Tracy Park: A Novel

Holmes, Mary Jane, 1825-1907Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 1M words
Chapters: 101

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.Tracy Park: A Novel by Mary Jane HolmesAuthor: Holmes, Mary Jane, 1825-1907,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 10, 2005

Editor's review

Tracy Park: A Novel is a work by Mary Jane Holmes, a nineteenth-century American writer of popular fiction, and belongs to the vein of domestic and sentimental fiction she excelled in. Centered on the estate and the relationships among its characters, the novel follows the ups and downs of their fortunes and their moral choices; the narration is clear and straightforward, with the plot advancing through dialogue and shifts of scene, bearing the distinct marks of popular fiction written for a broad readership in its day. For today's readers its value lies in offering a window onto the tastes and domestic ideals of nineteenth-century American popular literature: characters are clearly divided into good and bad, emotional conflicts are direct, and the reading is effortless. This edition comes from Project Gutenberg; the text is a public-domain English text, usually without a modern editor's introduction or notes, making it suitable as extensive reading material in English and for readers interested in early American popular fiction to work through chapter by chapter. As you read, it is worth noting its depictions of family, class, and women's circumstances.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with intermediate English who want to try a nineteenth-century American novel
Fans of popular fiction centered on domestic and sentimental themes
Learners who need English extensive reading material and prefer to progress chapter by chapter
Readers interested in early American popular fiction and women's writing

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak English who need sentence-by-sentence notes to read
Readers who prefer modern narrative pacing and lack patience for slow exposition
Serious literary readers expecting deep social critique or complex psychological portrayal

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to sort out the relationships, jotting down the main characters and the estate's threads.
Progress chapter by chapter, one or two a day; guess unfamiliar words before looking them up to keep reading flowing.
After finishing, revisit the key turning points and trace changes in characters' motives and moral judgments.
Read alongside other nineteenth-century American popular novels to observe shared themes and techniques.

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?

It is at the usual difficulty of nineteenth-century popular fiction: sentences are long but clearly structured, there is a good deal of dialogue, and unfamiliar words come mainly from everyday and domestic settings. Intermediate readers can make steady progress with a dictionary; those with less reading experience may try the first few chapters to judge whether they need notes or a translation alongside.

Is the story slow, and is it suitable for reading quickly?

The novel moves through character relationships and scene-setting, so its pace is slower than modern genre fiction, but the plot threads are clear and dialogue drives it strongly. To grasp the story quickly, follow the main line chapter by chapter; to appreciate the craft, slow down and attend to scene shifts and the information carried in dialogue.

Does the public-domain e-book have an introduction or notes?

Project Gutenberg texts usually provide only the main text, without a modern editor's introduction, notes, or author chronology. If historical background or cultural details get in the way, you will need to look them up yourself. It helps to learn the basic background of nineteenth-century American popular fiction before entering the text.

Is it suitable as English extensive reading material?

It suits learners with some foundation for extensive reading. It is fairly long but coherently plotted, good for progressing chapter by chapter and building stamina for sustained reading. However, it has few poetic expressions and many long sentences, which may strain beginners; try one chapter first and set a reading plan once you confirm the difficulty matches.

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About the author

Holmes, Mary Jane, 1825-1907 Author

Mary Jane Holmes (1825–1907) was a popular nineteenth-century American novelist who found a wide readership in her day. Public information about her early life and education is limited, but her output was considerable: this site holds twenty-one of her works, which suggests how active she was in the book market and among readers of her time. Her representative novels include The English Orphans, ‘Lena Rivers, Bad Hugh, Family Pride, Cousin Maude, Maggie Miller, Gretchen, and Tempest and Sunshine. These stories are mostly drawn from domestic life and emotional entanglements, often turning on orphaned origins, family ties, pride and suffering, secrets and reconciliation. Their plots are eventful, their tone gentle, and their sensibility plainly sentimental and moralizing. Written for a broad popular audience and especially welcomed by women readers, her novels offer a useful window onto the character of nineteenth-century American popular fiction.