A girl is led into a secret marriage with an army officer called to war.
About Katherine Biggar, nothing is known but her name (which Troy J. Bassett finds in her publisher's accounts), and that she wrote two novels, of which this was the first.
It has “no ordinary merit.” “The authoress . . . would seem to have reckoned throughout her labours more upon the reader’s appreciation of a quiet pen well informed of the petty vices and foibles of human nature, than upon his desire to be enthralled by harrowing descriptions and astounding situations, that form no part of the natural and every-day business of life.” However, much of it is “tedious if not unprofitable.” Literary Gazette, November 29, 1851
It has an “extremely interesting plot”; an “unusual number of characters” are “finished with the nicest and most discriminating skill”; “one of the pleasantest, most sensible, and best-written works of fiction we have lately had to report on.” Bentley’s Miscellany, January 1852
A contrasting view:
“We cannot recognize in the The Fair Carew any power of eloquence, nor any acuteness of observation. The story is not without interest, though made up of threadbare materials. The best quality in the book is the power of sketching character, which, though it does not go beyond sketching, has nevertheless a distinctiveness and freedom of touch which give hope of future excellence.” Leader and Saturday Analyst, November 22, 1851
Download this fortnight’s novel:
https://archive.org/details/faircareworhusba01lond/