Leonore Stubbs

Walford, Lucy Bethia, 1845-1915Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 395K words
Chapters: 40

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. Leonore Stubbs by Lucy Bethia Walford. Author: Walford, Lucy Bethia, 1845–1915. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Apr 10, 2010.

Editor's review

This work comes from the pen of the nineteenth-century English woman writer Lucy Bethia Walford and belongs to the domestic and social fiction she excelled in. Walford wrote for Victorian readers over many years; her touch is delicate, and she was skilled at delineating character and class manners within everyday scenes. The book revolves around the title protagonist, with the plot driven by dialogue and details of daily life rather than strong external conflict, making it suitable for readers who prefer a slower pace and an emphasis on character psychology and period atmosphere. As a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg, the book is easy to obtain and search for free, but this also means it has no modern annotations or introduction, so readers must adapt on their own to nineteenth-century English usage and narrative pacing. It is better suited as supplementary reading for understanding the character of Victorian popular fiction than as a first choice for beginners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love Victorian English fiction and want to broaden their reading beyond the classic authors
Literature students studying nineteenth-century women writers and domestic fiction
Readers who want free English-language ebooks and can accept old-fashioned English expression

Not a good fit for

Beginners with limited English reading experience who need modern annotations
Readers of popular fiction who prefer fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to get a feel for the language rhythm, then decide whether to read the whole book, so as not to give up midway because of old-fashioned expression
Keep pen and paper or electronic notes to record character relationships and changes in forms of address, so as to follow the social scenes
Read alongside social histories of the same period in England to understand the class and etiquette details in the novel

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

How difficult is the English in this book?

The original is nineteenth-century English, with long sentences and old-fashioned wording, and no modern annotations. Readers with college-level English reading ability who have read a little Victorian fiction will be more comfortable; beginners are advised to try the first few pages before deciding.

Why is there no modern introduction or annotation?

This book is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, aimed at faithfully presenting the original text; it usually does not include modern scholarly introductions, annotations or explanations of terms, so readers need to look up background information separately.

Is it suitable as an introductory book to English literature?

It is not very suitable as a first choice for beginners. Walford is not among the most frequently recommended classic authors, and this book is better suited to readers already familiar with the basic character of Victorian fiction who wish to broaden their reading.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Walford, Lucy Bethia, 1845-1915 Author

Lucy Bethia Walford (1845-1915) was a British novelist. Public information about the details of her life is limited, and her birth and death years and nationality are not yet confirmed in the records held here. Two of her works are collected: Leonore Stubbs and Viisas tyttö, the latter a Finnish title, possibly a translation. Judging from the works available, she wrote mainly full-length novels, focusing on the turns of her characters' fortunes and the small details of everyday life, with plain narration and an unhurried plot, showing the typical features of late nineteenth-century British popular fiction. Her works circulated among readers of her time and are now chiefly consulted as material for the study of late Victorian fiction and women's writing. As the historical sources are scattered, her full career and literary standing await further verification; this note is based only on the works visible in the collection.