In Honour's Cause: A Tale of the Days of George the First

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

Rating 3.0
Word count
624K words
Chapters
63

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction British HistoryOcean AdventureCourageDuty and HonorGentlemanly ConductHonor ThemeChivalryGeorgian EraEra of ChangeBoyhood Adventure

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.In Honour's Cause: A Tale of the Days of George the First by George Manville FennAuthor: Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 4, 2007

Editor's review

Set against the political turmoil of George I's reign, this historical adventure revolves around "honour" and is one of Fenn's historical novels for young readers. The work tests family loyalty, political allegiance and personal choice in a time of unrest; the characters are active and the plot moves with the brisk pace characteristic of old-fashioned popular fiction. Its value lies less in meticulous historical reconstruction than in letting readers see how Victorians used historical subjects to talk about credit, courage and duty. The free English text from Project Gutenberg makes it a convenient text for studying or enjoying the lineage of Fenn's work. Readers may note how the author defines "honour" and the class and period limitations implicit in that definition.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Before reading, learn some basic background on the reign of George I to reduce difficulties in comprehension.
  2. Read chapter by chapter, and at the end of each chapter summarize the conflict and the characters' positions in one sentence.
  3. Reread the passages about "honour" together and compare how different characters understand it.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63

FAQ

What does "honour" mean in the title? In the book, "honour" refers both to personal reputation and promises and to loyalty to family and political factions. Different characters understand it differently, and this tension is part of the story's conflict; readers may note how the author evaluates these choices through the plot.
Can I understand it without a background in British history? Yes, but it is advisable to spend ten minutes first learning the general political situation around George I's accession. The main plot still advances through the characters' actions, and the historical background mainly provides atmosphere and motivation without preventing readers from following the basic story.
How does this book relate to other works by the same author? It belongs to Fenn's large output of adventure and historical novels for young readers, with similar subjects and methods, but the characters and story are independent. It can serve as a sample of the author's style before choosing other works for further reading.

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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.