Lover or Friend

Carey, Rosa Nouchette, 1840-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 1.1M words
Chapters: 107

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.Lover or Friend by Rosa Nouchette CareyAuthor: Carey, Rosa Nouchette, 1840-1909,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 22, 2009

Editor's review

This is a novel by the nineteenth-century English writer Rosa Nouchette Carey, prepared by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. Carey's work often centres on family life, emotional choices and women's circumstances; her narrative is plain and delicate, and she is skilled at unfolding relationships through everyday scenes. The book takes the emotional question of lover or friend as its theme, involving reflection on defining identity and making choices in intimate relationships, and is of some value for understanding the character of late Victorian popular fiction. As a public-domain electronic text, it suits reading from a research perspective or out of personal interest, allowing readers to observe the thematic inclinations and narrative pace of women's writing of the period. Note that this is the original English edition and an early popular novel, so its plot development differs considerably from modern works; readers should slow down, attend to the marks of the era in dialogue and psychological description rather than seek strong plot tension. Overall, this is a work suitable as supplementary reading in literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature lovers interested in nineteenth-century British fiction who wish to broaden their reading
Students or researchers studying late Victorian women writers and popular fiction
Readers who need free public-domain English texts for extensive language reading practice
Readers of traditional fiction who prefer a slow pace and emphasis on relationships

Not a good fit for

Readers of modern genre fiction who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient and who need a Chinese translation for support
Readers seeking systematic literary criticism or a detailed annotated edition

Reading tips

First learn about Carey's background and the general situation of nineteenth-century British women's writing, then begin the text.
Proceed chapter by chapter, briefly noting changes in character relationships after each chapter to avoid confusion.
When encountering unfamiliar period expressions, mark them first and look them up later, so as not to interrupt the overall reading rhythm.
After finishing, compare it with works by other Victorian women writers to form a thematic comparison.

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?

According to the information, the book is in English: it is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, not a Chinese translation. Chinese readers need some English reading ability or tools to assist them.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg was the earliest project to provide free eBooks, and this book is a free electronic text it prepared. It is easy to obtain and search, but usually contains no modern editorial notes or introduction, so readers need to supplement background material themselves.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extensive reading material, but the book was written long ago and its language style is distant from modern English, with rather long sentences. It is advisable to read it after gaining some foundation, focusing on understanding plot and characters rather than analysing every word.

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About the author

Carey, Rosa Nouchette, 1840-1909 Author

Rosa Nouchette Carey (1840–1909) was a nineteenth-century British novelist known for coming-of-age stories written for girls and young women. Her works usually center on family life and the moral choices and emotional trials that girls face as they enter adulthood, in a gentle, realistic style with a clear didactic and inspirational purpose. The library holds eleven of her works, including Lover or Friend, Our Bessie, Wee Wifie, Uncle Max, Herb of Grace, Esther: A Book for Girls, Doctor Luttrell's First Patient and Not Like Other Girls, showing that her subject matter concentrates on girls' growth and domestic ethics. Because public information is limited, details of her life cannot be given in full, but it is clear that her writing had some influence on the juvenile reading of her time and is often classed as inspirational coming-of-age fiction.