September Books: 1800s

 October has arrived! Yay! I am always so happy to get to this time of year. 

As is the case every month, September was full of books. I loved some and was disappointed in others. I will begin with Victorian novels today and move on from there in the days to come.

Wives and Daughters: An Everyday Story by Elizabeth Gaskell

This is Gaskell’s last novel and widely considered to be her best work. One scholar called it the most underrated novel in the English language. I did not realise it was unfinished, but she was nearly at the end when she died. The original publishers added an epilogue in which they drew on her notes and conversations with the author’s family and friends to tell readers how everything was to end. She was close enough to the end that it could all be assumed anyway, but it was a good addition to the book. 

I loved this book. The main character is Molly, a girl whose mother died when she was quite young. Molly lives with her father, a doctor, in a rural area and through her, we meet many of the quirky characters who also live there. When her father remarries, Molly gains a sister. The story moves back and forth between families and characters and there are many different storylines. Through the different stories and characters, Gaskell explores a time of change within England politically and culturally. I look forward to reading more of Gaskell’s work.

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

This is the first book (of 6) in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire series. The story revolves around Septimus Harding, who is the warden at a home (overseen by the church) for poor retired labourers with nowhere else to go, some of whom are in ill health. Many years previously, a man had stipulated the creation of the home in his will, laying out how much was to be spent on various things, including an allowance for the residents. Harding is considered a good and kind warden, who cares for the men and even provides them with an extra allowance out of his own pocket. He lives in the warden’s house on the grounds with his daughter, Eleanor. His older daughter is married to the archdeacon, whose father is the bishop. It is through the bishop, a very old and dear friend, that Harding got the job in the first place.

Enter John Bold, a young man who grew up in the area and who returned when he inherited his father’s house, in which he lives with his sister, Mary. The Bolds are good friends with Septimus and Eleanor. John is a ‘do-gooder’ who gets involved in situations where he sees injustice and tries to remedy this. He decides that the men at the home are not getting as much money as they should be and raises a stink. Things spiral out of control and there are unintended consequences.

I enjoyed this book a lot and am looking forward to continuing on with the series. Bill found the books on ebay, being sold by a library in The Cotswolds, so it was a win-win. I got some books I wanted while supporting a library. He also found Middlemarch there. I’m always happy to support libraries!

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope’s

This is the second in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire series. It continues the story of Mr Harding and his daughter, Eleanor. In it we revisit some of the people we met in The Warden and are introduced to many new characters. I loved this book. There is something quite appealing about immersing myself in a big book with multiple storylines and characters, written and set in a different time and place. I think the next book in the series will focus primarily on other characters, but some of those in the first two books may make appearances.

Miss Meredith by Amy Levy

I had never heard of this author, but she was mentioned in a booktube video I listened to recently and I decided to look her up. Based on what the booktuber said and what I read, I decided her work was worth checking out. I found four of her books (two of them poetry collections) on Project Gutenberg and downloaded them. 

This short book is about Elsie Meredith, who is a young woman in her early 20s. She lives in Islington (England) with her two sisters and her widowed mother. They don’t have much money, so when Elsie gets a job offer from a friend of a friend that would provide her with a good salary and would require her to live in Italy, she takes it. She sets off for Pisa, where she will live with an aristocratic family and teach music and English to a woman only a few years younger than she is. The story is an account of her journey, her culture shock, her experience of that particular region of Italy, and her attempts to adapt.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (audiobook read by Anton Lesser)

I love this story. I listen to various versions every year—radio adaptations and one audiobook reading. I have a couple of different audiobook versions, but had never heard this one before, so when I saw it in the e-audiobook section of the library website, I put myself in the queue early so I would get it before Christmas. This is a good version—the reader does a good job for the most part, although it seemed a bit weird to hear Jacob Marley sounding like a young punk. Scrooge sometimes seemed to sound like he was from Scotland. This is not the best audiobook version I have heard—Geoffrey Palmer does the best reading I’ve heard—but it was pleasant.

Share