gurney

 

A stubborn squire mishandles his children and tenants.

Nothing is known of H. Bouverie Pigott except that she wrote three novels between 1862 and 1873, of which this was the second.  Its plot is a standard affair of parental ambition crossed by filial willfulness, but the characters are consistent and well defined.

“An easy, natural story made up principally of incidents of family history such as any of us may have met with. . . .  The characters, too, are for the most part, fashioned after ordinary types.” Athenaeum, April 15, 1865

“A domestic story of considerable ability and promise, without any particle of sensational or villanous intermixture of any kind or description whatever.  This is something new in modern novel writing, and yet the interest of the story never flags.  The reader’s sympathies run strongly with the hero and heroine to the very end.  The characters are naturally drawn, and are precisely such as may not unfrequently be met with in ordinary life.” Caledonian Mercury, April 29, 1865

A contrasting view:

“It is so painfully harmless that it is the kind of book suited for a good-conduct prize at a young ladies’ boarding school. . . .  Taken in judicious doses” it “will probably act as a wholesome soporific during the very hot summer we are threatened with.” Morning Post, April 15, 1865

Download this week’s novel:

https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014000718
(Right-click (or control-click, if you have a Mac) on the “view digitized copy” links to download the novel’s three volumes in pdf form)

Crossword 213: Yes

 
John Everett Millais, Yes

John Everett Millais, Yes

 

Why is the English word signifying assent so ugly?  “Si” sounds helpful, “oui” cute, “ja” endearingly goofy, but “yes,” with its growling short “e” and sibilant conclusion, seems just hostile.  When people say it while making that ugly pulled-down-fist motion—often with the implication, “Yes, my enemies lie slaughtered before me!”—they’re only realizing the sound’s potential.  

Download this week’s crossword:

213-Yes.puz

213-Yes.pdf

Solve this week’s crossword online:

213 Yes