Mistress Margery

Emily Sarah HoltProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 196K words
Chapters: 20

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.Mistress Margery by Emily Sarah HoltAuthor: Holt, Emily Sarah, 1836-1893,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 25, 2007

Editor's review

Mistress Margery is an English novel by the British author Emily Sarah Holt, released by Project Gutenberg as a free public-domain ebook. Holt's works typically carry historical settings and a moralizing bent, and this one is no exception: it follows the experiences of the heroine Margery, combining storytelling with the values of its era. As a title in the juvenile belles lettres category, its narrative is relatively plain and its character relationships clear, making it a useful sample of nineteenth-century popular English fiction. Readers can see both the circumstances and choices of women of the time and the didactic tone and warm sentiment common to novels of that era. Because it is the original electronic text, the book contains no modern annotations, and its language retains Victorian habits of expression, requiring some patience in reading. Overall, this is an old-fashioned novel suited to slow reading and comparison with its historical context, rather than a choice for modern readers seeking strong plot momentum.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in nineteenth-century British fiction and women's themes
Students and self-learners with some English reading ability who want to try public-domain classics
Slow readers who enjoy plain narrative and are willing to engage with the values of an older era
Enthusiasts studying popular fiction and the early forms of children's literature

Not a good fit for

Beginners with limited English reading experience who need annotations or a translated edition
Readers who prefer strong plots, fast pacing, or modern suspense styles
Readers impatient with narratives that carry a moralizing tone

Reading tips

First learn about the author's era and creative tendencies, then enter the text; this makes it easier to understand the characters' choices and the didactic tone.
Proceed chapter by chapter, and after each chapter summarize the plot and character changes in one or two sentences to avoid giving up midway because of language difficulties.
Mark expressions heavy with period flavor as you go, then look them up together after finishing the chapter, keeping the reading flow smooth.
Read it alongside other English novels of the same period to observe common approaches to female figures and moral themes.

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

How difficult is the English in this book?

The book is in the original English, with nineteenth-century habits of expression and sentence patterns and vocabulary that are distant from modern English. It suits readers with intermediate English reading ability who can patiently handle long sentences; beginners are advised to start with a bilingual edition or a simplified reader before attempting the original.

Why does the book have an obvious didactic tone?

Emily Sarah Holt's works often use historical settings to carry moral and religious themes, which is related to her era and intended readership. Readers can regard this as a period characteristic and understand the function of popular fiction of the time in combining entertainment with instruction, rather than judging it harshly by modern standards.

Does the Gutenberg edition have a Chinese translation or annotations?

Project Gutenberg releases the original public-domain English ebook, which generally contains no Chinese translation, vocabulary annotations, or modern introduction. Readers need to prepare their own dictionary or background materials, and may also use publicly available information about the author and work to aid understanding.

Is it suitable for young readers?

The book is classified as juvenile belles lettres, and its subject matter and tone are relatively gentle, but the original language is old-fashioned, so young readers may need adult guidance or accompanying annotations. If the purpose is English learning, it is advisable to attempt it after gaining some foundation and to slow down the pace.

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About the author

Emily Sarah Holt Author · British · 1836–1893

Emily Sarah Holt (1836–1893) was a British historical novelist, born at Stubbylee, Bacup, Lancashire, and died in London on Christmas Day 1893. She wrote more than fifty books, mostly historical fiction for young readers, drawing on subjects from the Middle Ages to the Stuart era and marked by a strong Protestant Evangelical spirit. The library holds 19 of her works, including Clare Avery: A Story of the Spanish Armada, Mistress Margery, Robin Tremayne and The White Rose of Langley, as well as tales set against the Gunpowder Plot and the 1745 uprising. Her fiction emphasises historical atmosphere and moral instruction and found readers in the late Victorian period; public information on the details of her life is limited.