She is healthy, wholesome-looking, and thoroughly, marvelously unselfish. She makes her own living in London as a purchasing agent, her home being a third-story back room in the house of a poor and kindly family with whom she boards. It is plain, indeed, that he has three places of more magnificence than Mallowe Court.Īll the women of the house party, maids and widows - except his kinswoman, old Lady Maria, and Miss Emily Fox-Seton - do their utmost to bag his lordship, though none of them is shown to care a rap for him except as the owner of his title and estates.Įmily Fox-Seton is depicted, at first, as a really fine girl. Her lion is Lord Walderhurst, a widower of fifty-four, who is not shown to have any other attractions than his title and wealth. Original 1901 review of The Making of a Marchionessįrom the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, August 11, 1901: Old Lady Maria has a house party at Mallowe Court. The following original review from an America newspaper seemed less than impressed, though despite its flaws, the novel and its sequel have enjoyed a revival and have apparently stood the test of time. It also goes from merely a romantic Cinderella story to a commentary on Victorian marriage. In the sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst Emily has Walderhurt’s child, and the plot thickens.
In Cinderella-like fashion, she becomes an instant Marchioness. While within Lady Bayne’s circle, the Marquess of Walderhurst, a widower twenty years Emily’s senior met an chose to marry her. When the novel opens, she is in the employ of Lady Maria Bayne, a silly and selfish woman of wealth. Reflecting the reality of the times, Emily Fox-Seton has few options but to work as a lady’s companion. The theme of the story is familiar to readers of Victorian literature - the well-born woman who has found herself penniless. Plot summary of The Making of a Marchioness Subsequently, the story was adapted by BBC radio, also in 2007, and then for television in 2012, retitled The Making of a Lady on PBS. The Making of a Marchioness gained new life when it was republished by Persephone Books in 2007. Soon after, the two books were combined into one volume, Emily Fox-Seton, named for the heroine. Relating the story of Emily Fox-Seton, The Making of a Marchioness was followed by a sequel in the same year: The Methods of Lady Walderhurst was also published in 1901. The author of The Secret Gardenand A Little Princess wrote many novels for adult readers, though none have been as enduring as those for “children of all ages.”
The Making of a Marchioness is a 1901 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the prolific British-American author better known for timeless children’s classics.
0 kommentar(er)
