A Double Knot

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 743K words
Chapters: 75

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Double Knot by George Manville FennAuthor: Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 26, 2010

Editor's review

A Double Knot is another of Fenn's full-length novels centered on tangled human relationships; the double bond suggested by the title runs through the narrative, unfolding around promises, misunderstandings, and emotional choices. Fenn's method follows the Victorian serial novel tradition: short chapters, dense suspense, and dialogue-driven plots that make for compulsive reading. The book's strength lies not in depth of thought but in its detailed rendering of the social customs, family relations, and personal dilemmas of the period, making it a useful sample of nineteenth-century British popular fiction's narrative modes. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain and moderate in length, suited to segmented reading on commutes or in spare moments, and also suitable for English learners as plot-driven extensive reading material. Note that character motivations often rely on coincidence and misunderstanding; modern readers may find it melodramatic, and are advised to read it in its period context rather than judge its narrative conventions by contemporary realist standards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Victorian popular fiction
Learners seeking plot-driven material to increase English extensive reading
Those interested in nineteenth-century British marriage and family ethics
Organizers needing public-domain English novels for book club discussions

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting rigorous logical deduction and modern narrative technique
Those impatient with the coincidences and misunderstandings of serial fiction

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter; the suspense at each chapter's end makes a natural stopping point.
Keep a character relationship chart and update it as you read to avoid confusion over the multiple bonds.
After finishing, revisit the foreshadowing in the opening to appreciate the serial novel's structural echoes.
For English study, pick three passages of dialogue per chapter for close reading and retelling practice.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What does the double knot in the title refer to?

The title points to intertwined double relationships and promises between characters; the specific plot connections are for the reader to discern. It can be taken as a structural hint: watch how two parallel character threads converge.

Is this book similar in style to the author's other works?

It continues Fenn's popular narrative style of short chapters, abundant dialogue, and dense suspense, but its focus leans more toward interpersonal and emotional entanglements than adventure scenes, suiting readers who like his narrative pacing.

Do I need to know Victorian background to read it?

Some basic background helps, such as the period's emphasis on engagement, reputation, and family duty. The plot is understandable without it, but readers will miss a layer of insight into characters' motivations.

Comments

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About the author

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909 Author

George Manville Fenn (1831–1909) was a British author whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. The library holds 127 of his works, including The Little Skipper: A Son of a Sailor, The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains, and Sappers and Miners: The Flood beneath the Sea. Most center on youthful growth and adventure, often set at sea, in mining districts, or on the western plains. He also wrote such biographical work as George Alfred Henty: The Story of an Active Life. His writing emphasizes plot momentum and the shaping of character in young readers, and is commonly classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, holding a place in the tradition of juvenile adventure novels.