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risky_oak's review
"I'm reading a book by a Victorian author"
"By whom?"
"Guess"
"Charles Dickens?" "No"
"Wilkie Collins?" "No"
"Robert Louis Stevenson?" "No"
"Oscar Wilde?" "No"
"Thomas Hardy?" "No"
"Anthony Trollope?" "No. It's by a woman."
"Emily Brontë?" "No"
"Charlotte Brontë?" "No"
"Elizabeth Gaskell" "No"
"George Eliot?" "No"
"By whom then?!"
"By Mrs George Linnæus Banks."
"Who??"
"Mrs Isabella Banks née Varley."
"Never heard of her."
"Of course you never heard of her. Her identity was hidden behind her husband's name, as it was, and is a custom for married women. An underrated book, by an underrated, relatively unknown authoress. On goodreads, The Manchester Man, her most well known novel has 50 ratings, 10 of which are reviews. Only one of her other 10 works here on goodreads has a rating, only 1. Yes, it is an underrated Victorian novel set not in the Victorian era but in the preceding era, the Regency / Georgian era(s)."
Time
1799-1832 Five years before Queen Victorian's ascent to the throne and the beginning of Victorian times, but it takes place in the first half of the industrial revolution.
Title
Jabez Clegg an orphan boy ascents the stairs of prosperity from poverty to wealth from apprentice to master, and from being an unnamed nobody to be named The Manchester Man.
Story
A historical novel that takes place in the first 3 decades of 1800's in Manchester. Along with the fictional bits it has (Jabez's story), it also blends fiction with facts (Peterloo Massacre in Manchester 1819).
It also has a love triangle but nothing like the usual YA love triangles. Jabez loves Augusta his benefactor's daughter but she prefers the rich and beautiful yet cunning and sinister Laurence Aspinall, over the kind self-sacrificing yet plain looking Jabez Clegg. Finally she manages to marry Laurence but soon he's transformed into a jealous beast.
I won't tell you how this book ends but I highly recommend it to everyone. Not just a novel but also a social critique, a moral story set in the beginnings of the industrial revolution, an almost heart rending story. If you love Victorian novels and you want a break from Dickens and the Brontë's read this book and you will like it, if not love it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars
"By whom?"
"Guess"
"Charles Dickens?" "No"
"Wilkie Collins?" "No"
"Robert Louis Stevenson?" "No"
"Oscar Wilde?" "No"
"Thomas Hardy?" "No"
"Anthony Trollope?" "No. It's by a woman."
"Emily Brontë?" "No"
"Charlotte Brontë?" "No"
"Elizabeth Gaskell" "No"
"George Eliot?" "No"
"By whom then?!"
"By Mrs George Linnæus Banks."
"Who??"
"Mrs Isabella Banks née Varley."
"Never heard of her."
"Of course you never heard of her. Her identity was hidden behind her husband's name, as it was, and is a custom for married women. An underrated book, by an underrated, relatively unknown authoress. On goodreads, The Manchester Man, her most well known novel has 50 ratings, 10 of which are reviews. Only one of her other 10 works here on goodreads has a rating, only 1. Yes, it is an underrated Victorian novel set not in the Victorian era but in the preceding era, the Regency / Georgian era(s)."
Time
1799-1832 Five years before Queen Victorian's ascent to the throne and the beginning of Victorian times, but it takes place in the first half of the industrial revolution.
Title
Jabez Clegg an orphan boy ascents the stairs of prosperity from poverty to wealth from apprentice to master, and from being an unnamed nobody to be named The Manchester Man.
Story
A historical novel that takes place in the first 3 decades of 1800's in Manchester. Along with the fictional bits it has (Jabez's story), it also blends fiction with facts (Peterloo Massacre in Manchester 1819).
It also has a love triangle but nothing like the usual YA love triangles. Jabez loves Augusta his benefactor's daughter but she prefers the rich and beautiful yet cunning and sinister Laurence Aspinall, over the kind self-sacrificing yet plain looking Jabez Clegg. Finally she manages to marry Laurence but soon he's transformed into a jealous beast.
I won't tell you how this book ends but I highly recommend it to everyone. Not just a novel but also a social critique, a moral story set in the beginnings of the industrial revolution, an almost heart rending story. If you love Victorian novels and you want a break from Dickens and the Brontë's read this book and you will like it, if not love it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars
supitslois's review
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
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