Others: Positive The Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 6: The Last Chronicle of Barset
Genres: romance, historical fiction, classics
Lists: …
Anthony Trollope
1861 · 532 pages · 3 reviews
Others: PositiveThe Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 4: Framley Parsonage When young Mark Robarts was leaving college, his father might well declare that all men began to say all good things to him, and to extol his fortune in that he had a son blessed with an excellent disposition. This father was a physician living at Exeter. He was a gentleman possessed of no private means, but enjoying a lucrative practice, which had enabled him to maintain and educate a family with all the advantages which money can give in this country.
What made the match, strongest first
Anthony Trollope
1864 · 605 pages · 7 reviews
Others: PositiveThe Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 5: The Small House at Allington The Small House at Allington introduces Trollope's most charming heroine, the betwitching Lily Dale, onto the Barsetshire scene. She so endeared herself to readers of the Cornhill Magazine, where A Small House was first published in serial form, that Trollope was bombarded by letters begging him to marry her to her lifelong adorer Johnny Eames. Lily is the niece of Squire Dale, an embittered old bachelor entrenched in the "Great House" at Allington. His sister-in-law lives at the adjacent "Small House" with her two daughters Lily and Bell, and the action centers on the relations between the two houses and on the romantic entanglements of the two girls. We also meet Sir Raffle Buffle, the bullying head of a government department, the heartless Lady Dumbello, and the shallow Adolphus Crosbie, who gets his just deserts in the form of the frigid Lady Alexandrina de Courcy. Trollope's characteristic theme of the invasion of a pastoral, conservative world by brash and progressive forces from London gives him an opportunity in this novel for vivid, contrasting descriptions of gracious country living, with croquet and tea on the lawn, and of the cut and thrust of London life in the 1860s. - Back cover.
What made the match, strongest first
Charles Dickens
1800 · 822 pages · 12 reviews
Others: PositiveOur Mutual Friend is a satiric masterpiece about money. The last novel Dickens completed, and perhaps his most angry, it sounds all the great themes of his later work: the innocence and venality of the aspiring poor, the hollow pretensions of the nouveau riche, the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt everyone it touches. Among those caught up in the ruthless forces of change in Dickens's London are the archetypal innocent Noddy Boffin, who 'inherits' a dustheap where the trash of the rich is thrown; Silas Wegg, a grotesque, one-legged man with unlimited fantasies of grandeur and power; Mr. Veneering, Member of Parliament, whose house, furnishings, servants, carriage, and baby are all 'bran-new'; and Alfred and Sophronia Lammle, who marry one another because each wrongly believes the other is rich. The social themes of Our Mutual Friend--having to do with the treatment of the poor, education, representative government, even the inheritance laws--are informed and brought into coherence by the underlying presence of the Thames, signifying the perpetual flow of life into death, and acting as agent of retribution and regeneration too, as a kind of river god in fact, in a novel in which no other god is very present.
What made the match, strongest first
Edith Wharton
1910 · 98 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveEdith Wharton wrote Ethan Frome as a frame story — meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a "frame" around the main story How It All Goes Down It's winter. A nameless engineer is in Starkfield, Massachusetts on business and he first sees Ethan Frome at the post office. Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled. The man becomes fascinated with Ethan and wants to know his story. When Ethan begins giving him occasional rides to the train station, the two men strike up a friendship. One night when the weather is particularly bad, Ethan invites the man to stay at his house. In the hall the man hears a woman talking angrily, on and on. When Ethan speaks, the voice stops. The man tells us that he learned something that night which allowed him to imagine Ethan's story. Now we go back in time 24 years and learn about Ethan's life. Ethan has walked from his farm and sawmill into town to pick up Mattie Silver from the church dance. He peeks in the windows of the church basement and sees Mattie dancing with Denis Eady and is jealous. Mattie is Ethan's wife's cousin. Her parents both died just over a year ago, and she was left with nothing. Her father had apparently swindled some of the relatives out of their savings, so nobody wanted to help Mattie. Zeena, Ethan's wife, is always sick, and decided to let Mattie live with them in exchange for doing the housework and helping the ailing Zeena. Ethan liked Mattie from the beginning and worried that Zeena was too hard on her. The two women soon adjusted to each other (sort of) and things weren't as bad as they could have been. Meanwhile, Ethan has fallen in love with Mattie and wants to spend all his time with her. Mattie soon comes out of the dance, and Ethan watches while Denis Eady tries to give her a ride home. She brushes him off and then Ethan reveals his presence. Ethan and Mattie are happy to see each other. They discuss possibly doing some sledding in the future. Neither is afraid to sled down the hill – at the bottom of which lies the deadly elm tree. The walk home is altogether lovely and romantic, but when they arrive, the house key isn't under the mat like it usually is. Soon, Zeena, looking ill and scary, comes downstairs and lets them in. She's usually in bed by this hour but she couldn't sleep. She is obviously suspicious of their behavior. The next day she announces that she will be gone overnight visiting a new doctor. Mattie and Ethan make good use of her absence and enjoy a romantic dinner for two. Unfortunately, the cat breaks Zeena's favorite dish and Ethan isn't able to locate any glue until after Zeena gets back. The first thing Zeena does when she gets home is to tell Ethan that she's kicking out Mattie. He protests, but fighting is useless. Then Zeena finds the broken pickle dish and is super upset (it had been a wedding gift). Ethan decides he'll run away with Mattie, but then a combination of lack of cash and guilt stop him. Still, he insists on driving Mattie to the train station. He takes her on the long route, so they can look at different places they enjoyed together. By the time they get to the town sledding hill, it's already dark. As they are contemplating sledding, and pondering the hopelessness of their situation, Mattie suggests that they sled into the elm tree and kill themselves. Ethan agrees and they smash into the tree. But they survive. Then the story goes back to the present and we find the engineer right where we left him, about to enter the Frome kitchen. When he does enter he learns that the woman who was talking on and on in an argumentative tone is…Mattie! She has spinal disease and can't move without assistance. Zeena is there too, cooking. They all three live together, an unhappy family in the Frome house.
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E.M. Forster
1910 · 341 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveHowards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life. Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece
What made the match, strongest first
Monica Dickens
1940 · 349 pages · 4 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveMonica Dickens's first book, published in 1940, could easily have been called Mariana - an Englishwoman. For that is what it is: the story of a young English girl's growth towards maturity in the 1930s. We see Mary at school in Kensington and on holiday in Somerset; her attempt at drama school; her year in Paris learning dressmaking and getting engaged to the wrong man; her time as a secretary and companion; and her romance with Sam.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itAnd you know what? I'm going to put it up in the absolute all time favorites because I love it so much. And also because the Barsetshire Chronicles, it's my favorite book series ever, and the final Chronicle of Barset is like the bringing together of everything, and I love it, and it's just beautiful, and I was very emotionally invested.
