The Squire's Daughter: Being the First Book in the Chronicles of the Clintons

Archibald MarshallProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
453K words
Chapters
46

Tags

English Originals Rural LifePortrait GalleryFate and FortuneFamily EpicFamily EntanglementsLove EntanglementsHeartwarming NarrativeRural LifeVictorian EraBritish Literature

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 Squire's Daughter: Being the First Book in the Chronicles of the ClintonsAuthor: Marshall, Archibald, 1866-1934,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 25, 2010

Editor's review

This is the first book in Archibald Marshall's "Chronicles of the Clintons" series and a typical English classical rural family novel. Marshall was active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and his work is known for its gentle, delicate portrayal of the social manners of the gentry. Readers will find estate life, family relationships, and young people's emotional choices, narrated at an unhurried pace with the reserve and subtlety characteristic of English fiction of that era. As a public-domain ebook, it was first released electronically by Project Gutenberg in 2010; it is easy to obtain and serves as an accessible introduction to the tradition of English gentry literature. There is no need to rush the plot; it is better read slowly in a quiet setting, savouring the tact in the characters' dialogue and the atmosphere of the period. For readers studying English literature or seeking to expand their reading of English originals, it offers a moderately long sample with language that is not overly difficult; but readers looking for strong dramatic conflict or a modern narrative pace may find it flat. It is best approached as a slow-reading family portrait, with attention to the unfolding of relationships and period detail.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the opening chapters first to sort out the Clinton family relationships, then continue through the text.
  2. Mark unfamiliar gentry titles or period expressions as you go; there is no need to look up every word.
  3. Read alongside later books in the series to see the characters' development more clearly.
  4. After each chapter, note changes in relationships in a sentence or two to help keep track of the threads.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46

FAQ

Which book in the series is this, and do I need to read the others first? It is the first book in the "Chronicles of the Clintons" series, so you can start here in series order without reading any other book first. Later volumes continue with the same family and setting, and reading them after this book will feel more natural.
How difficult is the English, and what level is it suitable for? It is an early twentieth-century English novel with longer sentences and fairly formal vocabulary, but without a large amount of obscure terminology. Readers with a college English CET-4 level or above who are willing to read slowly will find it accessible; beginners may need a dictionary or a parallel translation.
Where can I get the ebook, and is it free? The book is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook and can be downloaded and read free of charge from the Project Gutenberg website. Available formats and download methods are as described on the site; no purchase is required.

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

Archibald Marshall Author · English · 1866–1934

Archibald Marshall (1866–1934) was a British novelist, journalist and humorist, born Arthur Hammond Marshall in Hampstead, London, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He wrote more than fifty works, known for his delicate portrayal of English country life and once regarded as an heir to the Tolstoyan tradition. His novels mostly centre on gentry families and the routines of country houses, written in a gentle and often humorous tone. Representative works include The Squire's Daughter, Peter Binney, The Graftons, The Hall and the Grange, Abington Abbey, and The Honour of the Clintons from the Chronicles of the Clintons. Nine of his works are held in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational growth. He served as literary editor of the Daily Mail and founded the publishing house Alston Rivers.