Ellen Middleton—A Tale

Fullerton, Georgiana, 1812-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 732K words
Chapters: 74

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. Ellen Middleton—A Tale by Georgiana Fullerton. Author: Fullerton, Georgiana, 1812-1885. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Feb 4, 2010

Editor's review

Ellen Middleton—A Tale is an English novel by Georgiana Fullerton, classified under English literature, and is now available as a free eBook through Project Gutenberg. As a work by a nineteenth-century woman author, it suits readers interested in the Victorian novel tradition and offers a textual sample for understanding the narrative styles and moral concerns of the period. Its length and language difficulty are moderate: it can serve as supplementary reading for English literature courses or as practice in reading original English texts independently. The Gutenberg edition is easy to search and excerpt on electronic devices, and readers can understand the characters' situations in light of the religious and social background of the author's time. Note that this is an old work whose narrative pace and values differ markedly from contemporary writing; read it with a historical perspective, as a literary document rather than light entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English majors seeking supplementary reading samples of nineteenth-century British fiction
Literature enthusiasts interested in works by Victorian women writers
Self-learners who wish to practice reading original English texts using public-domain eBooks
Instructors researching electronic text resources from Project Gutenberg

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced contemporary fiction and have limited patience for older narrative styles
Beginners with weak English skills who need extensive annotations
Readers who only want plot summaries and do not intend to read the original text

Reading tips

Read through one chapter first, noting the narrative person and pace, then decide whether to continue in depth
Pair the reading with materials on the author's life and nineteenth-century British social background, taking notes on character relationships as you go
Use the electronic edition's search function to mark recurring keywords and observe how themes develop
If used for a course, assign reading by chapter and organize discussions on morality and women's circumstances

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 English proficiency is suitable for this book's language difficulty?

The original is a nineteenth-century English novel whose sentence structures and vocabulary carry period features; readers with college-level English reading ability or some experience with original English texts are advised to try it. Beginners can read chapter summaries first, then read closely paragraph by paragraph, using dictionaries and background materials to reduce difficulty.

How does the Gutenberg edition differ from a print edition?

The Gutenberg edition is a free electronic text that is easy to search, copy, and read across devices, but it usually lacks modern editorial notes or introductions. Print editions may include scholarly annotations, so readers can choose a version based on whether they need supplementary materials.

Is this book suitable for literature course assignments?

It can serve as supplementary reading for nineteenth-century British fiction, especially for discussing topics such as women authors and moral narrative. However, since it lacks modern annotations, instructors are advised to supplement background materials and design guiding questions to help students understand the period context.

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About the author

Fullerton, Georgiana, 1812-1885 Author

Georgiana Fullerton (1812–1885) was a nineteenth-century British novelist. Her work spans two kinds of writing, historical fiction and religious biography, and her style shows the moral concern and delicate psychological portrayal common in the Victorian era. Three of her works are included here: the historical novel Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century, which recounts in the first person the life and religious circumstances of an English Catholic family in the sixteenth century; Ellen Middleton—A Tale, a novel of social life centered on the fate of its heroine; and The Life of St. Frances of Rome, and Others, a religious biography of saints and their devout lives. Because public information is limited, details of her life are difficult to establish, but the surviving works show her skill at interweaving historical material, questions of faith, and human feeling, giving her a representative place in the religious fiction and saintly biography of her time.