The Shuttle

Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 1.2M words
Chapters: 119

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 Shuttle by Frances Hodgson BurnettAuthor: Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 18, 2006

Editor's review

The Shuttle is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett written for adult readers. Unlike her better-known children's books, it turns to transnational family, marriage, and property relations. The story revolves around exchanges between characters in England and America, using courtship and family entanglements to present tensions among class, money, and emotion, with the expansive pacing and psychological portraiture common to late-Victorian fiction. For readers, its value lies in offering a popular narrative sample of transnational marriage and women's circumstances at the time; the plot moves steadily and the relationships are clear, making it a good entry point to Burnett's adult fiction. Readers should not expect strong suspense or fast-paced twists; it is better followed slowly over a longer period as the relationships unfold. Reading it alongside background on late-nineteenth-century Anglo-American society will make the setups around inheritance, engagement, and family honor easier to understand.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who enjoy late-Victorian Anglo-American fiction
Readers interested in transnational marriage and women's circumstances
Burnett fans who want to see her adult fiction
Learners who need a public-domain English novel for extensive reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who know only Burnett's children's books and expect the same style
Readers who prefer fast pacing and strong suspense
Beginners who struggle with English and need extensive annotations

Reading tips

Clarify the relationships between the English and American characters before entering the plot; reading will be smoother.
Proceed chapter by chapter and keep brief character notes to avoid confusion across the transnational threads.
Use background material on late-nineteenth-century Anglo-American society to understand the engagement and property setups.
Treat it as extensive reading material with a fixed daily portion, focusing on the narrative rhythm.

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 the same style as The Secret Garden?

No. The Shuttle is an adult novel by Burnett about courtship, family, and property relations, with more expansive narration and more visible social issues; The Secret Garden is children's literature. Readers expecting a children's story may find this book slow-paced with more complex relationships.

What background is helpful before reading?

Some knowledge of late-nineteenth-century Anglo-American exchanges and the basic conventions of marriage and property arrangements of the time will help in understanding character motives. The story's threads are clear enough to follow without preparation, but knowing the period makes the setups around family honor, engagement, and class differences easier to grasp accurately.

How difficult is the original English?

It is late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century English fiction: sentences are long and description is plentiful; vocabulary is not obscure but requires patience. Readers with some experience of English novels can proceed smoothly; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or an annotated edition and read in small chapter-by-chapter portions.

Comments

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About the author

Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924 Author

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an author of English-language children's literature whose works are often categorized in Chinese contexts as inspirational coming-of-age stories. This library holds 49 of her works, including her best-known titles A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Little Lord Fauntleroy, as well as versions and school editions centering on Sara Crewe. Her writing usually places children at the center, telling stories of how they keep their dignity, draw on imagination, and grow through hardship or sudden change, in a warm and sympathetic tone. Public information is limited, so her biographical details are not elaborated here; yet the repeated publication and adaptation of these works show that her portraits of girls and boys have circulated widely and left a lasting influence on later children's coming-of-age narratives.