Love's Shadow

Ada LeversonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 310K words
Chapters: 31

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.Love's Shadow by Ada LeversonAuthor: Leverson, Ada, 1862-1933,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 2006

Editor's review

This novel by the English writer Ada Leverson belongs to the tradition of social comedy of manners between the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Leverson writes with wit and lightness about the emotional entanglements and married lives of upper-class men and women; the dialogue is amusing, and the characterization is satirical yet warm. The book is short and briskly paced, making it a good introduction to late nineteenth-century British women's writing and popular fiction. Readers should not expect grand social critique; its value lies more in verbal wit and fine observation of human affairs. For readers who enjoy Wildean repartee and Austen-like courtship themes, this is a work to read easily and with a smile. The electronic edition comes from Project Gutenberg, making it convenient for fragmented reading on a phone or e-reader and suitable as supplementary material for an English literature elective.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy British novels of social manners and courtship themes
Literature enthusiasts curious about late nineteenth-century women writers of popular fiction
English learners seeking light original-language reading to improve language sense
Casual readers who prefer short, briskly paced novels with witty dialogue

Not a good fit for

Serious literary readers expecting deep social critique or grand narrative
Beginners completely unfamiliar with Victorian social contexts who are unwilling to consult notes

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the relationships, then return to savor the irony and wit in the dialogue
Consult background material on late nineteenth-century British women's writing to understand the work's place in its era
When using it as English reading material, mark unusual social expressions and look them up in batches to avoid frequent interruption

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 in the original?

Not really for absolute beginners. The language is not especially difficult, but it contains expressions and euphemisms from late nineteenth-century British social settings that require some vocabulary and background knowledge. Intermediate or higher English reading ability is recommended, or read a Chinese introduction first before attempting the original.

What background knowledge is helpful for reading this book?

It helps to know about marriage customs, social etiquette, and family structure in late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century British upper-class society. Knowing that women's writing was becoming more active and the popular fiction market was expanding at the time also helps in understanding the work's position and appeal.

What is the reading experience of the electronic edition like?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a free public-domain e-book, mainly in plain text, suitable for phones, tablets, or e-readers. It has no modern annotations or introduction, so readers need to look up background information themselves, but it is easy to obtain and portable.

Comments

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About the author

Ada Leverson Author · British · 1862–1933

Ada Leverson (1862–1933) was a British novelist, born in London into a wealthy Jewish family and known for her witty comedies of manners. A close friend of Oscar Wilde, she was called "the Sphinx" by him and supported him during his trial and imprisonment. Her works focus on the emotional manoeuvring of marriage and social circles, with a light, ironic tone and a gift for revealing her characters' self-deception through dialogue and detail. Six of her works are held in this collection: Love's Shadow, Tenterhooks, The Twelfth Hour, The Limit, Love at Second Sight and Bird of Paradise. Public information is limited, and her life and work are chiefly discussed in relation to the friendships and style described above.