BleakChesneyWold

               'The Gothic Tales of Mary Elizabeth Braddon' This 2014 collection was edited with an introduction by Greg Buzwell, as part of the British Library 'Tales of the Weird' series, and contains fourteen short stories that originally appeared in various periodicals from 1860-1907. Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) is still most known for one of her first published novel  Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which  made a vital contribution to the 'Sensation novels' genre,was extremely popular and arguably has overshadowed, her huge body of work: Some 90 novels, countless short stories, not  always submitted to magazines in her own name. Braddon scholars are still trying to trace all her work,quite a formidable task. CARNELL & ASSOCIATION 'Sensation novels' tend to emphasise frightful human behaviour, scandal, far fetched coincidence, often with an amateur detective, and crumbling country house, preferably a mansion.But not afra...

                                      Short horror story -England 1896                                  Ferguson Wright Hume  (Fergus Hume) was born in, Powick, Worcestershire, in 1859, and emigrated with his family to New Zealand aged three. Hume remained there and trained as a barrister, qualifying in 1885, then left for Melbourne in 1886 to become a barrister's clerk and unsuccessful playwright. His first novel The Mystery of the Hansom Cab , was self published in 1886 and started selling well. Hume sold all the rights to the book, including to the British and American markets, and lost out when it  became a bestseller. Detective fiction was still in its infancy. The Mystery of the Hansom Cab is sensational, with a murder, disputed inheritance, a family secret that desperately needs to be suppres...

                                                Another side to 'Bleak House'  "The rain is ever falling, drip, drip, drip, by day and night, upon the broad flagged terrace - pavement, The Ghosts Walk."                       Personally I regard 'Bleak House' as Charles Dickens's masterpiece: The longest of his novels, and one that includes 'social concerns' with its blistering attacks on both rural and urban poverty. But also looms as a forerunner of the later sensation novel genre-with illegitimacy, scandal, stalking, drug use, spontaneous combustion as significant themes. There is also a detective story, an infamous long drawn out legal battle where only the lawyers are victorious. Not to mention a ghost tale.  In chapter seven of 'Bleak House' we are introduced to 'Chesney Wold', the country mansion in...

                                   Very Poetic and Atmospheric  historical novel - Magnificent  Alan Humm edits the arts journal 'One Hand Clapping' and has had two poetry collections published. 'The Sparkler' is his first novel, published by Vine Leaves Press.  This is certainly quality writing. Alan Humm uses fiction as a means of  exploring what he considers to be 'gaps' in historians' knowledge of Dickens's life: A surprising challenge at first as Dickens has had so many biographers, and some potential readers may feel that the novel veers towards the 'unknowable' Dickens.At any rate, Mr Humm has cited the two books that have inspired him in creating 'The Sparkler' as being 'Becoming Dickens-The Invention of a Novelist' by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and 'The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi, Laughter, Madness and 'The Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian' by Andrew Mconell S...

                                                                     " Wildfell Hall is a feminist manifesto of revolutionary power and intelligence'                                            Stevie Davies (1996)                   "It ( The Tenant of Wildfell Hall  ) was written too obviously as a work of propaganda, a treatise against drunkeness, to be considered a work of art "                                                        Winifred Gerin (1959)                ...

       Sensation Novel Transformed into a Social Concern Romance             'The New Magdalene' , serialised in 1872-1873, then as a novel in 1873, is certainly an interesting and surprisingly difficult  work: Arguably contains three quite diverse sections under one title. In the 21st century Wilkie Collins ( 1824- 1889) is largely known for 'The Woman in White' ( published in 1860) and 'The Moonstone' ( 1868). The former is a major work in the development of the Victorian 'sensation novel', the latter a key player in the rise of the detective novel. It is hard to imagine 'The New Magdalene' being dramatised for modern television, or film, though a stage version did appear shortly after its publication.  This novel deals with plight of a 'fallen woman' , a social usurper, who is eventually redeemed by the love of a good Christian gentleman, but remained displaced by wider society. They both go into voluntary exile. Collin...