The Ruinous Face

Hewlett, Maurice, 1861-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 38K words
Chapters: 4

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.The Ruinous Face by Maurice HewlettAuthor: Hewlett, Maurice, 1861-1923,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 21, 2007

Editor's review

The Ruinous Face is an English literary work by the British author Maurice Hewlett (1861–1923) and is part of the public-domain catalogue of Project Gutenberg's free eBook programme. Hewlett was known for historical novels and romantic tales, and his prose carries the elegance and lyricism characteristic of British literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The book is short and serves well as an introduction to the author's work, or as supplementary material in an English literature survey course for understanding the style of British fiction at the turn of the century. When reading, it is worth attending to shifts in narrative perspective and the unfolding of the characters' inner lives, and to appreciate the author's emphasis on atmosphere alongside plot. As a public-domain eBook, the text is easily accessible and suits fragmented reading on electronic devices, though its language is somewhat removed from contemporary English, and some sentence patterns and vocabulary may require notes or a dictionary. Overall, this is a lesser-known gem suited to literary enthusiasts seeking to broaden their reading and to learn about a marginal figure in British literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love classic British literature and wish to broaden their author list
English majors using it as selected reading in late-nineteenth-century British fiction
Casual readers who prefer short works written in elegant prose
Enthusiasts studying public-domain eBooks and the spread of early electronic texts

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting fast-paced plots or modern narrative techniques
Learners with weak English who are unused to nineteenth-century prose
Readers who need a Chinese translation and will not accept the English original

Reading tips

Read the preface or bibliographic information first to understand where the work stands in the author's oeuvre, then move on to the main text.
Keep an electronic dictionary at hand; mark unfamiliar words and look them up later to avoid constantly interrupting the reading rhythm.
After finishing, compare it with British novels of the same period to see how Hewlett's style differs from that of mainstream writers.

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 in Chinese or English?

This is the original English edition, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook. It contains no Chinese translation, so readers need some ability to read English.

Can I read it without a print copy?

Yes. The book is part of Project Gutenberg's free eBook programme, and the electronic text can be obtained through its platform for reading on a computer, tablet, or e-reader.

What else is worth noting about the author, Hewlett?

Maurice Hewlett was a British writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, known for historical novels and romantic tales. His style is elegant and atmosphere-driven, and this book serves as an introduction to his work.

Comments

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About the author

Hewlett, Maurice, 1861-1923 Author

Maurice Hewlett (1861–1923) was an English writer whose biographical details are limited in publicly available sources, yet his surviving works reveal the character of his writing. Fifteen of his works are held in this collection, drawing chiefly on history and legend while also touching on rural life and human destiny. Representative titles include Little Novels of Italy, The Forest Lovers, The Village Wife's Lament, In a Green Shade, The Spanish Jade, The Fool Errant, The Ruinous Face, and Gudrid the Fair. These titles suggest a preference for restrained storytelling about emotion, adventure, and everyday experience, balancing historical atmosphere with observation of human nature. His works are often grouped under inspirational and coming-of-age reading, and their classical tone suits readers interested in the English literary tradition and historical narrative.