The Moving Finger

Gaunt, Mary, 1861-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 303K words
Chapters: 31

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 Moving Finger by Mary GauntAuthor: Gaunt, Mary, 1861-1942,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 5, 2007

Editor's review

The Moving Finger is a novel by Mary Gaunt, an Australian-born writer who later lived in various places, made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Gaunt's work often involves changes of place and shifts in her characters' circumstances; the title borrows a common literary image, and the narrative leans toward a combination of character situation and plot development, making it a readable popular work among public-domain English novels. The significance of the Gutenberg edition is that it makes an old book hard to find in bookshops accessible again, suitable as supplementary material for extensive reading in English literature or for tracing the lineage of women writers. Note that this is the original English text, published long ago, with language and pacing marked by its era; readers should adjust their expectations of a "modern novel reading experience." It suits readers willing to read slowly and interested in early twentieth-century English popular narrative, rather than those seeking strong suspense or fast pacing. The electronic text also makes it easy to read in sections and to search.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century English women writers
Learners hoping to expand English extensive reading materials with free eBooks
Literature enthusiasts studying the narrative style of English public-domain popular fiction
Readers accustomed to slow reading of old-style long novels who do not seek strong suspense

Not a good fit for

Genre fiction readers expecting contemporary suspense pacing and twist structures
Beginners with limited experience reading full-length English originals
Readers who need modern annotations and detailed background introductions

Reading tips

Try the first two chapters to see whether the language difficulty and narrative pace suit you.
While reading, note the connection between characters' circumstances and the regional background to grasp the work's period flavor.
As extensive reading material, proceed chapter by chapter to avoid breaking the reading rhythm by checking every word.
After reading, look up the author's life and creative background to help understand the work's regional and period perspective

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 there a Chinese translation of this book?

What Project Gutenberg provides is the original English electronic text, not a Chinese translation. If you need to read in Chinese, you must look separately for whether a Chinese translation exists; for this project, readers face the original English.

Is the title directly related to the content?

"The Moving Finger" is a common image in English literature, often used to suggest the irreversibility of fate or events. Its specific use in this book must be judged from the text; when reading, pay attention to how the title image echoes the plot.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extensive reading material, but the book is old and some expressions are distant from contemporary English. Focus on understanding the plot rather than checking every word; readers with weaker English should first choose more contemporary materials as a bridge.

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About the author

Gaunt, Mary, 1861-1942 Author

Mary Gaunt (1861–1942) was a British travel writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Public information about her is limited, and the details of her life are difficult to establish with certainty, yet the six works held in this collection reveal the focus of her writing: she drew on her own travels to record the customs and conditions of distant societies alongside her personal circumstances. Alone in West Africa and A Woman in China show that her journeys took her as far as West Africa and China, while A Broken Journey, Where the Twain Meet and The Moving Finger continue this itinerary-based mode of narrative. Her writing is typically cast in the first person, observant and detailed, combining reportage with personal reflection, and it offered contemporary readers a window onto faraway regions. An index to her works is also included for researchers' reference.