Lettice

Mary Louisa MolesworthProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 233K words
Chapters: 24

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.Lettice by Mrs. MolesworthAuthor: Molesworth, Mrs., 1839-1921,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 8, 2013

Editor's review

Lettice is an English novel by Mrs. Molesworth, a Victorian-era British writer of children's literature, and is a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. The work continues the author's characteristic themes of family and growing up, portraying with delicate strokes a young girl's psychological changes amid family affection, friendship, and everyday life; the language is gentle, the plot unfolds slowly, and it bears distinct marks of its era. The book suits English learners seeking a light entry into nineteenth-century children's literature in the original, as well as readers interested in Victorian children's books and women's writing as background reading. Being a public-domain eBook, it is easily accessible and can be read on screen or in print at any time. A reminder: the childcare views and gender roles reflected in the work carry the limitations of its time, and readers should maintain a historicized perspective. Overall, it is not a modern novel with dramatic twists, but a text to be read quietly while observing how childhood was written in an earlier age.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners seeking a light encounter with nineteenth-century English children's fiction in the original
Readers studying Victorian children's literature and women writers
English readers who enjoy slow-paced, family-and-everyday-life themes
Teachers who need free public-domain eBooks as extracurricular extensive reading material

Not a good fit for

Readers of modern fiction who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Beginners at the起步 stage of English who cannot yet read original long sentences independently
Parents seeking modern childcare guidance rather than literary reading

Reading tips

Read through one chapter first to feel the rhythm of the language, then decide whether to read closely or extensively.
Keep a vocabulary notebook to record Victorian expressions and family usages.
Read alongside children's literature of the same period to observe similarities and differences in themes and views.
Take advantage of the public-domain eBook by dividing it by chapters and reading a small section each day.

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

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly?

Not very suitable for absolute beginners or elementary learners. The original is nineteenth-century English, with rather long sentences, a slow narrative pace, and period expressions. It suits readers with roughly intermediate reading ability who are willing to look up words; beginners may first transition through adapted or bilingual editions.

Why does this book have no introduction from a modern publisher?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg, a free public-domain eBook source that mainly provides the original text and usually does not include a modern introduction or annotations. Readers may supplement it with background on the author or literary history, or read a synopsis first to understand the story's framework.

What can reading this book teach one about the Victorian era?

It offers a view of family relationships, upbringing, gender roles, and everyday etiquette in children's literature of the time, as well as the language style and narrative pace of children's books in that era. But it is a literary work, not a historical source; the views it reflects should be understood in historical context and not taken directly as a factual record of society.

Comments

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About the author

Mary Louisa Molesworth Author · British · 1839–1921

Mrs. Molesworth (1839–1921), born Mary Louisa Molesworth, was an English writer of children's literature in the Victorian era. She was born in Rotterdam in 1839 and died in London in 1921, and was a prolific author; this site holds 57 of her works. Her representative books include The Cuckoo Clock, The Tapestry Room: A Child's Romance, Four Ghost Stories, The Carved Lions, Grandmother Dear: A Book for Boys and Girls, Christmas-Tree Land, and The Palace in the Garden. Her works are often classed as inspirational coming-of-age stories, usually centering on children and unfolding in settings where domestic life and fantasy intertwine. Her warm, delicate style combines imagination with a sense of everyday reality, and she has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery." Public information is limited, but the sheer number of her works shows her lasting influence on child readers of her time.