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Novel 331: Frank Barrett, A Recoiling Vengeance (1888)

June 7, 2025 David Bywaters

John Lavery, Anne Moira and the Honourable Mrs Forbes-Sempill


An attorney attempts to guide a client’s estate to a proper recipient.


Frank Barrett (1845-1926) wrote some 40 novels in a variety of subgenres between 1874 and 1914; this one has a particularly engaging narrator.

“A very pretty, natural, and refreshing story is A Recoiling Vengeance, although a slight and artless one. . . . in its clearness and brightness it reminds us a little of the manner of Anthony Trollope.” Saturday Review, September 8, 1888

Barrett has “a style which has ease and freedom, and at the same time a certain grace and restraint. . . . It is a bright, taking story, rendered all the more attractive by a vein of very pleasant humour which runs through it.” Spectator, September 29, 1888

Download this fortnight’s novel:

https://archive.org/details/recoilingvengean00barr

In Novels
Crossword 330: SB →