The Red Cross Barge

Lowndes, Marie Belloc, 1868-1947Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 204K words
Chapters: 21

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 Red Cross Barge by Marie Belloc LowndesAuthor: Lowndes, Marie Belloc, 1868-1947,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 2, 2011

Editor's review

Marie Belloc Lowndes was a popular early twentieth-century British novelist known for building suspense and psychological tension within ordinary settings. The Red Cross Barge is one of her public-domain works: short, tightly paced, and clearly marked by the conventions of popular fiction—characters' circumstances shift rapidly within a confined space, and suspense is driven by gaps in information and by the characters' misjudgments. The "Red Cross barge" of the title is at once a concrete setting and a hint of moral testing in a wartime or relief context; readers may notice how the author uses objects and space to carry tension. As a public-domain electronic text, the book has no modern introduction or notes, but its language is relatively plain, making it suitable as a stepping stone to reading English popular fiction. For readers studying early twentieth-century British popular literature, suspense technique, or women's writing, this short book offers an analyzable sample; those seeking intricate plotting or rigorous deduction should adjust their expectations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate English learners who want to practice reading English popular fiction
Readers studying early twentieth-century British suspense and popular literature
Those interested in psychological tension in women writers' narratives
Organizers who need a short public-domain text for book-club discussion

Not a good fit for

Hardcore mystery fans seeking tightly plotted, fair-play puzzles
Readers hoping for a long epic or a complex multi-strand narrative
Beginners in research who need modern annotations and detailed author biography

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters straight through to feel how suspense is set up, then go back to where key information is released.
As you read, note how different characters judge the same event, and observe how the author creates gaps in information.
Read alongside other early twentieth-century British suspense short stories to compare how setting creates tension.
If using it for a book club, design discussion questions around the symbolic meaning of the barge as a setting.

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 suitable for English beginners?

The language is in the style of early twentieth-century popular fiction: sentence structures are not very complex, but there are period expressions and narrative habits. It suits readers with intermediate English reading ability who can use a dictionary for unfamiliar words; complete beginners are advised to start with a retold version or bilingual text before tackling the original.

What role does the "Red Cross barge" of the title play in the story?

The available information confirms only the title itself; specific plot details cannot be verified. While reading, observe the "Red Cross barge" as a closed space with connotations of rescue or wartime: how it restricts the characters' movement, how it makes communication difficult, and how the author uses this setting to heighten psychological tension among the characters.

The electronic edition has no introduction—how can I get into the text quickly?

First read the opening pages to identify the narrative perspective and the main characters' relationships, then make a simple chart of "who is hiding what." Mark unfamiliar period terms without looking them up, and deal with them together after finishing a chapter. If time is limited, read the first half to grasp the structure of suspense, then decide whether to read the second half closely.

Comments

Find this book

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

Lowndes, Marie Belloc, 1868-1947 Author

Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947) was a British novelist known for psychological suspense and crime fiction. The collection includes sixteen of her works, among them The Lodger, The End of Her Honeymoon, Studies in Love and in Terror, What Timmy Did, The Uttermost Farthing, Jane Oglander and Studies in Wives. Her fiction often draws on hidden fears within ordinary domestic settings; her restrained, deliberate prose builds tension layer by layer and reveals her characters' inner suspicion and unease. The Lodger is her best-known work and has been adapted for film and television several times, leaving a mark on later suspense narrative. Public information on her early education and private life is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.